Phetchaburi

Although our trusty Lonely Planet warned us that this was not a great place to stay the night, we decided to find a hotel and check in so we could see Khao Luang Cave in the morning. We got off the train and got a lot of stares on our trek to our hotel. Now we know why everyone at the train station said "Phetchaburi?" It wasn't because they couldn't understand our poor thai accents, its because farang (foreigners) don't go there often. Although not entirely unfriendly, Phetchaburi was not set up for farang tourists very well. The Petchaburi Hotel was only 250 Baht per night, but it was right next to a freeway on-ramp, the fan was extremly loud, it was a very drab room, and there was a bird feather on the bathroom floor. This was a big shock for our first night on our own, and neither of us said anything to the other in fear of seeming weak. Now we know that this place was really a dump.
The next morning we had to walk all the way back to the train station to catch a tuk tuk (small three-wheeled taxi things) to Khao Luong Cave.



We were very glad we paid the 60 Baht for a tuk tuk, because our driver had to navigate through a troop of monkeys and nearly hit a few in the process. The cave was awesome, but unexpectedly expensive. Our tour guide told us we had to pay him 200 Baht as a donation to the temple on the grounds, and 100 Baht to the snack shack as a tip for him. This seemed a bit shady, but what could we have done? The cave contained nearly 300 Buddahs and was very exciting. There was even a fat Chinese-style Buddah to which our tour guide said "same same" to as he patted his own belly.





This dog played with another dog on top of the hundred-year old ruins. We also saw him pee on a stone Buddah in the cave.

Khao Luong was pretty great, but it was a very short tour. I would recomend that you try and do Phetchaburi as a day trip if you're thinking of visiting.