Day Trip to Saraburi Province

I recently took a day trip to Saraburi Province with my wife, my sister-in-law, and my sister-in-law's boyfriend. We hired a van and driver so as to have total control over our schedule and timing, and it was so much fun!

Saraburi Province is one of the central provinces in Thailand. It borders Ayutthaya and Lopburi, and is just a few hours north of Bangkok. Although it's not too far from the city, it feels like a different world - with rolling hills and mountains; sprawling fruit farms; cool, clean air; and a quiet atmosphere.

We left Bangkok early in the morning, stopping off at a local rest-stop and market area just at the edge of Saraburi. After a quick breakfast of grilled pork and sticky rice, we were back on the road.

The next stop, of course, was for coffee! No Thai road trip is complete without a coffee break. We chose Cafe Laura, a second branch of the wonderful cafe we visited on a previous trip to Saraburi with a friend last year.

Designed to look like the Roman Colosseum, Cafe Laura is decorated with an eclectic mix of Greek statues, greenhouses, colorful lanterns, and fountains.

The air in Saraburi is cooler than in Bangkok, and we enjoyed exploring the grounds of the cafe and sitting outdoors by the small pond.

We couldn't stay for too long, however. We were on a tight schedule! While the trip itself was for fun and sightseeing, there was a second purpose. 

Pinky and I were also planning out a route and itinerary to take friends around the countryside. One of our missions was to plan out the different stops and calculate how long it would take to drive to and visit each one. We called it our "survey trip".

Feeling refreshed and awake after coffee, we drove on to a storied temple called Wat Tham Krabok.

Established in 1957 by a Buddhist nun and her two nephews, Wat Tham Krabok is not, in the strictest definition of the word, a temple, but a samnak song. This is a special classification of religious compounds in Thailand which follows the teachings of a nun, though for all practical purposes, it's a temple.

The most striking feature at the temple are the towering collection of Buddha statues carved from black stone. It is hard to feel the scale of the statues from a photograph, but they were massive!

Perhaps even more interesting than the features of the temple, however, is its history.

In the 1970s, the temple played another subversive role in housing Lao and Hmong refugees from the Secret War in Laos. Rumors continue that the temple's abbot, a former policeman, was secretly funding a Hmong-led resistance alongside remnants of the Royal Lao Army against the Communist Pathet Lao throughout Laos.

From the 70s through the 90s, as refugee camps across Thailand closed, Hmong and Lao refugees flocked to the temple to avoid repatriation back to Laos. At a certain point, the population at the temple reached 35,000.

The story didn't stop there, however. As recently as 2003, the Thai military raided the temple, which was accused of weapons smuggling and acting as a center of armed resistance against the Communist Laotian government.

 

The temple was surrounded with a razor wire fence and monitored by the Thai military until the refugees were finally allowed to claim asylum in the United States in 2005 (some 40 years after the war).

Today, the temple is known for a less controversial reason. Beginning in 1959 and continuing through the present, the temple offers a well-regarded drug and alcohol detoxification and recovery program in line with Buddhist teachings. Thais and foreigners alike can come to the temple for help with overcoming their addictions.

In 2012, the temple was granted "wat" status by the Sangha of Thailand and the Thai government. The temple's first recognized abbot was appointed by the Supreme Sangha Council, and the temple was granted an award by the government of the Philippines due to its excellent efforts at addiction recovery. The temple has even been recognized in the West due to some high-profile celebrities traveling there for detoxification.

By 2015 (the last date I could find accurate data for), the number of successful drug and alcohol rehabilitation patients had surpassed 100,000!

We spent about half an hour wandering through the temple grounds. It was a sunny day, and very quiet. There didn't seem to be many people around. After taking pictures and buying a much-needed bottle of cold water from a local vendor, we headed back to the van to move on to our next destination of the day.

Driving on, we arrived shortly at Wat Phra Phutthabat, a first-class royal monastery in the mountains of Saraburi not too far from Wat Tham Krabok. Surrounded by thick woods, the temple grew from a small forest monastery to a royal temple over its 400-year history.

Originally built in 1624 by King Songtham (Intharacha III) of Ayutthaya. King Songtham ruled over a golden age in the Kingdom of Ayutthaya. During his reign, Siam was peaceful and prosperous, and merchants, traders, and diplomats from all across the world flooded the city with wealth and exotic goods.

The legend goes that a hunter wandering the woods discovered a depression in the ground at Satchaphanthakhiri Hill looking very much like a footprint. The find was reported to the king, a deeply religious man who had served in the priesthood for 8 years before being asked to ascend the throne by government officials following the death of his predecessor.

King Songtham believed this to be a footprint of the Buddha himself, and ordered the construction of a pagoda over the site. Over the years, the temple continued to grow, and the kings of Ayutthaya would make annual pilgrimages to the site.

As a matter of fact, the name "Wat Phra Putthabat" translates to "Temple of Buddha's Footprint". The footprint itself is 21 inches wide, five feet long, and 11 inches deep. It is covered in thick layers of gold leaf placed by devout visitors as an act of prayer and merit-making.

Worshipers will place small squares of gold leaf upon the walls or base of the impression, and will drop coins, banknotes, and flower garlands in the footprint. It is believed that sprinkling holy water or leaving offerings at the footprint will lead to the forgiveness of sin and the blessings of success in life, prosperity, and happiness.

There is a Holy Footprint Festival held at the temple every year in February or March in which worshipers from across the country visit to pray and make merit at the footprint of the Buddha. The temple's great importance is due to its auspicious distinction as the very first Buddha footprint ever discovered in Thailand.

For lunch, we visited an open-air restaurant just outside of Namtok Chet Sao Noi National Park. The park's name means "Waterfall of the Seven Maidens", and the area is known for its rivers and waterfalls. The park is the 129th national park in Thailand and one of the newest in the country! It was upgraded to a national park in 2016, and was the first new national park in the reign of King Rama X.

We didn't go inside the park, but the restaurant gave us a feeling for what it was like. The restaurant was built on a platform overlooking one of the many waterfalls, and we were able to enjoy the sounds of the rushing water as we ate our lunch.

Our last stop following lunch was Big Tae Garden. It was getting late in the afternoon by the time we arrived in the hills surrounding Saraburi Province.

Saraburi is a rural province, and its famous for its fruit farms. Big Tae Garden is one such farm, but beyond fruit, the farm is famous for its flowers. We arrived at the farm and were given directions to see the flowers. We first had to walk past the fields of crops, shaded by plastic tarps and tended to by the local farmers who worked on the land.

The flower gardens were at the far side of the farm. It took about 10 minutes to walk the entire length. By this time, the day was hot, and the sun was beating down on us. I felt like I was starting to get sunburnt.

Big Tae was fun to visit, but I was feeling exhausted by the time we started to make our way back. We had a blended ice chrysanthemum tea at the farm's cafe / gift shop, then loaded up the van to head back to the city.

It has actually been a dream of my wife and me to buy a small piece of land and have a little farm / weekend getaway out in the central Thai highlands. Saraburi would be our ideal location.

It's close to Bangkok, but its geography makes it a bit cooler than the city. The province is home to some incredible nature. And best of all, it's one of the most fertile parts of the country, so we could really enjoy growing some fruit, vegetables, or (my favorite idea) hot peppers.

Maybe someday!