Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Sai Ngam Park: Where the beautiful figs abound

One good thing about having to join a study tour is that even though we have an itinerary to follow and a series of events to cover, the host country will bring you to places where tourists would likely to go. But since they are “unscheduled” they tend to be “fillers” meaning, you’ll be given (a very little) amount of time to look around and for my case, to take (good) photos. Also, because our hosts do not talk a lot, they didn’t even tell us that they brought us to Sai Ngam Park. They’d probably thought we could understand Thai calligraphy.

Saingam Grove

The roots of a Banyan tree hang down from its branches.

Sai Ngam Park is located at Phimai District, about 59 kms from the city of Nakhon Ratchasima. Later I learned that “sai ngam” actually means “beautiful banyan trees” which pretty much tells a lot about the place having been known for its 350-year old banyan trees.


banyan trees

Sai Ngam passes through an irrigation project which has a dam built across Moon River.

The branches and roots of banyan have become so intertwined that it is impossible to identify where one tree ends and the next begins. The only way to be sure that there is more than one tree is by counting the trunks under the canopy providing shades and covering the island on which the grove is situated. The Thais believe that this may be the biggest banyan grove in Asia.

One of our Thai companions informed us that visitors could walk underneath these interwoven trees taking in the scenic views and the tranquility of the place. Since we had very little time for that, I didn’t even bother going inside.

souvenir store

Further along the road there are souvenir stalls.

tamarind trees

Standing tall are lines of tamarind trees offering shades to visitors.

vendor

Tamarind and mango vendor. She selling fish powder too with chilli of course.

One thing I enjoyed though are the huge tamarind trees which I languidly stared at while we are having our lunch at the park. They are so huge and the fruits dangled from the branches as if they were teasing me.

Anyhow, there were vendors selling all sorts of processed tamarind food.

5 comments:

Photo Cache said...

Oh those banyan trees are amazing. The last photo reminds me painfully how much I was craving for green mango. Last I check, the asian grocery store here was selling it for about 2.59/lb last month and you know mangoes get heavy, so no way will I gobble on a 5 dollar mango.

my gulch said...

photo cache:
sarap ng mangga nila sa Thailand. malutong at di maasim. di siya yung katulad ng Carabao mango natin sa Pinas na super asim pagh hilaw. Ka-variety ito ng mga mangga sa Cambodia na kina-adikan namin. Sawsawan nila dito asin na may sili. 5 dollar mango??? tsk,tsk. kawawa ka naman. hehe. pero siguro pag-craving na talaga, papatusin mo na rin yan.

escape said...

ganda ng mga tamarind tree na nakapila sa daan.

nakakatuwa ding tingnan ang mga banyan tree.

my gulch said...

hi dong,
onga ang lalaki ng mga puno ng sampalok dun. may nakita akong ilang locals na nangunguha ng sampalok siguro yun na rin tinitinda nila. andami talaga, pramis. yung iba nangangalaglag na lang. yung Banyan, para siyang mga puno sa lord of the rings, hehe. ang laki at ang intricate.

pieterbie said...

Shame you couldn't go in. That forrest looks pretty impressive!

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