Yee Peng is famous in Northern Provinces where they release the lanterns to worship the gods. Well, when I was in Hua Hin, we bought two Yee Peng lanterns. The wind was strong and it was quite hard to set the fire. After few attempt, we finally manage to release both lanterns into the sky. They went all the way up and then further and missing from our eye sights…

Wat Huay Mongkol is situated in Tambon Huay Mongkol, Hua Hin, Prachuab Khiri Khan Province. The temple is located about 15 km from Hua Hin town. All 10 of us (Ta Toy, Yai Noi, Yai Suan, Yai Nuch, P’Ning, P’Nat, Niw, Nik, Pee and me) went in Ta Toy’s truck. Noon didn’t join us as she needs to look after the small kids swimming at the beach.

The weather was very hot and I felt so exhausted. But luckily Ta Toy’s truck aircond was working pretty well. Wat Huay Mongkol is famous for Luang Por Thuad’s statue. Some says that the statue is the biggest statue of Luang Por Thuad in the world.

Luang Phor Thuad was the legendary Southern Thai monk, immensely popular with the Southern Thais and increasingly so elsewhere in the Kingdom for the miracles associated with him. The big statue was commissioned by Queen Sirikit of Thailand at Wat Huay Mongkol.

The huge Luang Phor Thuad statue is seated on a pedestal with four other smaller images in niches where the faithful can paste gold leaf on Luang Phor Thuad. There is a canteen where visitors can have their lunch for free. There is also a big donation box at the entrance for visitors to donate. However, it is up to them whether to donate or not.

After eating, we went over to wash the plates and spoons that we used. There’s a tip for saving. Just go to a temple with canteen. Donate 20 Baht and you can eat the buffet as much as you want. There is one temple in Ayuthaya which has a canteen like this as well. The food in Wat Huay Mongkol wasn’t bad at all.

There are two elephant statues with 3 heads located in front of Luang Por’s statue. Many visitors tried to place coins into the elephant’s mouth. I did after five or six times trying. It was quite difficult. For me, morning is the best time to visit as the weather might be cool and not as hot as in the afternoon. Other than that, there were too many tourists arriving by coaches from other provinces. The place was a little bit crowded the time we went.

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I posted the photo of traditional Thai house which I saw in Amphoe.com. There’s no information on location or whether it is a museum or a show house etc. However there are two female government officers in the photo so I guess this must be something to do with the government project. It looks simple and the decor totally shows that it is a Thai house. Maybe can built one in Udon for my retirement. ^_^

Batu Caves is one of the famous Hindu Temples in Malaysia. Situated just 20-30 km from the Kuala Lumpur city center, Batu Caves attracts hundred thousand of tourists every year. The temple is famous with the Thaipusam Festival where the Hindus devotees commemorates birthday of Lord Murugan.

There are few Hindu shrines inside the Batu Caves a limestone hill. To get onto of the hill, all visitors need to climb a steep flight of 272 steps. Noon and I first went to pay a respect to one of the Hindu god at a temple before climbing the stairs. A monk then gave us blessing. We then climbed up the 272 steps. For the first 30 steps, we were strong enough. After that, our legs began to shake. Noon seems to be tired and I pulled her all the way up.

Visitors need to be aware of the monkeys all along the stairs. Do not bring any junk food up or you will be attacked by the monkeys. Once we reached the top, there are few shrines inside the cave which require us to walk down few steps and climb up again. Noon was very tired so she just wanted to snap some photos. From the cave, we saw view of the suburb area of Kuala Lumpur.

Visitors can also take photo with a python and iguana by paying some amount of money to the owner. On the way down, it was quite easy but scary. There are stalls selling fresh milk and coconut water. It is much more convinient for visitor to take a cab straight to Batu Caves. To save budget, they can use the Light Rail Transit (LRT) to the last terminal (Gombak). From there, they can catch a cab to Batu Caves.

I still remembered that I spent almost a month there in Mahasarakham during Songkran last year. It might be boring but Tawan Daeng is just 5 minutes away.