Thailand-Days 6 & 7-Khon Kaen-Phu Kradung-Lampang

Day 6 started out with a little bit of a search. John had headed out early to pick up his new work permit, which he got successfully, so we could head out of town with John’s passport in hand. He had roughly described the city hall to me, but when the sorngthaew got to the street it was on, there were official looking white buildings everywhere (as it was the municipal government campus). Luckily for me, John was on the side of the road, and just yelled at me as I passed by. I pressed the button as fast as I could, got out, and we were on our way. Traveling with John was great, as I did nothing but pull out the cash he told me to and was soon enough in Phu Kradung National Park. We got swindled by a tuk-tuk driver while trying to find a hotel, but the bungalows weren’t bad and seemed excellent for the absurdly cheap price. The town was at the base of the mountain, amid palm tree surrounded fields of various crops, so it made for a very peaceful (if mosquito laden) setting. As we would climb up the mountain the next morning, we had a very relaxing afternoon drinking ice cold beer (I love the SE Asian tendency to put ice in the beer) and enjoying some spicy pork fried rice at the restaurant next door. We amused ourselves the rest of the day by reading on the picnic table next to our bungalow, and taking a walk around town. By around town I really should say up and down the street, as that was about all that the town adjacent to the park had going on. We were able to wander about the local market, and pick up some mini-bananas and mandarin oranges for the hike the next day.

Up and at it, we were ready to go at 06:30 on the morning of Day 7 in Thailand. Waking up early was much easier for John-a proud morning person, than for me, but we were out waiting for a sorngthaew bright and early. And we were still out waiting for a sorngthaew about half an hour later. So much for early bird gets the worm. Our ever-helpful bungalow owner, who was gracious enough to fill our water bottles from a big metal vat of water (note sarcasm) also waited with us for the sorngthaew. Apparently he needed to be there to apply some special, local variation to waving down a truck on the side of the road. Turned out waving one’s arm would suffice. We shared the sorngthaew with five young couples. At first, I had just read that Phu Kradung was a popular place for college students and other young adults from the area to visit. Later, in talking more with John’s friend P’Ped, we learned that hiking up and camping on top of the main peak was the thing for young couples to do. So, there were John and I, about to climb (as I called it) ‘Lover’s Mountain.’ Be assured I made plenty of jokes, ad nauseam, to John.

Phu Kradung was a beautiful park, truly beautiful. I really love going to parks and climbing/hiking when over here in China. Back home, I can just hop on my bike and am in Greenbelt Park in 5 minutes, but in Changzhou, even the public parks that are around town aren’t dense enough to block out a few dirty apartment complexes piercing the generally gray sky. Contrarily, a blue sky crept through the branches as I blissfully soaked in the crisp morning air. We had a great climb up, beating the low end of the estimated climb time in the guidebook by twenty minutes-which made us both proud. The park featured both almost tropical mixed forests, deciduous forests in the middle, and coniferous forests at the top, with lots of bamboo mixed in. At some points, so many bamboo leaves were scattered and yellowing on the ground, that a golden walkway lead the way up. Upon reaching the top, I could see that why all the young lovers came-it offered picturesque views almost every 100 meters. There were waterfalls and cliffs all over the map promising as romantic a picture as you can get, but unfortunately, we were trying to hit up plenty of more places on our trip. We took a few of the paths less traveled on the way down, and unwittingly beguiled a couple to follow us. This path wasn’t for the trepidatious; the key was to never keep one’s foot on a rock too long, as it was sure to fall. I am sure that the girlfriend was sure to lambaste her boyfriend later.

We were able to get a ride back to the bus stop much easier upon exiting, and quickly took the local bus to Chumphae. A switch there, and we moved northwest towards Lampang. We arrived at the bus station a bit after 02:00, but as there should be in countries with a bid tourism industry, there was a tuk-tuk driver waiting for passengers. We had him take us to a street with a few hotels on it, but after getting one locked door, and wandering unsuccessfully through the open-air lobby of another, we finally awoke the receptionist on our third swing. We got a pretty cheap room, and though the reception looked relatively nice, the room reflected the price by being quite dusty and musty, with a bathroom that reminded me a bit too much of my days as a scout at Camp Mitigwa. But, as I love to say, it’s all the same once you’re asleep.