No names, except Lopburi

The day after the kings birthday, the Monday, was a public holiday so we had the day off. We spent the day driving around the province (Saraburi), visiting different temples and cities. I confess that for the most part I don't know the names of the places we visited. As I write this, I will try to find them online, but seeing as the best information I have about these places is 'it's a temple in Saraburi province' (which is like saying it's a church somewhere in the Midlands) so I'm not sure how much I'll be able to find!

The first place we went to was a large site with a series of temples. It was called Wat Phra Phutthabat. It was beautiful. The most famous thing about this temple is the Holy Buddha FootPhot Hill of Satchaphanthakhiri Hill. For a footprint it is pretty big, 21 inches wide, five foot long and 11 inches deep. Discovered in the reingn of King Songtham (1624- 1628), it was believed to be the footprint of Lord Buddha's Footprint. As I said, the whole place has some of the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen. Photos are below.

From there we moved on to the city of Lopburi. Along the way we called in on a steakhouse, apparently owned by one of Ben's relatives. The steaks were great and exactly what I needed after the disappointing cold food in Ayutthaya.

Lopburi! For reasons beyond my understanding, the city is full of monkeys! We visited some museums in the centre of the city that were encircled by a giant wall. There were no monkeys here and the whole place had a very colonial, southern European feel to it in the style of the buildings. The museums were really interesting and housed many artifacts found in the cities various ancient temples, as well as some mock-up Thai village huts and how lives were lived on the rivers.

Afterwards we visited Prang Sam Yot, the Khmer temple (pictured below). Lots of monkey's here! As you go around the grounds you are escorted by someone who fends off the monkeys from trying to steal your things. Our escort was a boy, no older than 10 years old. He carried a stick and seemed to antagonise the monkey's more than anything else. You can go inside the temple, which is barred up so monkey's can't get inside and there are people on the entrance gate.

As the afternoon drew to a close we headed to Saraburi city. There were festivals and large markets going on. We parked about a half hour walk from the large market we visited. It was far more my kind of market than many of the others I had visited. More going on, more variety and a friendlier atmosphere (people were not trying to flog me stuff every thirty seconds). There was also a game of what looked like a Thai version of hook-a-duck. Except with fish. Living fish. And a fishing net. Made of paper. It looked so difficult. I didn't have a punt, for a number of reasons. I had no idea what the actual goal of this was. I didn't see anyone win a fish, I wasn't sure if that was the aim. I'm just guessing from watching. Also, what the hell would I do with a fish? Cook it and eat it? Probably.

The evening drew to a close, and plans changed quickly. But we got some fast food at the market near the school and headed back to the room.