Thailand Flower Fields
While most visitors to Thailand are familiar with neighboring Lopburi, home to old temples and the annual monkey festival, many miss out on the fabulous fields of gold that lie just south along the back roads to Saraburi. Every November, the giant sunflowers start to bloom, covering several large areas while facing up to the sun.
The fields, which are privately owned, have been opened up to tourism on a mass scale, as Bangkok residents spend hours immersed in them, taking photos, having picnics, and just feeling utterly romantic. Small farmer-style markets have sprung up at most of the sites, offering products like sunflower seeds and oil, natural juices, and other locally grown products. Going hand-in-hand with the sunflower fields are adjoining bee farms, which offer fresh jars of honey as well.
Some of the farms have even gone so far as to offer tractor-cart or even elephant rides amongst the giant flowers (talk about the ultimate photo op!), and have built viewing platforms for photographers to ensure the best angles. it is all hopelessly kitschy and absolutely beautiful, and nobody comes away disappointed. Entry to some of the fields is free, with the farmers hoping that visitors will buy local products on the way out, while others charge 5-10 baht for admiring their flowers
Each farm in the region takes a turn in planting the sunflowers so that there is at least one area of blooming flowers during the winter months in each community, and all the locals get to share in the tourist revenue. According to recent statistics, there are now over 12,000 acres of sunflower fields in the Saraburi-Lopburi area.
The fields are all best accessed by private car, which gives one the chance to find the "best" fields (depending on the position towards the sun, some flowers are more open in the morning, whereas others stand out later in the day), and to -enjoy' the different atmosphere at each field (some fields are relatively quiet and spread out, others have the elephant rides and restaurants, so are a big draw).
However, if you don't have private transport, undoubtedly the best way to visit is via train, and the Thailand State Railways offers a special sunflower train that makes a tourist trip every weekend and public holiday during the blooming season. The train leaves Hualampong Station around 6:30am and heads up to one of the fields with a nice mountain backdrop. The train stops there long enough for tourists to get out and take photos and wander around the fields and souvenir shops, and then continues on to the pretty Pasak Jolasid Dam, where it runs out onto the rail track that crosses the dam, stopping. out in the middle for people to take pictures of the train, which is parked on a sweeping curve, surrounded by water, and quite picturesque.
The train then returns to the dam where it stops for lunch. There are an abundance of stalls selling grilled chicken and som tam next to the dam, and the grounds are pleasant for strolling, or going up in the observation tower to look out at the dam and adjoining area.
The train returns in the afternoon and arrives in Bangkok at around 6pm, with seats running from 250 to 675 baht all-inclusive, depending on the seat class. The trip and the area is probably one of the better examples of successful agri-tourism at work, and those flower fields really are hopelessly romantic.
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Natural Thailand Attractions 
