Access to the Khao Khitchakut is possible for two months each year, normally between Chinese New Year and Magha Puja day (roughly late January to March).
I reported on Khao Khitchakut two years ago.
http://tinamue.blogspot.com/2011/12/chantaburi-khao-khitchakut.html
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| Drop point at top of dirt road. The trek begins from here. |
The pilgrimage to Khao Khitchakut gets ever larger. While it was bad two years ago, it is now a total "circus". Fortunately, getting the two rides on pick-up truck to the top went quite smoothly. Many passengers seemed awestruck that it is possible to drive relatively fast on a dirt road - not something they are used to when shuttling around Bangkok in their air conditioned sedans - so they were recording the rides on their mobile devices. The road to the top is a dirt road, but it is relatively wide and relatively smooth. Although steep at places, it was a much better road than some of the tracks I've been on in Ratchaburi and Kanchanaburi. And it is simple physics that it makes it easier to drive up if speed (and thus forward momentum) is kept above 20 km/h.
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| You shall not walk alone |
After driving 3-4 km from bottom to top, it is time to get off the pick-up and dive into the sea of people. The path leading up is mostly narrow and always cram-packed. Patience is required. After less than a kilometer, the track really narrows and gets steep. Obviously, this creates a bottleneck. After waiting for twenty minutes without moving more than a few inches, an experienced pilgrim (this being her fourth visit) remembered a short-cut. I and a few others followed her. We back-tracked 100 meters, veered off the paved but crowded track, sneaked in between some ramshackle shops, passed some temporary toilets, and there it was: a path in the forest leading up. It was a steep climb, but there wasn't any crowd.
Once up at around 1,000 meters above sea level, and back into the crowd, one has to walk from peak to peak to pray and to admire the various geological phenomena that to pilgrims appear to be related to Buddhist myths. For example, there is a stone pagoda, a rock that looks as an upside down monk’s alms-bowl, the hermit cave, and huge rocks that look like a turtle and an elephant.
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| Patience - it took around 40 minutes of standing in line before the rock was reached |
The most famous / important destination is Lord Buddha’s footprint (at the foot of the rock pictured above). There the ushers (broadcasting via large loudspeakers) remind people that a 200 baht donation could (potentially) result in lottery winnings of 200 million baht. Not a bad rate of return. One also suggested other wishes one could make such as getting "Pancake" as one's girlfriend.
For a clue to who Pancake is, check out:
http://tinamue.blogspot.com/2011/08/thai-nicknames.html
At other holy locations, the guys with microphones promised less - the promises ranged from 3 - 5 million baht - and nobody saw any irony in that Buddhists come to pray for material success in life when Lord Buddha teachings center on that craving leads to suffering.
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| Write your wish on a red cloth, tie the ribbon, and pray. |
Another interesting praying location had several options for people, including statuettes of Lord Buddha and of King Taksin the Great. Again without the slightest whiff of irony, there were also several statues of Hindu gods that people could pray to.
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| Buddhists can pray to Hindu gods |
If you like crowds and/or if you believe Buddha will make your wishes come true, a visit to Khao Khitchakut is a must.
