This trip summary was delayed, mainly because of the busy
schedule that I had and personal issues that I need to solve before finding the
time to write this up, here in my own blogsite.
I was invited to visit this place, known as Kamphaeng Phet, by
a professor friend from Chiangmai University, as this is his beloved hometown,
and since hearing so much of this place, it is good to find the time and
opportunity to visit this historical place....and after the visit, my personal
feeling is that, it is worth all the efforts, and in fact, I think it should be
promoted as a another key attraction tourism place to visit in Thailand,
enroute to Chiangmai (if you are going from Bangkok towards North direction) or
from Chiangmai to Bangkok, towards South direction. Nearby places to cover
including Nakhon Sawan, Phicit, Phitsanulok, as a combined nearby attractions,
enroute to Lamphang and Chiangmai (as an additional options).
My first stop along this trip was at Ban Nong Khla, Kamphaeng
Phet, my friend's own sugar cane plantation, home and sanctuary. It was an eye
opening for me when I reach here, I think this place is very beautiful and has
its own attraction, a home within the plantation, and a plantation that is
easily accessible. And the home, to me is like a hotel, with its own cafe, and
nice and comfy (I would like to use the word luxurious, based on the hard-wood
and material used to build the homes, but hesitated as I think there are some
final touchups needed to make it more luxurious).
Pictures below show my friends home, cafe and plantation,
please go through to have a view and idea yourself.
The Cafe
Within the premise of the cafe, and a
short walking distance from friend's home
Very local, meals prepared by the home chef
And the opportunity to visit the sugar cane
plantation and the organic farm in the vicinity..all at one location which is
like going back to nature, but with more of commercialized crops.
A huge sugar cane plantation
Some local fruits in the organic farm
And you may see why I like this place so much,
personally, as the home is really built in a very careful thought manner. There
are 3 main block units linked together with a common kitchen and dining hall,
and yet each block unit has its own privacy, with its own compound, rooms, and
living area. And all are well built with nice and mature teak wood (and many
good quality woods). And I mentioned earlier, I cannot use the word luxurious,
because I think there are many areas my friend can improve and decorate further
with the vast items he and his family members have collected throughout the
years, and if they display them at the right corner or location in this
sanctuary home, at Ban Nong Khla, then it will turn out to be very luxurious.
Pics of home and different block units..all mainly used hard wood (some teak wood)
It was also a blessing that during my visit, the friend's family was organising a prayers for the harvesting season. hence a first hand experience in the local prayers, cultures, and food, which to me was also an eye opener and enriching my traveling experience in total manner.
Food and special delicacies offered
With a group of interns, doing their internship here at the farm
And can you imagine a world heritage that is just
about 40minutes driving journey from my friend's home in Ban Nong Khla's home
to this historical, world heritage city that was once part of Sukhotai and
Ayutthaya Kingdoms? And it is known as Kamphaeng Phet, just these two words.....
And if you look at the screenshot of the map given below (pardon me for the quality of the pic map), but to use this as a reference,
Kamphaeng Phet, location wise, it situated between Bangkok and Chiangmai, and
can easily be accessible via highways (I used this, and it was actually quite a
nice journey as you see many different views along the way, and we stopped by
at Nakhon Sawan, the city where two major rivers, Ping River and Nan river
meet, and it is the city where major Chinese Teochew Immigrants settled down,
hence also full of histories (I managed to try some local foods here, and you
can find they are quite familiar to me, as mostly are Teochew's delicacies).
But the key highlight is not about Nakhon Sawan,
but the link to Kamphaeng Phet, and also to consider that you have Nakhon Sawan, Phichit and Phitsanulok as the neighboring cities to visit. I did not have the opportunity to cover Phichit (may be in my
next trip) but managed to cover the famous wat, Wat Phra Si Rattana Mahatat,
which is situated next to Nan River) in Phitsanulok on the way to Lamphang. It is where one of the world's famous
Buddha statue is located, the most beautiful Buddha statue called Phra
Buddha Chinnarat.
The screenshot map
These are some of the pictures showing the famous
Wat in Phitsanulok, where you can see and view the beautiful statue here.
And it has to be highlighted here is that
Phitsanulok as its own airport, which is only 90km to reach Kamphaeng Phet, and
if you drive along this national highway route, you will see and pass by many
places that is interesting enough on its own for exploration and experience.
Pictures showing the famous Buddha statue at Wat Phra Si Rattana:
Pictures showing the famous Buddha statue at Wat Phra Si Rattana:
The most famous, most beautiful Buddha statue
My summary of this visit, and my comments regarding tourism in this region (and also my personal wish list):
1) I think Kamphaeng Phet is interesting enough
and has a lot of hidden treasures (touristy point of view) to explore. And my
friend's home sanctuary at Ban Nong Khla's with his sugar cane plantation and
organic farming is worth to be promoted together as a kind of home stay for
tourists visiting Kamphaeng Phet. On one hand they have the historical world
heritage site to visit, on the other hand, they are allowed to stay at farmland
for experience (I mean how many people, as a tourists have visited and stat at
a real sugar cane farm, at the same time, have a lifetime experience to try out
local farming local food ? It is an area worth to explore further for my
professor friend, and how to market it from the point of tourism. Personally,
as a sales and marketing guy, I think it has a lot of potential to promote the
farming in combination with World Heritage site of Kamphaeng Phet, but a lot of
planning and organisation needs to be done, and working with the local
tourism board would help a lot.
2) Phisanulok as I understood has an airport,
which makes traveling from the main cities like Bangkok or Chiangmai/Chiangrai
easy, by flight and they have the key attraction, the world famous most
beautiful Buddha statue.
3) Phichit, with its Luangpho To statue and worshiping event,
especially to most South East Asian Chinese people, has to be rehighlighted and
repromoted as it stands to gain a lot from the tourists keen to visit and pay
respect directly to Luangopho To. I only came to be aware that Luangpho To is
located in Phicit during this trip (as in the past I really do not know the
exact location until now).
In short, I
would like to call this as "one stone kill 3 birds", 3 combined
historical and famous cities visit, 3 in 1 cities visit.
4) Nakhon Sawan in the South or Lamphang in the
North of Kamphaeng Phet can be promoted as additional places to visit, as an
option to the 3 combined cities (Kamphaent Phet, Phichit and Phitsanulok),
depending if they are moving to the South direction or North direction, in the
next destination, after the 3 combined cities.
5) These places
have a lot to offer, as it is basically underrated cities and have not been
promoted aggressively before, to
tourists outside Thailand (just from my own perspective) and I am hoping it can
be done, in the sense more more marketing and PR activities by the tourism
boards in the 3 cities, combined with a well connected logistic arrangements
(be it by road, air or river, if that is possible).
Thanks.
Choong
27Jan2020
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