Phetchaburi Things to Do

Hundreds of monkeys live around Khao Wang Palace .They are not shy and some are rather aggressive.They will think nothing of snatching any bags you are carrying especially if they contain food.While we were here the attendent had to get the BB gun out to keep them under control.

Khao Wang means White Palace in Thai sits on top of a hill overlooking all of Petchaburi. The palace buildings is the mix of neoclassical, Thai, and Chinese style. From the top of this cool palace you can get a very good view of the surrounding area .You can also walk into some parts of the palace which have been converted into a museum .The palace is open everyday but the museum is closed on Mondays & Tuesdays.

There is a big Wat next to the cave area.
Highly decorated and well maintained - and the few people around clearly astonished that they have visitors.
We landed here, because we were looking for the Cave. At the road there was a signe showing the direction, but where the road ended, there were no more signs.
So we parked our car and went exploring. Always a god idea.

The Wat offers several buildings, nicely placed at the foot of a hill and some big stones in between.
In the hill are small caves you can go exploring, but not the cave we were looking for.

Up the hill goes a path. If you follow it, you come to a plave with a good view not only on the wat beneath, but also on the village of Phetchaburi itself.
On the hill are several of these structures. I think they are called chedis. These were used for grave markers.
I thought it interesting how different these were decorated. Each one was made different as you can see in the picture.

The ground of Thailand is mostly limestone that is quite soft compared to other stones and water washes it out easily, creating caves. You will find many caves around Thailand. If you just have the time to visit One Thai cave, make it this one.

Located 3km north of Phetchaburi.
There is a road that goes straight there. In front of the hill where the cave is, it divides into 2 lanes, one goes right, the other left - and then there is a very small road going straight up the hill. Big buses can't get up there and you have to walk (10 minutes) or take a taxi. If you have a car, drive straight up, there is a parking space. Take care of the monkeys that are around here.

From the parking, where they are busily building a pavillon it is only a short way further up.
Entrance to the cave is free. A guide will cost you 100 Baht, but is not necessary in my opinion.

Keep away from the monkeys that try to get something to eat from the tourists. They can get quite wild and you don't want to waste your time in a hospital getting rabies shots.

You climb down the steep stairs into the cave. The sun is falling through holes in the ceiling.
Especially nice to see them is between 11a.m. and 2 p.m. when the sun lights up on the golden Buddha statues (see picture).

There are 2 big caves, the sun-cave and the moon cave. The further you proceed the darker it gets. Take a flash light with you, if you want to go exploring.
There are bats in the caves in the back.

Phra Nakhon Khiri, known locally as Khao Wang, was built in 1860 by King Rama IV or better known as King Mongkut.

It is a number of royal palaces, temples and even as astrononical observation tower as a royal summer residence. It was King Mongkut who went into monkhood for many years before becoming the first "modern" King of Siam. King Mongkut hired many foreigners to modernise his country including an English school teacher "Anna Leonowens" which has inspired the movie "King and I".

Today this location has been converted into a historical park for tourists worthy of a visit if you are in the neighborhood.

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King Rama IV loved this place so much he built a palace up here which was completed in 1860. The architectural character can be best described as a mixture of Chinese and Thai styles.

The walk up to the palace is steep, but on reaching the top, one is rewarded with magnificent vistas of Petburi, and its surrounds.

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Located on the mountain with 121 metres as the highest peak in Petchburi. This temple assume to be built in Ayutthaya period as the forest temple where King Sue of Ayutthaya used to came here for meditation. The must things to see ‘re -Pediment of ubosot which so beautiful in style and presented how local artisans made. It siad to be built in Ayudhaya period. -Some caves on the mountain, this temple was once famous in meditation place . King Sue of Ayudhaya period have ever been there for meditation ,so you can found one cave name King Sue cave.

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This temple was built in ayudhaya period . Some scholars said that this temple ‘s the example of Ayudhaya art. The must see things here 're -Ubosot which surrounded with sema or boundary markers.The curved base of this building was the style of late Ayutthaya period.On the pediment of Ubosot decorated with finest stucco depicted Narayana God on devil and inside the Ubosot,housed the Buddha image in Ayutthaya style.- Prang and chedi .
All was built and decorated with Ayudhaya style. (just some parts renovated ,but all was from local artisans). Other interesting things are finest stuccos on the bases of Sema or Boundary markers.Depicted about the giants or Yaksas holding the sema.