I have been to Hua Hin during my first trip to The City of Angels. This time, I want to get off the beaten track for something different. I want to explore new places that are not far away from Bangkok as well as to avoid crowd as Thais might have one week long New Year break. Since my schedule is quite packed this time and I have only one day to spend outside Bangkok city, I took Lopburi into consideration as most of the main attractions can be covered in one day.

On Friday morning, we took the BTS from Nana to Mo Chit. Upon exiting the station, take the exit on the left and you will find a place where minivans stop. Look for the free shuttle bus in orange colour and ask the driver whether he is going to Mo Chit 2. The bus dropped us at the entrance. We just followed the footsteps of others to look for the minivan. After walking out from the alley shops, there is a spacious place where you will bus and minivan station. We paid 120 Baht each before boarding the van. Inform the driver that you want to get off at train station where the major attractions and minivan stop are within walking distance. The journey to Lopburi city centre took about 2 hours.

When you see there are monkeys wandering on the street, you are ready to explore this monkey kingdom. It was around lunch time when we reached here. Our first stop was Noom Guesthouse. This is an ideal place where you can have lunch and book for the sunflower field tour. The sunflowers only bloom from December to January. The tour cost us 300 Baht each. Besides sunflower field tour, they also organize trip to Pasak Jolasid Dam, Peacock Temple and Bat Cave. Since the tour commenced at 2.30pm, we still had some time to walk around after lunch. We ordered green curry chicken, Thai shrimp omelette, fried rice, white rice and Thai milk tea. Overall, the food taste great and worth the money!

Our first meal in Lopburi

Interior part of Noom Guesthouse

After lunch, we walked to nearby attractions for some photo opportunities. We had visited Wat Indra, Phra Prang Sam Yot and Prang Khaek. Only the first two attractions were surrounded by monkeys. While in Phra Prang Sam Yot, a monkey pulled my plastic bag and tore it apart before I managed to stop it because it thought there might be some food inside the bag. Luckily, the monkey walked away when it found no food. My advice here is to keep any plastic bag out of their sight as this might attract the monkeys. Also, take good care of your belongings. However, don’t worry too much because the monkeys are fed regularly by the locals so they won’t bother the tourists for food.

Wat Indra

Monkeys, monkeys are everywhere!

Phra Prang Sam Yot is situated near the first roundabout in city centre

Creative street murals in the alley

Prang Khaek

We walked back to the guest house when it was almost 2.30 pm. We jumped on a jeep and started our journey to sunflower field. After half an hour drive, the driver stopped at a field. It was full of blooming colourful flowers! We were surprised as it was not part of our planned itinerary. The view was simply amazing!

Next, we moved on to the sunflower field which was not far away from here. Luck was by our side when we found out the sunflowers still welcomed us with full energy and hope despite cloudy day. We spent almost one hour here just to take photos. There was even a kind guy who volunteered to take photos of us!

Millions of sunflowers saying "Hi" to us

Cool yeah?

One of the monks also offered to take photos of us

There is a donation box where we can donate some money as a token of appreciation for the farmers who work on the sunflower plantation

Tips:

- In the late evening, there is a row of street food stall owners start their business in front of train station. This is a great dining option if you happen to stay overnight in Lopburi.

- The latest minivan back to Bangkok is by 6 pm. The company which operates the minivan is called KO Van Lopburi and located at the shop lots opposite the train station.