Day 7 - Day trip to Beung Khan (Wat Phu Tok)

Today we are doing a day trip to Wat Phu Tok in Bueng khan province. I've always wanted to visit this place but didn't have a chance to visit as it is really out of the way. 170 km East of Nongkai. We enlist the help of Ah Dai's husband and his mighty big Hilux pick-up truck again. The deal is that he would bring his family along and that we would pay for petrol and food. No problem at all for us.

We first made a trip to Nongkai Hospital to visit Sister Lei who is very ill. I was told that she had lukemia and tubercolosis.

The sun is immensely hot as we set out toward Bueng khan on our mighty pick-up. I lost my cap as it was blown away in the wind. Oh well what the heck.

After 80km, we stopped to have a picnic under some shady trees. Another round of nice local delicacies prepared by the ladies.

After a total of nearly 3 hours under the sun, we finally reached Wat Phutok. We were told that there were 7 levels in total to reach the top of the mountain. The initial climb up the 1st 3 levels of the mountain consists of rather steep stairs made of wood. The older folks initially had some trouble climbing up but managed to after some encouragement and self-determination. The 4th and 5th level were rather tame with corridors that winded along the waist of the mountain. The 6th & 7th level were risky as it was a wooden structure built along the cliff's edge and one wrong move or strong gust of wind may send us over the edge to very painful sure death. Nontheless, we perserved and made it to the top. And there was NOTHING! LOL!