July 17th, 2006, 15:10
My num friend had mentioned a couple of times about having a trip out to Chanthaburi with mention of relaxing times, waterfalls and just generally taking it easy in the beautiful surroundings and all just a little trip away. With little persuasion, I succumbed and agreed to the trip as his suggestions have rarely proved wrong. He also promised he would prepare bbq food Isan style the night before for us to take along (he knows how to get to my heart). On the day of our departure I was ready and waiting as the clock struck 7.00am, 50 minutes later (no change there!) I got the call that he was waiting downstairs. A cousin of his owns a bus baht and had agreed to take us for the day and the added surprise was three little sprogs each giving me the 'wai' as I approached the bus. My friend shyly told me that his cousin had also invited a few realtives along and we could go and pick them up. By 9.00am we loaded up with six kids of various ages, the wife of the driver, the sister of the wife and her husband plus the next dooor neighbour or aunty. We were off. Much amusement ensued as I tried my basic 'Thai language skills' out on my fellow travellers, it never puts me off and I find it quite endearing that people tend to laugh at me when I speak Thai. Ting Tong Ferang!
I usually try and read up on places I am going to see but had not done so this time around. The bus hurtled down roads, passed Rayong and on and on. I still have no idea how far away Chanthaburi is but having been advised by various companions on the trip that it was a little trip away, 90 minutes away, 2 hours away and then experiencing the three hour journey it turned out to be, I have to guess that it is significantly further than most predict. It was also quite fun to listen to one of the guys say '20 minutes and we'll be there' and the women on the bus fall about laughing saying 'and another 20 minutes and another 20 minutes'. They were obviously used to this kind of underestimation.
As the bus hurtled in whatever direction we were going, out came the food. A mat was laid on the floor of the bus and the kids plonked themselves down, a huge pot of sticky rice was produced from behind the drivers cab and an even bigger pot containing bbq chicken and pork ribs. Rice was passed to me by the handfull, thoughtfully squeezed into shape by the hands of the neighbour. Eaten alongside the succulent bbq it was truly scrumptious.
I opted to sit at the back of the bus baht in order to get the coooling breeze (for those who don't know a bus baht is an open to the elements means of transportation with thinly padded bench seats running along the inside of the vehicle). Having mentioned in other posts that Thailand seems to have finished with the rainy season, this day turned out to be first cloudy and then rainy. Rain doesn't really express what I was experiencing, hurtling down the road at 100km an hour, sat over the wheel, open to the elements. I am not technically minded but maybe it had something to do with drag coefficients and turbulence (or something) that made the rain not only enter through the side of the bus but get sucked in by open back entrance, basically I was pissed on from the side and back. Luckily the rain held off everynow and again, allowing one to be dried by the breeze and then just as my shirt and shorts stopped sticking to me, the rain would start again. Mai pen rai.
Finally, the sign said Chanthaburi 8 kms. About 20kms later my friend spotted a magnificient building on a hill side and everyone grew excited, we were approaching Wat Khao Sukim and we were going to be stopping. The Wat is a meditation venue for Buddhist monks but also contains large collection of religious items and valuable antiques donated by the public. There is a huge set of steps from the car park up to the Wat with painted serpents guarding the walkway. Fortunately, there is also a little trolley cart on a pulley system which we all dived into. My friend and our group joined by mostly Thai's (I saw no other tourist other than a couple of Farang) went on an unguided tour around the three story building. Each floor had an exhibition hall and there were indeed many interesting artefacts, pottery, coins, religious items that you may wish to see. On display are wax sculptures of over twenty Buddhist monks which amazed the Thai's I was with, they were so life like as to be scary. My friend found it all beautiful, and to be honest some of it was. However, the arrangement of donated items, much of which was furniture of high quality, did remind me of being inside a furniture warehouse. Some of the icons, surrounded by neon flashing lights looked a little tacky by western sensibilities and the placement of one of the wax monks amongst a faux garden of plastic animals looked a little too much 'santa's grotto' for my liking. The best thing I found was the view, from the roof of the building you looked down on countryside, hills and that perfect 'Irish green' or now what I will refer to as 'Thai green', with fast moving rain clouds adding to the majestic vista.
As we finished our tour of the Wat, having been blessed by monks, received donations of food, pictures and wristbands for luck, we returned to the bus baht just as it began to pour down again. On we went to Namtok Phliu National Park (where my friend said we could see the waterfalls). As you enter the park there are market stalls ligning your route, directed by one such stall holder we were directed into a makeshift garage where we could unload and purchase items from him to refresh ourselves. You can also buy plants resembling huge runner beans for feeding the carp which swim in the waters and such things as inflatables and water wings for the kids. Laiden up with buckets of fish food and with kids tripping up over their inflatable life supports, we traipsed upwards for about 500 metres, stopping once to pay the the 200 baht foreigner entrance fee and 20 baht Thai fee. When visiting such places I do not object to paying a different fee. Most places of interest should be free or have a small charge for Thai's and as Foreigners tend to earn much more, why shouldn't we pay more to view all things Thai. The waterfalls have various stopping off points if you need them where you can sit and recover and at three levels there are pools of water filled with small and large carp where you can swim or feed the constantly hungry buggers. The falls themselves are splendid and worth the trip alone. Even if it had not been raining (off and on) you will come back wet and as the area has a thick forest surround it also has a fairly tropical feel.
