November 29, 2006 Bangkok – Phetchaburi, Thailand

November 29, 2006
Bangkok – Phetchaburi, Thailand

Last night we played some connect-4 while we ate dinner (for those who are wondering, I kicked butt). When we were done I headed upstairs to shower and get changed. At 22:00 I got a taxi and headed to the airport. I got there at about 22:45 and waited for about an hour.

At 23:45 Jackie cleared customs and flung herself into my arms. After embracing I led to downstairs to get a cab back to our hostel. Jackie had slept for most of her flight and was not at all tired. We stayed up until almost 3:00 catching up, talking, and exchanging some gifts. Jackie gave me a new shirt (to replace the one I traded in Kenya) and some deodorant (so I no longer have to use the Thai stuff that is not fun to put on – its one of those weird ball rollers…). She also delivered some candy that was sent by my mom and Brianna. Thanks for the sweets and the thought!! And, thanks for the Christmas hat Marty!

When I woke up at 8:00 Jackie was already up and showered. She only slept a few hours and woke up at 5:00. Once we were ready for the day we went and found Spizz in his room. Just after 9:00 we headed out to use the internet (each of us having to take care of something).

The internet at our hotel was very, very slow! We were forced to head out on the town in search of an internet café. We walked for almost a mile before finding one. Jackie was amazed at how hot and humid it was outside…

We returned to the hotel just before 10:00 and packed up our things. When we were done we checked out and caught a cab to the southern bus station in Bangkok. As usual our cab driver was not very cool. He tried to convince us that it would be better to pay him to drive us to Phetchaburi in the cab (for almost 10 times the price).

Once we arrived at the bus station several people trying to sell us tickets approached us. We ignored them all and went to the ticket windows. The entire time I stood in line one very annoying dude kept grabbing my arm and telling me he could sell me a seat for cheaper. I knew this was not true and had to restrain myself from yelling at him…

Eventually, we got our tickets (120 baht each) for the 11:30 bus (purchasing them only a few minutes before the bus was leaving). I quickly ran to 7-Eleven for some snacks while Jackie and Spizz used the ATM and restroom.

Jackie and I got on the bus just as it was pulling out of the station. We found our seats and settled in for the 2.5-hour drive. The time passed quickly as we were all in and out of sleep.

When we arrived in the town of Phetchaburi we had no idea how to get to our hotel. We wandered onto a street that looked big and waited for a cab (small truck with benches on the back). Thankfully, the driver had a list of the hotels in town and knew how to get to our accommodation.

The hotel was surprisingly nice. We were put in a large room with 2 full beds, TV, bathroom, refrigerator, and AC (which one me a 10 baht bet with Spizz). We were all quite surprised.

After settling into our room we left the hotel in search of lunch (14:30). Fortunately, there was a very tasty restaurant right next door. We filled our bellies with fried rice and fried noodles and then set out to see the sights.

We hailed a cab and had him take us to Khao Luang cave. As we pulled into the parking lot two things excited us. One, there were monkeys everywhere! Two, there were no other cars and it seemed like we were the only ones there.

We spent the first part of our time at Khao Luang watching the monkeys play around and climb the trees. After taking many photos (mostly Jackie) we headed up the stairs and found the entrance to the cave.

The cave was insanely cool. It was one of the most majestic places I have ever visited. It was an enormous cave with numerous stalactites and small passageways. The coolest thing, however, was the decorations that were inside (and part of) the cave.

I was very impressed by a stalactite that was carved into an elephant at the entryway. Once inside, there were Buddhist statues everywhere. Some of them were massive!


We wandered the cave for more than an hour and then returned to the parking lot and the monkeys. From there we noticed another trail and decided to do some exploring. We hiked for several hundred meters before coming to another small cave entrance. We ducked inside and were surprised to find that it was not actually a cave. Instead, the entrance opened up into a beautiful meadow with a large tree at the center.

When we returned to the parking lot there was no one around. We realized that we did not have a ride back into town. We started walking along the road back to the main street. On the way we passed many more monkeys and talked to a couple very nice monks.

We walked down the main street for about 15 minutes before a cab found us and picked us up. Instead of going back to our hotel we decided to wander around the city center. The city was very different from any place we have visited so far. Phetchaburi is not a touristy town and we were the only white people around. It was nice to see the way many of the locals actually live.

After getting some dinner at a small restaurant we returned to our hotel. On the way passed a park with several basketball courts and several teams playing. We thought about joining in but decided we were too tired and would rather get some rest.

We returned to our room at around 18:30. After looking through our photos of the day we just chilled out. Jackie’s lack of sleep caught up with her and she fell asleep at around 19:00…I played on my computer for a while and Spizz decided to go for a run.