First Travel I Did After My COVID-19 Recovery

Before I got that photo above, I tested positive for COVID-19 the week before.

It was devastating to see the antigen test kit with 2 red lines. It means I need to isolate myself for 10 days. Isolation is fine. What made the situation worse are the canceled weekend plans, brunch, and dinner dates with friends, that therapeutic grocery shopping, and the random night jogs and strolls in the park, among other things. I just can’t stand staying at home alone for 10 straight days. I felt like something I treasure doing was taken away from me - my liberty to do outdoor activities.

I told myself that the moment I am allowed to get out, I will surely go somewhere outside the city and just be with nature. Luckily, after 5 days of testing positive, I tested negative on the 6th day to the 10th day of isolation. Yes, I am ready to get out.

Before the clock hit 6 P.M. on a Friday, which is also my 10th day of isolation, one of my close friends, Jeff, asked me if I would like to join on a Sunday trip hike in Petchaburi, Thailand. This province is located in the southern part of the country which is a 2-hour drive from Bangkok.

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Image source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0f/Thailand_Phetchaburi_locator_map.svg/800px-Thailand_Phetchaburi_locator_map.svg.png

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Considering my trust with Jeff as we were friends and travel buddies for more than 5 years already, I immediately said yes without checking the trip details (or am I a YES person?). I know it's not a good practice to always say yes but I know that my friends understand what kind of trips I am most fond of.

This hike is organized by Bangkok Hiking Meetup, a group of constant travelers and hikers who help prepare itineraries from pick-up to the actual destination and then go back. This is for a reasonable fee. The organizer dubbed this trip "Magical Boy Trail". I will share with you later why. For this trip, there are 2 destinations: Khao Yoi Cave Temple (side trip) and Khao Nang Phanthurat Forest Park (main destination).

Before anything else, the things I am sharing here are based on my experience, limited research, and notes I got from our tour guide.

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KHAO YOI CAVE TEMPLE

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As you may already know, Thailand's most common religion is Buddhism. With this, there are a lot of temples with Buddhas of varying sizes, positions, and in different locations. One of them is the Khao Yoi Cave Temple.

According to our tour guide, the main reason this is an attraction for tourists is the fact that in this temple, King Rama IV practiced his meditation while he was ordained.

Quick fact: King Rama IV is the one who brought Western influence to Thailand (according to his biography from the Assumption University of Thailand).

This temple houses a reclining buddha and lots of other sitting Buddha. What amazes me here is that similar to Catholics, there are also vague wall figures that they consider Buddha images. Below are the photo of the reclining buddha and the wall figure that is thought to be the reclining buddha's silhouette:

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I have outlined in the right photo (blue dash line) the silhouette.

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Aside from the temple located at the bottom of the rock mountain, we climbed up to check out the cave which also houses another buddha. Again, according to the tour guide, this buddha is brought by the Burmese people. What is distinct with this buddha is his lips have the same color as humans (i.e., red/pink). The color of the lips means that this buddha is a living one and has blood running through its body.

While we were in the cave, rock climbers were doing their thing. It looks scary to me so I have high admiration for climbers challenging themselves in this kind of activity.

We visited this temple for roughly 50 minutes having a total of 1-kilometer distance going up and roaming around the area. These are my stats from my Garmin watch:

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Other notes I can share:

1. Entrance is free for both locals and foreigners.
2. Wild monkeys are roaming around which can be aggressive sometimes so, just be careful and attentive to your surroundings.

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KHAO NANG PHANTHURAT FOREST PARK

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As one of Thailand's national parks, Khao Nang Phanthurat Forest Park is a well-maintained park that has a beginner to an intermediate level type of trail suitable for new or avid hikers wanting to add another mountain to their long list of been-to places.

I find this park interesting because it brings me to the reasons why I am hiking in the first place - to be lost in the beauty and magnificence of nature and to see the world from up there gaining another perspective of life and its mysteries. Yes, I am always amazed by nature whatever form it is.

Before we began, our tour guide shared a mythological story by Thai locals about what lies beyond the park. There are varying versions of the folktale passed on and on but this is the story shared with us:

A giant named "Phanthurat" wanted to have a child. To do so, she made herself into a normal human and found a child named Phra Sang. Phra Sang was such a fine child that he helped in cleaning the home of his newfound mother. One day, while cleaning one of the rooms, he found various magical stuff and bones of animals that appear to be elephants. Knowing this fact, he immediately thought that his mother was dangerous and could potentially kill him. Before he flew away, he dipped himself into the gold pond and brought all of his mother's magical stuff. The giant knew about this and asked Phra Sang to just go home. Phra Sang doesn't want to go back anymore as he was terrified. Out of sadness and frustration, his mother died and has been the figure of the mountain as if there is a laying giant.

To begin our trail, we set foot from the park's main entrance and walked for about 500 meters before we start to ascend and go inside the forest. During the hike, what we see is the normal forest in Southeast Asia like the tropical trees, bamboos, limestones, chirping birds, earthworms, viewpoints, and a lot more. I am also sharing the photos I took in the trail to give you some idea of what to expect.

After we finished the climb, one of the roads was painted with different colors and written was the name of the mountain “PHANTHURAT”:

It took us around 2.5 hours to hike the ~3-kilometer hike of the mountain. Using my smart watch, below are the details of the distance and statistics I have during the hike.

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If I have to rate the difficulty of the trail, I think it’s 2.5/5. It’s good for beginners and yet challenging on the part where there are sharp rocks.

Overall, what made me happy for this day hike is that I get to be with nature again after being isolated for 10 days. To more mountains to conquer!

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Mikee Lapasaran

He is passionate about hiking, trail running, biking, and anything about nature and outdoor activities. Although living in the city, he finds time to use his free time exploring new places, trying new food, getting to know people, and even learning new languages.

He is currently living in Bangkok, away from his family to get a life outside his comfort zone. Other things interest him too. Just grab him a glass of wine or a cup of tea, your choice, while sharing your life experiences and you will pretty much get his heart.

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