It’s not exactly a day trip away from any major city, but Phitsanulok ticks all the boxes for a great place to check out in north-central Thailand. Best of all, all four places talked about in this post are within walking distance of the train station (where the tuk-tuk will drop you off from the bus terminal).
Your first stop in Phitsanulok should really be the Sergeant Major Thawee Folk Museum. Bought and collected over 30 years, the Sergeant Major acquired everything from manually operated rice mills to wooden Buddha images to a couple of buffalo carts. Today, there are four buildings worth of history, along with dozens of specialized contraptions for trapping animals and plenty of other historic… utensils?
Building 1 offers up dozens of species of local fish, including the Mekong Giant Catfish. None of these would be out of place in a larger aquarium, including this one:
The Chitala ornata, anyone?
The next building is larger and holds two stories worth of history:
A few tiny models of boat houses, found along the Nan river. Built since the early 20th century, start by tying 150–200 bamboo sticks, then build up the platform, walls, and ceiling with wood.
Miss Thailand’s of the past and lottery tickets — a winning combination.
Just a few of the older toys those tuk-tuk drivers might have played with some decades ago…
Right next to those toys are your chance to be a parrot! Or a fox! Or a pig!…
Along side the toys was a teeny tiny wee-wee hider. Somehow I don’t see this particularly useful — especially if you were running….
What the heck is this?! The answer’s hidden at the bottom of the post, but I’d love to hear your guesses in the comments.
One of the more entertaining exhibitions showing local wisdom — called a Duang Dak Nu, it’s an old-school rat trap. Put some unmilled rice inside (ants would eat the milled rice). When the rat walks inside they’ll trip the pin and trap the rat. Not pictured here are plenty of other animal traps and the rather gruesome step-by-step procedure of castrating bulls.
Your next stop is the Buddha casting foundry, about 50–100 meters down the road from the museum:
Properly called the Buranathai Buddha Image Foundry, the foundry has over three decades of experience of casting Buddha images. The one you might see over and over again is the Chinnarat (Victorious King) image, second in sacredness only to the Emerald Buddha in Bangkok’s Grand Palace. The image was originally cast in 1337 using the ‘lost wax’ method, the same method used today. While the technique is centuries old, the pieces made with this method last longer since the final image is a single piece with no joined / melded areas.
This may look disrespectful, but it’s simply part of the process. Some signs describe the step-by-step process in English.
Today, the foundry makes many sizes of the image — but only this one image.
Try not to disturb the workers, but do feel free to look on and appreciate the time it takes.
Your next stop is connected to the foundry:
The Garden Birds of Thailand isn’t quite a zoo or an exhibition, but it’s definitely an impressive collection of birds. There’s likely to be someone hovering around the entrance — in our case, they collected a 50 baht ‘donation’ and gave us each a postcard.
This green magpie had quite the skill at bouncing back and forth between two of the sticks…
This guy had an attitude — presenting a Rhinoceros Hornbill you would not want to get too close to.
Aww… isn’t he cute? The green broadbill gently hopped one way or the other as we passed by.
Since we finished up so early, we had plenty of time to see Phitsanulok’s most common tourist attractions, Wat Phra Sri Rattana Mahathat (Wat Yai):
Considered one of the most beautiful Buddha images in Thailand, this golden image of Chinnarat (the same one that’s made in the foundry) is why Thais make a pilgrimage to Phitsanulok. The dozens of market stalls outside have plenty of snacks and drinks.
Since the town has some history — and some conquests — it’s not too surprising to find hundreds of heads and headless statues.
It’s a pleasant town for the low-key, unusual but not too weird. You won’t be bungee jumping or skydiving here, but there’s enough to keep you busy here for a day — a half-day if you’re trying to hurry things up.
Name: Sergeant Major Thawee Folk Museum
Address: 26/138 Wisutkasat Road, Phitsanulok, 65000 (GPS: 16.80602,100.267226)
Directions: Get to Phitsanulok, first and foremost — buses here take about 6–7 hours from Chiang Mai or Bangkok. From whichever bus terminal you arrive at, get to town via a tuk-tuk / songthaew — there’s really no other way since it’s at least several kilometers away. You’ll likely arrive at the train station, which is a great central area for finding a hotels.
With the train station at your back, turn left to walk along the train lines. Go around 500 meters, then turn left to cross the tracks. Go 250 meters, then take the second right. This will be Wisutkasat road — go 500 meters and look for the museum on the right.
Hours: 8:30am-4:30pm (CLOSED MONDAYS)
Admission: 50 baht for adults, 25 baht for kids
Phone: 055–212–749
Website: No official site
Name: Buranathai Buddha Image Foundry
Address: 26/43 Wisutkasat Road, Phitsanulok, 65000 (GPS: 16.804793,100.267595)
Directions: From the museum, face the road and turn right. Go about 100 meters, and look for the entrance across the street.
Hours: not posted
Admission: free
Phone: 055–258–715 or 055–301–668
Website: No official site
Name: Garden Birds of Thailand
Address: 26/43 Wisutkasat Road, Phitsanulok, 65000 (GPS: 16.804767,100.267919)
Directions: This exhibit is directly connected to the Buddha Foundry — head through it to reach the Garden Birds entrance. We didn’t see a street-facing entrance.
Hours: not posted
Admission: 50 baht ‘donation’ per person.
Phone: 055–212–540 or 081–886–2886
Website: No official site
Name: Wat Phra Sri Rattana Mahathat (Wat Yai)
Address: Along Phutthabucha road, just east of the river and north of route 12 (GPS: 16.823592,100.262276)
Directions: From the Buddha foundry / Garden Birds of Thailand, it’s about 2.5 kilometers — a bit of a walk or a short tuk-tuk ride. Head right to double-back on Wisutkasat rd., then turn left and walk 200 meters. Take the first right onto Thamma Bucha, and walk a little over a kilometer to the major highway. Cross it, then walk another 200 meters to the first left. Walk 400 meters and look right.
Hours: not posted, presumably standard daylight hours.
Admission: free, donations welcomed.
Phone: 055–241–717
Website: www.finearts.go.th
What was it? A coconut grater (called Kratai Khut Maphrao in Thai) — the metal edge would grate the coconut meat into pieces.
