Description
Seri Thai Cave or Seree Thai Cave (ถ้ำเสรีไทย) is an important landmark in Sakon Nakhon history. Seri Thai (Free Thai) was an underground resistance movement to Imperial Japan, which invaded Thailand during World War II. The largest Seri Thai guerilla group was organized in the Northeast of Thailand by Sakon Nakhon native Tiang Sirikhan (เตียงศิริขันธ์), with help from American and British soldiers.
Seri Thai Cave is located in the Phu Phan Mountains, about 30 minutes from downtown Sakon Nakhon. Eight-hundred meters from the cave is a small park with a statue of Tiang Sirikhan, who also went by the nickname General Phu Phan. There is a rough path, with occasional large stones, which lead to the cave. Due to the stones and incline, it would be best to have a fair fitness level if visiting the cave — however, the hike is easy compared to the nearly 500 steps that you need to climb to reach the top of Phra That Phu Phek.
There are signs every 200 meters along the path, and trees are occasionally tied with ribbons, so that you know you are going in the right direction. When you arrive at the large signage for the cave, look downward to the right of the sign to see the well-hidden cave, which was used by the Seri Thai guerillas to store munitions and supplies.
A few hundreds meters further on, there is a ridge of boulders that provide a beautiful but rather obscured view (due to high trees) of a neighboring mountain. Some websites say that this area is a good place to see the sunrise and sunset. However, you can really only get a view of the sunrise here, and because the view is rather obscured, there are much better areas in Sakon Nakhon to see the sunrise.
There are some solar lights in the park and outside the Seri Thai Cave area, but there isn't any along the path that leads to the cave. So, be aware of that if you are planning on visiting around dusk. There is a nice area along the side of the road that leads to the cave to see the sunset. We traveled to the cave during the day in February, when the Sakon Nakhon weather is cool, and many leaves had fallen from the trees.
