Thailand (Lonely Planet, 13th Edition) - China Williams [330]
There is a small museum at the park headquarters that displays relics from CPT days, although there’s not a whole lot of English explanation. At the end of the road into the park is a small White Hmong village.
If you’re not interested in the history of Phu Hin Rong Kla, there are waterfalls, hiking trails and scenic views, as well as some interesting rock formations – jutting boulders called Lan Hin Pum, and an area of deep rocky crevices where PLAT troops would hide during air raids, called Lan Hin Taek. Ask at the Visitor Centre (8.30am-4.30pm) for maps.
Phu Hin Rong Kla can become quite crowded on weekends and holidays; schedule a more peaceful visit for midweek.
Sleeping & Eating
Golden House Tour (0 5525 9973; 55/37 Th Trailokanat; 8am-6.30pm) near the TAT office in Phitsanulok can help book accommodation.
Thailand’s Royal Forest Department (0 2562 0760; www.dnp.go.th; tent site 30B, 2-8 person tent 150-600B, bungalows 800-2400B) Bungalows for two to eight people, in three different zones of the park, can be rented from this organisation. You can also pitch a tent or rent one. Sleeping bags (30B) and pillows (10B) and a sleeping pad (20B) are available.
Near the camping ground and bungalows are restaurants and food vendors. The best are Duang Jai Cafeteria – try its famous carrot sôm·am – and Rang Thong.
Getting There & Away
The park headquarters is about 125km from Phitsanulok. To get here, first take an early bus to Nakhon Thai (ordinary/air-con 53/73B, two hours, hourly from 6am to 6pm). From there you can charter a srng·ta·ou to the park (approximately 500B to 800B) from near the market. From Phitsanulok, Golden House Tour ( Click here) charges 1700B for car and driver; petrol is extra. This is a delightful trip if you’re on a motorcycle since there’s not much traffic along the way, but a strong engine is necessary to conquer the hills to Phu Hin Rong Kla.
PHITSANULOK TO LOM SAK
Hwy 12 between Phitsanulok and Lom Sak is known as the ‘Green Route’, and runs along the scenic, rapid-studded Lam Nam Khek. Off this route are waterfalls, resorts, and the Phu Hin Rong Kla ( Click here) and Thung Salaeng Luang (right) national parks. The sites tend to be more popular on weekends and holidays.
Any of the resorts along Hwy 12 can organise white-water rafting trips on the Lam Nam Khek along the section with the most rapids, which corresponds more or less to between Km45 and Km52 of Hwy 12.
The Phitsanulok TAT office ( Click here) distributes a ‘Green Route’ map of the attractions along this 130km stretch of road. You may want to bypass the first two waterfalls, Nam Tok Sakhunothayan (at the Km33 marker) and Kaeng Song (at the Km45 marker), which on weekends can get overwhelmed with visitors. The third, Kaeng Sopha at the Km72 marker, is a larger area of small falls and rapids where you can walk from rock formation to rock formation – there are more or fewer rocks depending on the rains. Food vendors provide inexpensive sôm·am and gài yâhng (papaya salad and grilled chicken). In between the Kaeng Song and Kaeng Sopha waterfalls, turning off at Km49, is the Dharma Abha Vipassana Meditation Center (08 1646 4695; www.dhamma.org/en/schedules/schabha.htm), which does regular 10-day meditation retreats.
Further east along the road is the 1262-sq-km Thung Salaeng Luang National Park (0 5526 8019; admission 200B; 8am-5pm), one of Thailand’s largest and most important wildlife sanctuaries. Thung Salaeng Luang encompasses vast meadows, evergreen and dipterocarp forests, limestone hills and numerous streams. From November to December the meadows bloom with carpets of wild flowers, and the best place to see wildlife is on these meadows and around the ponds and salt licks. There are over 190 bird species confirmed in the park, most significant of which for birdwatchers is the Siamese fireback pheasant. Thung Salaeng Luang was also once home to the PLAT. The entrance is at the Km80 marker, where