Northeastern Thailand - Thailand - page 958

WORTH A TRIP
SUAN HIN PHA NGAM
With intriguingly warped and eroded limestone outcroppings, 'Beautiful Rock Garden' is an apt name for this
hidden oasis; though Thais know it as Kunming Mueang Thai (Thailand's Kunming; 0 4289 4254; per
group 100B, per person tractor ride 15B; 8.30am-5.30pm) , due to its resemblance with the Stone Forest in
Kunming, China. Most people just ride a tractor up to the easy-to-reach viewpoint for a quick look, but the best
thing to do is walk back with your guide through the labyrinthine paths. At times the hour-long route is a little
rough and you need to duck through some small passageways, but it's not difficult.
A second site in the same forest, recently reopened, is a bit more adventurous. The path through Suan Sawan
(Heavenly Garden; 08 4952 0591; per group 100B, per person tractor ride 15B; 8.30am-4pm) follows a
series of metal walkways over the rocks and through some caves. The trip takes about 90 minutes.
The sites are about 15km and 18km respectively southwest of Nong Hin. There's no public transport and hitch-
ing is highly impractical.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Phu Kradueng National Park
Capped off by its eponymous peak, Phu Kradueng National Park ( 0 4287 1333; admission 400B;
trail to summit 7am-2pm Oct-May) covers a high-altitude plateau, cut through with trails and
peppered with cliffs and waterfalls. Rising to 1316m, Thailand's second national park is
always cool at its highest reaches (average year-round temperature is 20°C), where its
flora is a mix of pine forest and savannah. Various forest animals, including elephants,
Asian jackals, Asiatic black bears, sambar deer, serows and white-handed gibbons inhabit
the 348-sq-km park.
There's a small visitor centre at the base of the mountain, but almost everything else is
up top. The main trail scaling Phu Kradueng is 5.5km long and takes about three to four
hours to climb. It's strenuous, but not too challenging (unless it's wet) since there are steps
at most of the steep parts. The hike is quite scenic and there are rest stops with food
vendors about every kilometre. Once on top, it's another 3km to the main visitor centre.
You can hire porters to carry your gear balanced on bamboo poles for 30B per kilogram.
The 5.5km trail that passes six waterfalls in a forested valley is the most beautiful des-
tination, even after November, when the water has largely dried up. There are also many
clifftop viewpoints , some ideal for sunrise and sunset, scattered around the mountain.