Backpacking in Thailand - 23 Dec 09

Day 5 - Morning market and Sunflower fields


One of my favourite activities when backpacking is to visit the local markets. I always find that a very interesting experience which provided an insight to the local life.

I did not have a good night in the guesthouse as the bed was a little too soft. I was awake at 6:30am and could not sleep anymore. So I got up and explored the local markets on my own.

One thing Lopburi is famous for are its monkeys. While I was sitting by one of the road side stalls for a drink (I thought the big pot of white liquid was soy milk but it turned out to be fresh cow milk), I saw a monkey snatched the toast from another table.

When I got back to the guesthouse, the rest of the guys and gals were just getting up. Once we got ready, we ate breakfast at one of the roadside food stalls. I brought them back to the market again. We then went to the railway station to book our tickets to Chiang Mai. Unfortunately, the sleepers were all sold out. We decided to try the bus instead. But we were told there were no direct bus from Lopburi to Chiang Mai. The bus ride involves a transit. In the end we settled for a 2nd class seat on the trains. We dropped by the TAT (Tourism Authority of Thailand) office for information on how to the get to the Sunflower fields. The friendly staff provided detailed information on how to get to the fields on public transport. At the Lopburi bus station, the bus driver told us that there were no more sunflowers. We were disappointed and almost aborted the trip. But Sheung insisted that we make the trip anyhow. We waited half an hour for the bus and the journey took another 45 mins. It was a slow and stuffy ride on the crowded bus. Along the way, we saw some sunflower fields that were dried and withered. I thought we were going to be disappointed. We were dropped off at the junction with the road leading to Khao Jin Lae temple. The sunflower fields were all dried up. We continued walking down the road. We bought drinks from a little stall and the old lady pointed down the road indicating that we should continue walking. That was good news. After about 15 minutes. We suddenly came upon a huge field of sunflowers. It was pretty amazing. It was rows and rows of sunflowers, stretching into the distance. We had the whole fields to ourselves. There was only another group of students who stopped by briefly. Besides the sunflower fields, there is a temple further up on the hill side in Khao Jin Lae. Unfortunately, we did not have time to trek up to the temple as we needed to catch the bus back to Lopburi. The last bus passing by Khao Jin Lae leaves at 6pm. We did not want to risk our chances and hence headed back to the road junction to wait for the bus back. It would be nice to come earlier and have a whole day to explore both the sunflower fields and the temple. When we got back to the old city, there was a night market going on right outside our guesthouse. So the night was spent exploring the night market again. Directions to the sunflower fields The easy thing to do would be to charter a taxi or tutuk. The fields are in Khao Jin Lae, about 30km away from Lopburi. It's easy if you want to take the public transport. First get to the Lopburi station (8 baht from the old city to the bus station). At the bus station, ask for the bus that goes to Wang Muang. Tell the driver you want to get down at Khao Jin Lae. The bus is not very frequent. We waited for half an hour for the bus to leave the station. This is a local bus. It moves slowly through the town and can get pretty crowded. The journey took us 45 mins. I reckon it would only take 20-25 min by car. It costs 15 baht per person. You can see sun flower fields around the junction. Walk in for another 15 minutes and you will come across huge expense of sunflowers. The temple on the hill side looked like an interesting trek. I would recommend heading there early and visit both the sunflower fields and the temple as a day trip. According to the staff at the TAT office, the last bus leaves Wang Muang for Lopburi at 6pm. So the safe thing to do is to get to the junction to wait to the bus around 5pm. Drop by the TAT office for more information. The staff is friendly and speaks English.