The road to Chanthaburi is paved with ill intentions. In fact, much of it is not paved at all, and all of it appears to frequented by idiots. And then there are the traffic lights. Oh my lord, Jim, you should see the traffic lights. I lost count at 732. In summary, a trip to Chanthaburi is not a lot of fun.
But we went anyway; because our house was finally free of visitors and we decided that we were due a break, just the two of us, plus all the idiots on the road, and the traffic lights.
The good news is that Chanthaburi is only 140 kilometres from Pattaya. The bad news is that, for reasons already mentioned (oh, and the rain), it takes almost two and a half hours; even employing driving techniques that elicited sharp intakes of breath and squeaking noises from the passenger seat.
She who must be obeyed had selected our hotel, the Kasemsarn; which is situated right next to the old part of town that runs next to the river, and is in walking distance of the massive market area. Given that the old town and the market are the only possible reasons you might want to visit Chanthaburi city, it was a good choice.
We checked in and headed straight out for a walk through the old town…
…and then soon decided we might be better staying in the room for a while given it was 39 degrees outside and even light strolling was an unpleasant activity. It was still hot when we ventured out again later; but more tolerable, and we walked down to the cathedral which had sprouted a spiked roof since our last visit.
The cathedral has some very attractive stained glass windows, which according to the long list of restrictions posted outside you are not allowed to photograph. But it was irrelevant anyway because the building was locked shut; just like Thai temples never are. Bloody Christians, coming over here, locking their buildings.
We found a cafe selling cool drinks and I had a green tea laced with a shot of expresso, which was “interesting”; and a raspberry thingie. The shot of bikes in the doorway was from that cafe, as was this:
Yes, I was touting analogue nostalgia and I did find it more enjoyable to shoot with than the digital device. The Leica IIIC is becoming my favourite camera; which does mean of course there are not that many shots to offer until the film comes back from processing.
Dinner was at a renowned (which means I had never heard of it) Thai restaurant next to the hotel, and breakfast the next morning was meant to be at a stall selling “joak” in the market. We finally found the stall after half an hour of wandering around, only to find they had just finished serving. By this time my “I need to eat in the morning immediately after rising or I get grumpy” indicator was glowing red, so we trudged back to the hotel in an aura of sweat and frustration, where I consumed a perfectly acceptable omelette. Another little walk to photograph the old town from the other side of the river (film only, I was down to one camera by this time), and then in the car to head home.
To avoid some traffic lights we turned down to the beach before Rayong and had some seafood. Shit view of a packed beach.
Home late afternoon, slept very well.
Comments 🔗
2015-05-12| genuinej saysLovely pussy.
2015-05-12| Grant saysHappy pussy…
2015-05-13| Chang Noi saysSound a bit “not happy” visit of Chantaburi …. but a beautiful coastline (with very good roads), small fishing villages, some nice resorts. And there is some history in Chantaburi area as it is one of the places that was more or less occupied once by the French (an old fort and jail are the remains of it).