Wiang Lo Revisited & The 1251 Roadside Camping

You may recall i had paid a visit to Wiang Lo on a previous camping trip and wanted to return and explore some more.

387 km covered during this overnight trip on my trusty Baja.

A nice graded spot perfect for camping

So we planned to stop once more at Wiang Lo  on our way to another camping spot to see what we could see, we turned at Phrathat Khiri Si Wiang Lo Stupa N19.45055° E100.07607° and followed the track to hopefully some relic sites.

Brief history of the Stupa.

The first site is Wat Tha Che, as we would discover most of these sites are completely overgrown and we missed a couple hidden in the brush.

 

 

 

Wat Ku Buak Ku was almost completely lost.

 

 

Wat Nong Pam only visible due to a small Buddha placed on the site.

 

The most impressive and most intact was Wat Si Chum, clearly a lot of restoration taken place here on this huge site.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A number of fragments of pottery placed at the foot of the large Buddha at this site.

 

 

 

 

 

Wat Saraphi i visited earlier in the year was now beginning to be lost to nature, surprised little care is being made to display these sites for visitors.

 

Local fisherman checking his nets on the Ing river.

Des enjoying the suspension bridge.

 

Wing Lo is a very small village but every turn you uncover a little more history.

This interesting pillar had some beautiful carvings on all four sides.

 

 

Presume this statue is of a king of the old city

 

A very old Buddha locked up adjacent to the pillar site.

We headed to the main site of Wat Sri Ping and visited the museum which holds some interesting objects collected in the area.

Surprised to see metal tools or swords on display.

  

 

 

 

 

The main 16th century Stupa.

Some script by the local monks.

 

 

 

A very modern site plan complete with QR codes of the site.

Ku Si Ping  just in the middle of the village.

We decided to cross back over the bridge and head east to see if we could see any more sites, it was single track this way and we soon reached a dead end.

Weir in the distance.

Planned to ride across here put local fishermen had rod's galore, so we turned back to the bridge.

Totally overgrown, so i guess no relic sites in this location.

Back over the bridge for the last time

Shot from my GPS of the trail we rode along the Ing river.

 

Back on the road and feeling hungry after all that exploring, so roadside BBQ chicken and sticky rice was in order washed down with a cold beer, as we continued to the 1251.

We had planned to stay overnight at Than Sawan waterfall in Doi Phu Nang National Park, place was spotless and after a quick around we notice big signs stating no alcohol and fire allowed at his park.

Centre of the picture a rules list of do's and don't's was the nail in the coffin, plus the rangers wanted to charge 100 baht each being foreigners even though i showed them my pink Thai ID,  Thais pay 20 baht

We headed back to the 1251 and i recalled a little way off another National Park site at the unimpressive Ton Phueng Waterfall, but it was in a state of disrepair and little firewood available so we pressed on.

The best camping spot we could find here.

As we headed to Ban Sa village a few km's away we spotted a nice lake area and some reasonably flat ground for camping.

Across from here was a chicken farm, so i enquired with the owner if we could camp at this spot and was given the thumbs up, so we pitched up as darkness fell and gathered some firewood and went to the village to stock up on beverages for the night.

 

 

Another great day in Northern Thailand, a nice cool night by the campfire listening to the all night music supplied to the chickens to keep them happy as we recapped on the day.