Thailand - The Rough Guide to Southeast Asia on a Budget - page 733

riverside complex of hundred-year-old wooden buildings,
with 4-bed, single-sex dorm rooms that have hot showers
and individual lockable tin trunks. Most of the luxurious
private rooms have river views, so me sha re bathr ooms. Road
noise can be a problem here. Dorm B250 , double B500
Chantana House Naresuan Soi 2 T 035 323200,
E [e-mail]. At the quieter end of the
travellers' soi, this low-key guesthouse has simple but
spotlessly clean fan and a/c room s with hot showers in a
spacious, two-storey house. B400
Tony's Place Naresuan Soi 2 T 035 252578. More than
thirty cheap to mid-priced rooms, all clean and with
en-suite hot showers, set around a convivial restaurant
with a pool t able and a good selection of Thai and
Western food. B300

sea made it less vulnerable to European
expansionists. Lopburi works best as a
half-day stopoff; the railway runs
north-south through the town and
everything of interest lies to the west of
the line, within walking distance.
On the last weekend of November
Lopburi puts on a banquet for its
monkeys, which swarm over trestle tables
laden with fresh fruit in the grounds of
King Narai's Palace. Lopburi's main
festival is the five-day King Narai Reign
Fair in February, with costumed
processions and a son et lumière .

10

WHAT TO SEE AND DO
Exiting the train station, you'll see the
sprawled ruins of Wat Phra Si Ratana
Mahathat (daily 8am-5pm; B50), whose
impressive centrepiece is a laterite prang
in the Khmer style of the twelfth century,
decorated with finely detailed stuccowork
and surrounded by a ruined cloister.
he heavily fortified palace of Phra
Narai Ratchanivet (grounds open daily
7.30am-5.30pm), a short walk
northwest of Wat Mahathat on hanon
Sorasak, was built by King Narai in
1666 and lavishly restored by Rama IV
in 1856. he shady grounds house
ruined elephant stables, throne halls
and treasure warehouses, but the best
feature is the Narai National Museum
(Wed-Sun 8.30am-4pm; B150). he
museum contains fine examples of
Khmer-influenced, Lopburi-style
Buddha images, and the Chanthara
Phisan Pavilion alongside boasts an
excellent exhibition on Narai's reign and
international relations.
About 200m north of the palace
complex along rue de France is Ban
Vichayen (Wed-Sun 7am-5pm; B50),
the home of King Narai's Greek minister
( vichayen ), Constantine Phaulkon.
Originally built as a residence for foreign
ambassadors, its Christian chapel is
incongruously stuccoed with Buddhist
motifs. Around 150m east along hanon
Vichayen, past the three red-brick towers
of Prang Khaek, an eighth-century shrine
to Shiva sitting on a tra c island, is the
striking Phra Prang Sam Yod (daily
8am-6pm; B50), a Hindu temple later

EATING
The Chao Prom market is good for food during the day, and
there are a couple of decent night markets: on Th Bang
Laen near Wat Mahathat, and a smaller, riverside one at
Hua Raw at the northeastern corner of the island.
Otherwise the choice isn't great, and many travellers end
up eating Thai-Western food and listening to live music
on Naresuan Soi 2.
Baan Kun Pra Th U Thong, just north of Pridi Damrong
Bridge. Beneath the guesthouse of the same name, this
peaceful and atmospheric riverside restaurant has an
interesting menu including lots of seafood, spicy salads
and delicious fruit smoothies. Mains B50-200. Daily
7am-10pm.
Chang House Naresuan Soi 2. Tasty burgers, Thai
standards, and lots of veggie-friendly Indian dishes (mains
around B100). The drinks menu includes imported wine
and cocktails, and the tunes - mostly indie and grunge -
aren't bad either. Daily 4pm- midnight.
The Old Place Th U Thong, just south of the Chao Phrom
pier. With tables on a wooden deck over the water, shaded
by a century-old kapok tree, this place serves great Thai
food, especially seafood (B80-200). Daily 10am-9pm.

LOPBURI
LOPBURI , 150km north of Bangkok, is
famous for its seventeenth-century palace,
its historically important but rather
unimpressive Khmer ruins - and the
large pack of tourist-baiting monkeys that
swarm all over them. Many of the ruins
date back to the eleventh century, when
Lopburi was the local capital for the
extensive Khmer Empire. he town was
later used as a second capital both by
King Narai of Ayutthaya and Rama IV of
Bangkok because its remoteness from the