Phetchaburi, Thailand

We have just spent couple of days in Phetchaburi, a little town south of Bangkok.  For the first time we could feel that we were in the country of smiles.  The kids waved especially enthusiastically in greeting us.  Even the clothes in the store windows were good quality, not mass made for the tourists.  The beautiful blue-eyed Siamese cats were elegantly sunbathing on the store counters.  Thailand (formerly known as Siam) is their home country. 

The first day we walked 3km to one edge of the town to the only big store, called Big C.  We have been searching for lithium batteries for our water purifying pen.  Since our battery charger broke, our rechargeable batteries became useless.  In Big C, we had a choice between a battery charger and lithium batteries.  We bought a charger.  We can make our own drinking water again.   Until now, we found some drinking fountains in Bagkok, boiled water in Mae Rampung, and bought bottled water in Phetchaburi.  There is also drinking water available for purchase from coolers, but not everywhere. 

The second day we walked 3 km opposite direction to Khaoluang, a temple built in the cave in the 17^th century in the honor of the kings, Rama III and Rama IV.  On our way the rain started pouring.  The locals offered us to wait the worst of it out under the roof in their yard.  We are considering buying an umbrella, since it either rains here, or the sun is scorching. 

The entrance to the cave was surrounded by monkeys.  At the foothill there was a monk, feeding leftover rice to dogs and monkeys.  The monkeys waited for their turn to get rice and did not go close to the dogs.  The monk also brought some sweet drink for the monkeys.  One of the monkeys even drank it from the bottle, the others licked the drink of the ground. 

Up the hill, there were more monkeys.  Some of them were sitting in pairs in the trees, looking for lice in each other.  The younger ones were playing- sliding down the roof of the building, swinging down the tress and jumping from one tree to another.  Others were swimming in the pool.   Some were fighting for food.  They were definitely not afraid of people, even tried to scare me from taking a picture of them.  The monkeys came very close to people to ask for food.  There were moments I felt surrounded by them.  Of course, there were locals selling bananas and corn to tourists for feeding the monkeys.  I saw one monkey grab a couple of pieces of corn from the seller’s plate, while she turned away for a moment.  Another monkey hit the plate on the bottom, while the tourist was carrying it in her hand.  The corn came out flying of the plate.

The entrance to this temple was free.  Going down the stairs into the cave, dew covered our faces instantly.  It was pleasantly cool down there.  One big Buddha was sitting close to the entrance, catching the sunlight through the hole in the cave.  The hole was surrounded by trees.  The whole atmosphere was mystic and romantic at the same time.  It was the most beautiful temple, I have seen so far.  Another big Buddha, covered in yellow fabric, was reclining against a wall in the same hall further away from the entrance.  There were smaller Buddhas everywhere around us.  Another hall was a cemetery for some monks.  There was another exit from the cave into the jungle, which was closed.  The stone heads of snakes in front of the exit were warning people that snakes await them upstairs.