A long way home

Up at 0430 yesterday to take she who must be obeyed to the airport so she could attend a family funeral. I justified my absence by explaining that someone needed to keep our remaining cat company…

At the motorway toll booth I saw our first post-coup soldier! He had a gun and all the necessary accessories, although the threat of suppression was somewhat diluted by the fact that he was reading a newspaper. Never mind, I averted my eyes, pulled down my cap and muttered “shit just got real”.

My wife, who had failed to notice the soldier because she was busy posting a photo of a rainbow to her adoring Facebook fans, asked me why I had said that. I told her. “Silly man”.

Took an hour and a half to deliver her to the airport; but I had photographic plans for the route home.

First stop was a temple (Wat Khao Din), close to the service area on the Bangkok/Chonburi motorway. It looks very cute as you drive past it; but actually visiting it is a bit of a disappointment because you can’t stand back from the temple to admire it and get some photos. A prime candidate for an aerial shot. Getting to the temple requires a turnoff before the service area and a rather complex set of manoeuvres in order to enter the narrow road that runs next to the motorway. For some reason the exit road was completely jammed; and after ten minutes queuing I took the first exit I could reach; and found myself back on the motorway heading south.

So instead I had to run for about fifteen minutes before finding an exit and making my way back up the side road. Then I had to drive around the temple area for a while until I found a suitable launch site.

Next stop was to be a chedi we had spotted on the other side of the road, about twenty kilometres south. So I headed up to the junction I had failed to exit from successfully; only to find they had changed the road to one way and there was no escape for me. So I had to turn round and make the long journey down the side road. I then found myself following a couple of hundred cyclists on some sort of outing; so that slowed me down for a while. Finally I made it back to the motorway junction, only to find that there was no way to rejoin the motorway going south at this point. Bugger.

So over the motorway and I then started a cross-country trip in search of the chedi, the name of which I did not know and the location of which I knew only vaguely. What could go wrong? Well; running out of fuel would be one thing, and had to divert to a slightly major road to find some sustenance for the car before continuing my search.

Finally I found it, and to be honest it had looked more spectacular from a distance in the early morning light. Still, I used the Jupiter 11 and took a shot:

The road up to the chedi (which I later discovered was called Mahathat Chedi Mingmoli Si Burapha) was a small track; so I was surprised to find that someone had built a massive car park sufficient for hundreds of cars. On a Sunday morning, I was the only visitor and there was not much to see apart from the chedi.

Certainly not enough to justify getting the drone out again; and anyway I was now in the advanced stage of needing a poo; so time to return home. This took much longer than planned thanks to two accidents on the road back to Pattaya; and it was four and a half hours after leaving the airport that I finally walked in the door and headed straight to the loo for some relief.

She who must be obeyed called me while I was attending to my bodily needs.

“What are you doing?”

“Shit just got real”

“Why are you saying that again?”

I probably should not have told her.

Location of Wat Khao Din (good luck finding the route): [map address=“13.532036, 101.018624” type=“satellite” width=“100%” height=“300px” zoom=“15” scrollwheel=“yes” scale=“yes” zoom_pancontrol=“yes”][/map]

Location of Mahathat Chedi Mingmoli Si Burapha:

[map address=“13.321113, 100.995717” type=“satellite” width=“100%” height=“300px” zoom=“15” scrollwheel=“yes” scale=“yes” zoom_pancontrol=“yes”][/map]

Comments 🔗

2014-06-02 | **** says

Well I can’t get the blame this time for navigational erros can I?

2014-06-02 | Spike says

Not if I don’t know who you are; although you can get the blame for your typo. Anyway, it was not a navigational error, it was a blockage caused by changing road conditions, plus I followed some advice from some twat called Kevin who thought he knew the way. Plus, I needed a poo which always clouds the judgement somewhat.

2014-06-02 | Kevin says

How did you know it was me? I suppose if we went to bangkok together and you couldn’t find your wabbit then that would be my fault too I suppose. I’ve managed to navigate to the box where you put your name and e mail in this time so obviously I’m getting better.

2014-06-11 | ChristianPFC says

I think the second place (green chedi) belongs to Wat Nanthawan วัดนันทวัน. I went there last year: http://christianpfc.blogspot.com/2013/12/wat-nanthawan-near-chonburi.html (Now, thinking about it, I don’t remember a wiharn or ubosot, and don’t remember where I got the name from.)

2014-06-12 | Spike says

I took a photo of a poster outside the chedi and used the translation skills of she who must be obeyed. That appears to be the name of the chedi. The temple on the same site may well be called Wat Nanthawan. Doesn’t really matter; at least we both know where it is!