Prachuab Khiri Khan - Ban Krut

South of Bang Saphan - Chumphon in the distance

http://tinamue.blogspot.com/2013/12/prachuab-khiri-khan-bang-saphan.html

Ban Krut is 65 km south of Prachuab's provincial capital. It is a great oasis for people loving deserted beaches albeit it gets busy on long weekends. The small town has a train station, but most visitors reach it by car. The town's main attraction - apart from beaches - is a big Buddha overlooking the town, but activities, such as building figures (rather than castles) in the sand are also arranged to keep visitors coming.

Angry Sand Birds

The Huay Yang National Park is nearby. It is named after a seven-tier waterfall, which also gets many visitors on long weekends. These are mostly locals going to cool off and play around. In the dry season, there is not much water to play around in.

Huay Yang Waterfall

The national park also have trekking trails and - reportedly - you can cross into Myanmar after 5-6 hours on foot depending on your stamina and agility.

To me, what is so attractive and interesting about Prachuab and Chumphon provinces is that there are long stretches of deserted and undeveloped beach. There are so many places where one can pull over, set up a hammock, lay down a mat, and have a picnic. Some of the beaches may appear untidy to people that are used to beaches being "combed" by resort owners. However, flotsam and other stuff left behind by high tides or storms are part of nature.

Beach Au Natural

Thai Flora

I am by no means an expert in flora, so I will not provide any guesses at what these flowers are called.

I simply snapped some photos on occasions where I saw pretty flowers.

This blog is merely intended to share this photos.

Sa Kaeo - Pang Sida

Pang Sida National Park is not famous and doesn't get that many visitors. It is a part of the quintet of national parks that laymen simply refer to a "Khao Yai" and borders to the north and west to Tublan National Park.

Where has all the water gone?

Pang Sida Waterfall is about 10 meters tall, but it is without water flow during the dry season. Nearby is one of a handful of locations where butterflies gather by the hundreds if not thousands. Another such location is the viewpoint reached after 25 km on gravel road.

The view to be had is over the Samong River Valley, which is between 5-8 km wide, up to 500 meters "deep" and its many creeks feeds over 250 million cubic meters of water annually into the Prachinburi River.

To me, the trip to get to the viewpoint was much more interesting than the view. At the entrance to the park, the park ranger joked that I should watch out for the wild elephants. There was, however, some truth to that warning. Wild elephants had left many signs behind that they had rummaged around, but fortunately, they apparently mostly do that in the night or morning, so I didn't actually see any wild elephants. Nor did I see any gaurs. But I did see many wild boars, some pheasants, and a deer of some sort.

The road was not a challenge by any stretch of the imagination - no need for 4WD - but I did encounter some road signs that made me smile.

Somebody should bring this insubordinate road to order

Everybody needs a rest from time to time

However funny the wording in English is, the meaning did come across to me: Slow down. And the picture below shows what the signs were meant to convey.

Well, the road does look worn out

Please also note that freshwater crocodiles were "discovered" in 1991 at Huay Nam Yen Stream near the south-west corner of the park. As it apparently is the last place in Thailand freshwater crocodiles live in the wild, it is an interesting side tour to visit that site.