Central · Thailand
Phichit · พิจิตร
Bueng Si Fai lake, long-boat racing, crocodile legend.
- Region
- Central
- Population
- 540,000
- Area
- 4,531 km²
- Stories filed
- 1
About Phichit
History
Phichit is associated in Thai folklore with Khun Phaen — the warrior-hero of the Khun Chang Khun Phaen epic, the most beloved folk narrative in Thai literature — whose mother was reportedly from this province. The town served as a modest satellite of Sukhothai and then Ayutthaya, controlling river traffic on the Nan between the two capitals. Wild Siamese crocodiles once inhabited the river in large numbers; the population was hunted to near extinction by the twentieth century, but the provincial identity persists in annual boat races featuring elaborately carved crocodile-prow vessels.
Landscape & geography
Phichit lies on the upper Nan river flood plain, flat and fertile, between Phitsanulok to the north and Nakhon Sawan to the south. The namesake Bueng Si Fai lake is a shallow wetland at the edge of the provincial town, ringed by a pleasant park where evening walkers circumnavigate it by footpath. The river and its oxbow lakes attract migratory waterbirds in the cool season; the surrounding paddy fields produce rice year-round under the Nan basin irrigation system. The terrain is entirely flat from border to border.
Why visit
Quiet, agricultural, and rarely visited by foreigners, Phichit rewards the unhurried traveller with genuine small-town Thailand. The crocodile-boat races on the Nan river each October are a genuinely unusual spectacle — elaborately decorated prows and fiercely competitive village teams. Wat Tha Luang's gilded main hall is a late-Ayutthayan craftsman's triumph rarely mentioned in guidebooks. Bueng Si Fai's lakeside walking path and evening food stalls make a pleasant hour before sunset. Best as an overnight between Phitsanulok and Nakhon Sawan.
Stories from Phichit
Articles, reviews, and itineraries tagged to this province.
