Laplae District

Laplae ลับแล
Amphoe
Amphoe location in Uttaradit Province
Coordinates: 17°39′5″N 100°2′21″E / 17.65139°N 100.03917°E / 17.65139; 100.03917Coordinates: 17°39′5″N 100°2′21″E / 17.65139°N 100.03917°E / 17.65139; 100.03917
Country	Thailand
Province	Uttaradit
Area
• Total	448.8 km2 (173.3 sq mi)
Population (2005)
• Total	57,559
• Density	128.3/km2 (332/sq mi)
Time zone	THA (UTC+7)
Postal code	53130
Geocode	5308

Laplae (Thai: ลับแล; IPA: [láp.lɛ̄ː]) is a district (Amphoe) in the western part of Uttaradit Province, northern Thailand.

History

In the past, the district office of Lablae was located in Mueang Thung Yang. Later it was moved to Mon Cham Sin, about 1 km north of the present location. As the location of the office was inconvenient to reach, Luang Si Phanon Mat ordered to move the district office to Mon Sayammin. At the same time, King Chulalongkorn visited Lablae and chose to reserve Mon Cham Sin for position the Buddha statue named Phra Lua. This statue was built from the gold left when building Phra Phuttha Chinnarat, Phitsanulok Province.

Geography

Neighboring districts are (from the east clockwise) Mueang Uttaradit, Tron of Uttaradit Province, Si Satchanalai of Sukhothai Province and Den Chai of Phrae Province

Administration

The district is subdivided into 8 subdistricts (tambon), which are further subdivided into 63 villages (muban). There are three townships (thesaban tambon) - Si Phanom Mat covers the whole tambon Si Phanom Mat, Hua Dong parts of tambon Mae Phun, and Thung Yang parts of the tambon Thung Yang and Phai Lom. There are further 7 Tambon administrative organizations (TAO).

Legend of Laplae

Laplae is a little district in Uttaradit province. The route to get there is very devious so that people who haven’t used this route before can be lost easily.Laplae means“can’t seeis from “Lap Lang”. The meaning of this word is mysterious.^[1]”^[2] The local people believe that only a good man can reach Laplae.

There is a story that has been passed down known as “the Legend of Laplae”. Once upon a time, there was a man who saw two beautiful women walking out from Laplae and the women were hiding in the leaves. The man was curious so he kept one of the leaves. In the afternoon, one of the women came back and couldn’t find her leaf. Then the man appeared and offered the woman a trade that she had to take the man to Laplae with her if he gave her the leaf. She accepted and bought the man to Laplae. Then the man noticed that in Laplae there are only women. The woman explained that in Laplae, there is a rule that no one can lie and the men couldn’tkept their word only women could.

Time passed by and the man and woman fell in love with each other and they married and had a child. One day, the woman went outside and the baby cried so the man lied to it and said that his mother was coming back. The mother came back and heard the man lie so he needed to leave Laplae. Before the man leftLaplae, the woman prepared plenty of potatoes for the man. The man took the potatoes and they felt very heavy. So he threw away some of the potatoes. When he arrived home he found that the potatoes had become gold. He was very surprised so he ran back to the way that he had passed but he found that the potatoes had become ordinary potatoes. He tried to get back to Laplae but he couldn’t find it so he went back to his home.

References

External links

• http://www.uttaradit.go.th/tour/lablae/lap.html