ipondonline: Pa Hin Ngam and Khaoyai national park ( 21

Travel date: 21-22 June 2014

Location: Chaiyaphoom province and Khaoyai national park

4 a.m. has actually been the point of time when we decide to leave Bangkok. There are a lot of benefits to it; no traffic, less hot, time to see the sunrise and arrive at the destination by morning.

First of all, I would to give a big thanks to Nhong for driving us all the way to Chaiyaphoom. Unfortunately, I had a late night on Friday so I slept the whole way to Chaiyaphoom. Thanks again for that! Our main purpose of this trip was to see Dokkrajiew field. In English, Dokkrajiew is called Siam tulip.

Despite its name, it is not related to the tulip, but to the various ginger species such as turmeric. Siam tulip is native to northern Thailand and Cambodia. If you ask me if we are impressed with the festival, I would not say so. I can’t say for certain. This is maybe because we didn’t get to see as many flowers as we expected and there were too many people at the festival. It is surely a tourist trap for us Thais. A good thing about looking at a Brightside in every situation is so we know we will not go back. The whole 5-hour drive wasn’t completely worthless. We had our breakfast at a local restaurant on the way to the national park where the tulips are. Opposite the restaurant, there was an area where they sell different types of fruits. As for me, seeing durian stores along the way had made me want to eat the fruit. I crossed over to get the fruits and while waiting for a shop keeper to hand me the fruits. From faraway, I saw a field of yellow flowers. I didn’t know what it was until the shop keeper had told me that it was called Kantawan, or Jerusalem artichoke in English. The plant has medicinal properties such as lowering blood pressure, aiding digestive congestion and etc. The lady said to us that the flower itself is the medicinal part.

As I mentioned, 5-hour drive isn’t worthless because of this beautiful field of Jerusalem artichoke. The view was definitely captured and we did our own fashion shoot at the field. Pa hin Ngan national park is where these wild tulips bloom. Additional information to that, the siam tulips only bloom in rainy season. At the national park, there are also a few other spots like a cliff where regions collide; northeast, central and north of Thailand.

We had our way along this manmade path to look for dense area of siam tulips but we couldn’t find anyway. It was about 1 hour walk so I see it as an exercise actually so I wouldn’t feel bad about not seeing much of the flowers.

After visiting the festival, I and nhong were thinking of a place to go and spend the night. We ended up at Khaoyai national park ,where we also went camping in May 2014. I strongly suggest this national park for those who reside in Bangkok and those who want to a little weekend getaway. It is not far from Bangkok at all and it has a massive area of green. Imagine forests where you can see wild deers everywhere. Occasionally, you may get to see elephants. We rented a tent and spend the night there. It was a rainy night as for the rainy season. Rainbow was displayed just outside the tent. There are a few other spots in the park to visit like this waterfall where we went to, called Haw Su Wat. For some people, rainy season is the worst time to travel. For me and Nhong, we think it is the best time to actually have a holiday!

Pictures below;