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Half-Way There: Phitsanulok

Posted by Stuart at 01:07 PM on July 17, 2006

It's now official, I have been to half of the 76 provinces in Thailand. This weekend, Phitsanulok was #38 for me. This province is located at the junction of northern, central, and northeastern Thailand. Or as the TAT office calls it, "Lower Northern Thailand."

And, as usual, I had a great time checking out a new place. Phitsanulok itself is your basic provincial capital (they are all mostly the same, actually) but it has had an interesting history over the last 700 years, including some recent events that bear mention.

First of all, it is the home of what is considered one of the most beautiful Buddha images in Thailand. The image is called Phra Buddha Chinnarat and is housed Wat Phra Sri Rattana Mahathat on the banks of the Nan River. And after visiting it, I have to agree, it's one of the most beautiful I have seen. It's only moderately sized, but the details such as the naga heads on each side of the Buddha make it a worth a viewing.

Another interesting site in Phitsanulok province is Phu Hin Rong Kla National Park. In the 1970s and 80s, this area was a stronghold of the Communist Party of Thailand (CPT). The Thai military had some major battles with the CPT in the 1980s, and after the Communists were defeated, the area was turned into a national park.

There is a small museum at the Visitor's Center that explains a little bit about what happened in these battles, and luckily some of it is in English. But even without the history, the park has a few natural attractions that made me glad I drove the 130 kilometers (80 miles) out from Phitsanulok city.

First of all, the park is on top of a mountain, so there are great views of the countryside below. There are also some very strange rock formations. On one tall cliff, the bare rock at the top of the cliff is covered in rock semicircles that are about 6 inches in diameter. It is as if someone left a bunch of soccer balls on the top of the mountain that turned to stone as they melted into the rock face.

So, that's the report from Province #38 of my list of Thai provinces. I wonder what secrets the second 38 hold for me.