Day 1, Wednesday 10 April, Chaiyaphum

Final Tour....... So, I've reached the final tour of my current stay in Thailand although to call it a tour is misleading since there will be limited opportunity to go attraction hunting. The primary purpose of my departure today is to safely reach Chaiyaphum and then on to Chiang Khan in Loei Province where we will spend time with family for Songkran. The festivities though will unlikely to be what most people expect during Songkran.
Departure causes no issues as we refuel and head out of the city then on towards Saraburi where we take lunch. The journey to Chaiyaphum is not demanding and I have a plan that uses up free time in various ways. The first is to follow up on a lead held over from Sunday.
Still Searching....... We head for Muak Lek once more and make contact with a village head who could pull some strings. He shows us a piece of land the size I'm looking for but while it has ownership and transfer rites, a land registration certificate has not been issued. We are currently only interested in land that has official documents for obvious reasons. What follows next is rather curious. The Head wants to show off a project of his.
In a lovely forested area near a small waterfall they have been clearing land for access. The plan is to open up the area for folk to celebrate Songkran. There's a lot to do in just a couple of days laying a stone access road and building toilets. Good luck to all who come here but quite how this affects me I don't know. Three locations remain on my list but in mid-afternoon we are still 2-3 hours from our destination. The first location will actually increase the distance and I'm not amused at the delay but press on to Pak Chong and a visit to the station.
Pak Chong Railway Station....... Missing out on my last visit, I'm again at Pak Chong Railway Station and should be in time for the 233 service to Surin that I can capture on video. Well, I am easily on time as the service is nearly 20 minutes late. That won't help with the schedule though.
The second location is an area I selected to do a land search but all we have time for is a drive through and nothing obvious appears. We must press on to the third. We are presently in Nakhon Ratchasima Provice but as we head north we enter Saraburi once more but soon exit this province for Lopburi. Here I find something that is obvious.
Prang Nang Pohm Hua....... Prang Nang Pohm Hua is an ancient Khmer ruin. Nang Pohm Hua means, 'princess with fragrant hair'. There is no clear evidence of the prang's history but tradition has it that the daughter of a former Governor here used to sit on a stone near a lake after bathing. One day a prince who was visiting the area noticed the princess and became very fond of her. The princess however, had another suitor and a complex love triangle developed and the princess's two admirers became locked in a contest. The princess on realising this became very depressed and decided to take her own life by hanging. In distress the two princes followed by jumping in the river to drown. It is said the the body of the princess was laid in the prang.
In 1987 the Fine Arts Department carried out an archaeological survey and discovered that the prang stood alone facing east. The base was of sandstone with the upper part of brick. Sandstone was also used for the doorway. The upper structure was missing according to what was found on the ground nearby. The survey concluded that the prang was built in the second half of the 11th century.
Khok Khli Railway Station....... I note that leading up to the monument I crossed the railway line. This is the Keang Khoi to Bua Yai Line but services are limited to two per day each way. The Rapid runs overnight but the Ordinary I've just missed. I arrive at Khok Khli and it's deserted as expected but directly east is a high ridge running north-south. The railway needs a tunnel to pass though it. The Khao Phang Hoei Railway Tunnel has featured before on this website. We must now make serious progress as at 5.30 pm we still have over 100 km to go.
Hop Inn....... A simple night market dinner is taken in Chatturat, and we head straight for our accommodation at Hop Inn in Chaiyaphum. Hop Inn is a no frills' apartment chain and there are no frills service as we check in without to anything to report. Tomorrow it should be a more straightforward day unless like today we make things complicated for ourselves.
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