Return to Jomtien, 2nd Nov 2008

With the Phantom having had a day off, Sunday 2nd November found us traveling right across Bangkok in order to pick up Sukhumvit Road and hence to return to Jomtien Beach via Samut Prakan. Sunday is by far the best day to traverse the Thai capital as most of the motorcycles, cars, trucks and buses are all having their day off! Unfortunately, this means that the vehicles that are on the road can go as fast as they like. Just as we started to cross the bridge adjacent to the Riverside Hotel there was a taxi on the wrong side of the road which had collided with the safety barrier. Fortunately, the driver appeared to be uninjured. I get the impression people think that cars are supposed to be driven as quickly as possible, otherwise why would they make them go so fast?

Samut Prakan is due south of Bangkok on the Sukumvit Road which runs all the way to the Cambodian Border. Although not necessarily the most direct route towards Pattaya and Jomtien there is much less traffic. Samut Prakan boasts a number of attractions including a Dinosaur Museum and Crocodile Farm. It was to the Crocodile Farm that we were heading. We had no sooner arrived than "dual pricing" reared it's ugly head yet again! Now, some people may say that I am making a "bit of a fuss" about this and that if you can afford to travel to far away places then you should expect to pay extra; I am certain these very same people would cry blue murder if the same "differentiation" was practiced in the UK! This time, however, they were more crafty (obviously they had already heard of the "driving license ploy"). Foreigners were allowed the same entrance fee as nationals as long as they had a (basic) grasp of the language. I passed the test and was allowed to enter with a saving of 240 Baht (entrance is 60 Baht for Thai people and 300 Baht for foreigners).

Yum, yum!

The Crocodile Farm is set in a very attractive garden/jungle environment. There is a little train to take take you from attraction to attraction or you may walk if you wish. There are various shows - see photo below right. The animals themselves are magnificent; not only crocodiles but also a camel, monkeys, snakes and an aviary. I am not a great one for seeing animals in a controlled environment like this; but as long as they are cared for and given enough room to exercise then I suppose that it is educational (for humans) and, in the long run, beneficial to the animals' continued existence in the wild. However, as the name suggests, the main attraction were the "crocs". There are various crocodile pens containing (thank goodness!) animals ranging from little baby ones to big'ol "Mums and Dads"; the whole place reminded me of "Man with the Golden Gun"! There is a shooting range as well (honest, I had really gone to have a look at the crocodiles!).

Rather him than me! Heads go in (and hopefully come out) as well!

The only pistols they had for public use were a selection of (well used) .38 calibre "Smith & Wesson" revolvers. I am not going to go into the "right's and wrong's" of UK firearms legislation here and I do not wish to upset anyone. However, in my opinion the law is far to restrictive; at the very least, people should be allowed to fire a pistol at a shooting range - or is ignorance really bliss? (Gun Law a Failure - Telegraph.co.uk, 2001). I have visited a number of shooting ranges in Thailand and have always found their instruction and safety procedures to be without fault. I had chosen to purchase ten rounds (the money saved at the entrance); the revolver was loaded with five and the hammer left down on the empty chamber. Handing me the pistol, the instructor stepped back allowing me to aim and fire (all the instructors I have met have been ex-military). The target was set at 15m and I was shooting "single action" (ie. cocking the hammer between each shot). I was reasonably pleased with the grouping achieved.

As it was now early afternoon we decided to get a bite to eat and head off to Jomtien. We arrived at six o'clock in the evening after having had a very interesting and varied week. We had ridden a total of 1632km (a little over one thousand miles). On our return, a friend of mine suggested that we have a look at an apartment he had just finished renovating at a place called "Wang Kaew" in Rayong Province. On 21st November we moved from "View Talay" to a real piece of tropical paradise down the coast about 100km west of Jomtien. We still have many friends in Jomtien and plan to visit every so often. After all, both Pattaya and Jomtien have a great deal to offer; our last trip included a visit to the extremely good "Friendship Supermarket" in South Pattaya which offers a goodly selection of life's little luxuries (a drop of Cabernet Sauvignon, Camembert and even a large tin of Colman's English Mustard powder!). Additional photographs of the journey may be found using the following link to a Picasa album (Good idea Michael, many thanks!) - Link yet to be added.