Rupak D Sharma in Khao Yai
Around 175km northeast of Bangkok, the bustling 10-lane highway we were traveling on converged at a picturesque little town with uncannily authentic setting, which I had never come across during my seven-month stay in Thailand.
The landscape here was not pitted with concrete jungle of skyscrapers; the air was fresh because of the hills and greenery that surrounded us; and unlike other travel destinations in Thailand this place was not overcrowded with tourists.
“Finally an oasis,” I said to myself watching the turquoise lake as we turned south from the main highway and into Khao Yai.
As we drove along the two-lane road, we were swallowed by a large number of neatly kept cattle farms, barns strewn with hay, cottages and most importantly, peace and silence.
The place looked secluded—sheltered from fast life of urban centres in Thailand. There was very little movement—less people and few vehicles plying on the streets. And the view of the vast fields, the countryside, cows and horses here and there, though not uncommon, offered riveting sights.
Watching the views that were providing me company, I silently thanked my friend who invited me on this trip.
As a matter of fact, I initially thought of turning down his invitation to visit “the countryside” assuming it would offer similar scenes of dusty streets with wayward farm animals and crowded marketplaces with plenty of makeshift food and clothes stalls, which I had come across hundreds of times earlier.
Had I made the mistake, I would have missed an opportunity to view one of the unique sides of Thailand.
Thanking my friend once again, we began meandering the thoroughfares of Khao Yai before arriving at PB Valley Khao Yai Winery. Soon we were driving along the grapevine-lined trellises of one of the biggest Thai wineries, tasting grapes in between.
Established in 1989, the award-winning winery, located 300-350m above the sea level, is spread on 320 hectares of land and produces 600,000 bottles of both red and white wine per year—though it has a capacity of churning out 1 million bottles of wine per annum. Of the total output, 60 per cent is sold in the local market, 30 per cent is consumed by the Japanese market and the remaining 10 per cent is exported to various European countries.
If you have time, taste the fruits of labour of around 250 workers working in the vineyard and winery. It has Shiraz, Tempranillo, Chenin Blanc and Columbard variants of red and white wines.
And before leaving, don’t forget to taste the wood-fired oven pizza at the winery’s The Great Hornbill Grill restaurant—they are great.
Although all of us took a bite of the pizza, we didn’t have enough of it to fill our belly. We could have, but the truth was we had other plans—to try steak for lunch at Chok Chai Steak House, dubbed one of the best steakhouses in Thailand.
As we manoeuvred our way to the eatery, we again witnessed some more European-styled dwellings that looked like houses of early 20th century, Texan-styled ranches and a lot more cattle farms and corn fields.
The next moment we were munching T-bone, pepper and ‘adventure’ steaks. Although the food did not meet our expectation—we later came to know we unknowingly went to Chok Chai Steak Hut instead of Chok Chai Steak House—we finished our meal and resumed our journey.
This time the destination was Khao Yai National Park, the second largest national park in Thailand. As we drove along the narrow path that snaked up the hill, we found ourselves surrounded by silence and tranquility.
Like any other national parks, it was also a muted landscape with trees towering above us on both sides of the road. You can camp here, go on a night jungle safari, join a bird-watching trip or just take a walk treading through the jungle.
However, we were not so lucky to indulge in these activities as darkness was descending giving us hint that the day shopping for peace and bliss was over. But before we ended our trip, we did manage to do some real shopping at the Factory Outlet Village, where dozens of world-renowned companies ranging from Adidas and Nike to Lacoste had their retail stores under one roof. (Published in Asia News)
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