The idea of visiting Khao Kho first popped into our minds when endless posts of the sea of clouds kept popping up in my Instagram feed. The pictures were so lovely and tempting that these travel influencers only posted the best shots. I remember asking my travel buddy in the middle of the year and she too said her feed was bombarded by these photos. We put aside the topic for a while and when we were both having our December year-end break, we decided to just skip off to Khao Kho and Khao Yai since YOLO
Trip planning was pretty fast as we pretty much decided to go with the flow so we only booked the car, hotels and flights and a basic itinerary. After comparing car rental rates and driving conditions, we opted to get a car charter which include a driver/guide who will follow us throughout the 4 days we were in Khao Yai and Khao Kho. The car charter cost us approximately THB 15,000 and we booked through Klook with a local agency which is not really the best, you can see my notes at the end of this post
The first stop we made after our driver picked us up was the Saraburi Sunflower Fields which was about a 2.5-hour drive from Bangkok. As the driver is fairly new and this is his 2nd trip to Khao Yai, he was unsure of where the actual location of the sunflower fields and we had to direct him to the nearest field with the most flowers. The entry to the fields was THB 60 per person and you can take as long as you wish. There are some furniture and structure put up throughout the field for customers to take pictures of; hot air balloons, floating stairways to heaven, tent, picnic table and chairs and more. You can get some nice pictures here but we were done in less than an hour as it was really sunny and hot
Address: QW87+P65, Chong Sarika, Phatthana Nikhom District, Lopburi 15220, Thailand
Only open from Nov to Dec, another field is open for other months
The next stop which was a 1.5-hour drive away was the Primo Piazza which is a replica attraction of an Italian Village complete with barn animals like alpaca, sheep and donkeys. The entry for this village was at THB 200 per person and the moment you enter, you do feel like you have been magically transported to an Italian Village although the blazing hot sun does bring you back to reality. The buildings are all styled in an Italian fashion and the village has many nooks and crannies for many Instagram picture opportunities. Animal lovers can also head over to the barn to feed the animals. There are not many food options in the village except for a cafe which sells sandwiches and beverages and another shop selling ice cream. It is pretty relaxing to sit around and enjoy the surroundings and we spent about 1.5 to 2 hours here
Address: 200/2 หมู่ที่ 10 Mu Si, Pak Chong District, Nakhon Ratchasima 30130, Thailand
The next sightseeing destination is Wat Pha Sorn Kaew in Khao Kho. We made our way here the next day from our Hobbit Hotel. There is no entry fee to the temple except for a parking fee for any vehicle. The parking lot was 5 mins walk from the temple and we first went to the side with the 5 Sitting Buddha Statue. The temple is built on top of an 830m peak and the white porcelain Buddha statue stands 7 stories tall with a measured height of 45 meters which makes the entire structure extremely imposing. Inside the structure lies a statue of the sleeping Buddha in the meditation halls for their followers to practise
Across the street from the white Buddha is the main praying hall which is vaguely reminiscent of Casa Batllo by Antoni Gaudí. Famous throughout Spain for his architectural design decorated by colourful mosaics, tiles and ceramics, you get a feeling that the main prayer halls here in Wat Pha Sorn Kaew definitely took inspiration from Gaudi’s designs. As a traveller who has been to see Gaudi’s building, I would say the prayer hall here is equally beautiful if not more due to an added Asian charm to it as it combines the concept of the colourful mosaic with the traditional typical Thai temple architectural design of sharp dome roof and pagoda structures. This is definitely one of the biggest highlights of my trip. Do note all footwear needs to be removed before entering both areas
Address: 95 Khaem Son, Khao Kho District, Phetchabun 67280, Thailand
The following day, on the way back to Khao Yai, we visited the Hydrangea cafe which is a sight to behold for flower fanatics. The cafe is essentially a flower plantation full of rows and rows of Lavender flowers. There are so many photo points for you to imagine you are in Provence, France at this very moment; that is if you manage to take a photo without any crowd in the background. Other than Lavenders, the cafe also colour-tinted some fake plants for various colourful zones for visitors to take pictures to their heart’s content. Right at the top of the hill is a small cafe where you can get simple canned or machine hot and cold beverages but do note that it gets very crowded with visitors and can be hard to grab a seat so we ended up just hanging around the area and taking more pictures. The entry fee is THB 60 per person and has free parking at the top of the hill next to the cafe
Address: 2196, Khao Kho, Khao Kho District, Phetchabun 67270, Thailand
The next stop we went to was Khao Yai The Mango House Farm which was very popular on Google so we dropped by to take a look. Located quite deep into the woods, the mango farm was like a hidden gem. Overlooking 8000 mango trees, the owners decided to set up a cafe selling desserts and treats made from their fresh mangos. They sell fresh mangoes by pieces depending on the size of the fruit and also freeze-dried mango chips which are perfect as gifts. The cafe also sells very delicious mango sticky rice, mango ice cream and smoothies. I brought back some mangoes and they remained sweet and delicious even after a week
Address: Nong Nam Daeng, Pak Chong District, Nakhon Ratchasima 30450, Thailand
Lastly, before we headed back to Bangkok, we stopped by the chocolate factory to get some chocolate. While we were heading up to Khao Kho, we passed this building multiple times and wanted to drop by before we returned to Bangkok as the industrial-designed building was quite outstanding from the rest of the buildings. There are 3 main sections of the building; the main chocolate-making area and the retail shop where you can see their chef making artisan chocolate and also buy their products at the store. The 2nd level of the building is a restaurant and cafe which serves Italian cuisine. We only picked up a few chocolate items and left as we had no time to try their food. The quality of the chocolate is not too bad as the texture was smooth and not too sweet.
Address: 352 หมู่ 2 Mu Si, Pak Chong District, Nakhon Ratchasima 30130, Thailand
Overall, the trip to Khao Yai and Khao Kho was a slow and relaxing trip with many impromptu decisions to visit attractions on the way. I personally feel that there are no major venues to visit except for the few places I mentioned above as you can see that most of the other travel blogs will recommend cafe hopping due to the different themes of the hotels/restaurants and cafes. Do plan a visit if you are looking for a quiet place for a retreat or just detox from the concrete jungle.
Notes on the car charter agency:
- The agency sent us a driver who hardly did the Khao Kho route and could not speak English so he could not recommend any places to us and we had to communicate through google translate the entire trip
- There was some confusion with the car charter booking as the driver was not briefed by the agency on the route we planned so we were delayed for a good 20 mins sorting things out. He wanted to bring us on his recommended route as it will save time but we tried explaining we already have hotel bookings done up and did not want the car routes to take more than 3 hours which is why we broke up the sectors. So the advice here is to make sure all communications are either noted in email or WhatsApp unless you do not mind making the last min changes to your trip
- Everything turned out well as we were very easygoing with the driver and he realised we were really not very pushy tourists so despite the initial confusion and small unhappiness, we did end the trip on a good note
Bear Travels . Bear Eats . Bear Cooks 