Day 1 - Sunday 28 April

Preparations…….. In the grand scheme of things, I shouldn’t have much to write about today on the start of this major tour. After all there is nothing on my visit list as yet with possibly one exception. All I have is an aiming point and it’s an easy afternoon journey out of the city. The morning however, is reserved for collecting the hire car.
Normally a mere formality, I’m aware that on the last visit to Thailand, National Car Hire managed to make a pig’s ear of the process. At the very least I’m expecting a Toyota Vios as advertised not a ‘something similar’; it’s similarity limited to the fact it has four wheels. However what will definitely not be similar, is the pick-up point. I’ve chosen the hire company ‘asap’ for a long term hire as it’s really competitively priced but the pick-up point is Don Mueng Airport rather than Suvarnabhumi. With a 10am collection, I’m aware that the morning traffic may well be heavier towards Don Mueng due to railway construction work. Accordingly I’ve set a departure time of 8pm but with no packing done the previous evening it’s 8.30am before we’re on our way. Our initial journey by motorbike taxi is straightforward, leaving us at a bus stop in Ramintra Road but with the temperature already into the mid 30’s it seems ages before available transport arrives: Even the regular 554 service to Don Mueng fails to stop. Finally a basic non-air conditioned service arrives, makes reasonable progress to Don Mueng and despite my reservation about not taking a taxi, we arrive at the domestic terminal more or less on time and find a Toyota Vios available much to my approval. The only hitch is the fact that I’ve brought cash to pay for the balance of the hire fee and they only deal in plastic. That means I’m left with too much local currency and could incur interests charges at home further down the line.
Departure…….. The final preparation means a return to the residence the way we came to collect luggage. Nevertheless the final departure is almost an hour earlier than expected. I then set up the trip via GPS and we agree with the route avoiding construction works. By the time we reach the outer ring road to the west of Bangkok, I’m starting to build a plan that takes advantage of our good progress. Soon we're in Suphanburi Province.
Wat Sa Kaeo Srisanpetch…….. Wat Sa Kaeo Srisanpetch would be just about the most uninteresting temple you could ever imagine where it not for it’s dark secret. The temple itself has been through better days and look practically abandoned but just a hundred metres from the entrance is a shrine, a shrine I’ve been determined to visit since I was last in Suphanburi in October 2015. On that occasion I simply ran out of time before darkness fell on my way back to Bangkok. Arriving at the shrine this time with time to spare, I find it in the middle of rice paddies, some distance west of Suphanburi. With this visit, I feel I can draw a line under the tragic accident I reported on in 2015 that occured on 26th May 1991 in which 213 passengers and 10 crew perished when Lauda Air Flight 004 crashed in the forest of Phu Toei National Park, Dan Chang district of Suphanburi province.
The memorial tablets list all the names of the casualties from the flight and are situated in a small garden that appears to be well tended if sadly seldom visited. More details of this tragic event will be repeated in my notes.

U Thong National Museum…….. With the time little after 2pm, the door is now wide open for another site visit that was unavailable to me back in 2015. The last time I was in U-Thong it was a Monday, a closure day for national museums. As I set out today, I had not expected to be anywhere near U Thong in early afternoon yet the museum is just 20 minutes away from the shrine. With closure expected at 4pm, that should be just perfect and we waste no time reaching it. I figure that with this visit, I will have made as thorough a coverage of Suphanburi province as I have any other and can swiftly move onto my final destination for today. Well after just 15 minutes in U-Thong Museum that idea is stone dead! It begins to dawn on me that U Thong was likely to have witnessed the birth of civilisation as we know it in Thailand i.e. the first evidence of writing and recorded history. More than that it adds to my record a likely final and most important piece in that record of the Dvaravati culture in Central Thailand as far back as 4th or 5th century. Moreover the mysterious culture of Suvarnabhumi that predated it is said to have been represented here, a culture that supported Hinduism and Buddhism in pre-history, a time from when no records survive.

U Thong National Museum is located in U Thong ancient city and was established to collect and display artifacts from the excavations at U Thong ancient city and nearby areas in which developed from the late historic period, 5th century to the early state of Dvaravati. His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit graciously presided over the opening ceremony of U Thong National Museum on May 13th 1966.
The museum is located on two floors and divided into 6 section as follows:-
1) Ancestors of U Thong People (2nd Floor)
2) Dvaravati at U Thong (2nd Floor)
3) Historical Development at Suvarnabhumi (2nd Floor)
4) Maritime Trade at Suvarnabhumi (2nd Floor)
5) U Thong as a centre of Buddhism (1st Floor)
6) Special Exhibition (1st Floor)
U Thong Ancient City…….. I must admit that by now my head is spinning as this new knowledge is forced into an already crammed brain adding a completely new perspective on what I understood about Thai history. That new knowledge is supported by the presence of ancient monuments which lay within and close to this ancient city which I didn’t know existed. Now this mini bombshell has repercussions. I can’t just ignore these monuments, so important are they. So as the museum closes at 4pm so does monument hunting start and that initial destination for today will just have to wait with U-Thong, not for the first time, being used by us as a stopover. By close of play around 5.30pm the following monuments are identified:-

Thanachon Resort…….. With little thought up until now about accommodation apart from the fact we will be staying in the area, our attention turns from monument hunting to accommodation hunting. Our initial searches reveal nothing suitable but of course we’ve stayed in U-Thong before and I can fall back on an out of town resort that from memory did not meet with disapproval. We soon check in at Thanachon Resort and even remember the restaurant we visited before. Ordering the Korean style BBQ washed down with a beer is more than adequate and incredibly cheap. Needless to say I also had it wrong that I believed there would be little to write about today. But then this is THAILAND. It’s been an incredibly rewarding first day on tour. Next Page.