The swimming was a delight and refreshing, if somewhat chilly, and the kids were alternately scared and engrossed by the fish swimming around them, although there were tears when one of the poor little blighters got caught in the midst of a fish feeding frenzy.
After a couple of hours, we headed back to our luxurious transport for the drive homeward and, of course, the downpoor began again.
Being hilly country the air was clean and a lot fresher than experienced in the likes of Bangkok and Pattaya and the scenery is magnificent in the latter part of the journey. I can honestly say that due to a combination of the elevated area, the sopping rain and the open air transport I had never been so chilled in Thailand. An experience that I had oft wished for on baking steamy days. I tried to explain to my fellow passengers that being from Manchester, England, I was used to the rain, but I get the feeling that my attempts at communicating this left them with the impression that Manchester is a tropical hotbed where beautiful waterfalls abound. I cared little that my shirt was soaked once more as we ventured homeward, I dined regally on the remains of the sticky rice and bbq ribs and chicken and by the time we got back to Pattaya (and the dry) my shirt was air dried. Along the way there was much dropping of heads, closing of eyes and screams as each awoke with a crash as the bus baht hit yet another hole in the road and we passengers were flung skyward. As I exited the vehicle it was suggested that today I get a massage and my back and kneck defintely concurred.
Worth the trip, I think so, although next time I will find out how far we are actually going, how long it will take, will probably try and fit in one or two more things to see and do and definitely take an air con car!
I usually try and read up on places I am going to see but had not done so this time around. The bus hurtled down roads, passed Rayong and on and on. I still have no idea how far away Chanthaburi is but having been advised by various companions on the trip that it was a little trip away, 90 minutes away, 2 hours away and then experiencing the three hour journey it turned out to be, I have to guess that it is significantly further than most predict. It was also quite fun to listen to one of the guys say '20 minutes and we'll be there' and the women on the bus fall about laughing saying 'and another 20 minutes and another 20 minutes'. They were obviously used to this kind of underestimation.
As the bus hurtled in whatever direction we were going, out came the food. A mat was laid on the floor of the bus and the kids plonked themselves down, a huge pot of sticky rice was produced from behind the drivers cab and an even bigger pot containing bbq chicken and pork ribs. Rice was passed to me by the handfull, thoughtfully squeezed into shape by the hands of the neighbour. Eaten alongside the succulent bbq it was truly scrumptious.
I opted to sit at the back of the bus baht in order to get the coooling breeze (for those who don't know a bus baht is an open to the elements means of transportation with thinly padded bench seats running along the inside of the vehicle). Having mentioned in other posts that Thailand seems to have finished with the rainy season, this day turned out to be first cloudy and then rainy. Rain doesn't really express what I was experiencing, hurtling down the road at 100km an hour, sat over the wheel, open to the elements. I am not technically minded but maybe it had something to do with drag coefficients and turbulence (or something) that made the rain not only enter through the side of the bus but get sucked in by open back entrance, basically I was pissed on from the side and back. Luckily the rain held off everynow and again, allowing one to be dried by the breeze and then just as my shirt and shorts stopped sticking to me, the rain would start again. Mai pen rai.
Finally, the sign said Chanthaburi 8 kms. About 20kms later my friend spotted a magnificient building on a hill side and everyone grew excited, we were approaching Wat Khao Sukim and we were going to be stopping. The Wat is a meditation venue for Buddhist monks but also contains large collection of religious items and valuable antiques donated by the public. There is a huge set of steps from the car park up to the Wat with painted serpents guarding the walkway. Fortunately, there is also a little trolley cart on a pulley system which we all dived into. My friend and our group joined by mostly Thai's (I saw no other tourist other than a couple of Farang) went on an unguided tour around the three story building. Each floor had an exhibition hall and there were indeed many interesting artefacts, pottery, coins, religious items that you may wish to see. On display are wax sculptures of over twenty Buddhist monks which amazed the Thai's I was with, they were so life like as to be scary. My friend found it all beautiful, and to be honest some of it was. However, the arrangement of donated items, much of which was furniture of high quality, did remind me of being inside a furniture warehouse. Some of the icons, surrounded by neon flashing lights looked a little tacky by western sensibilities and the placement of one of the wax monks amongst a faux garden of plastic animals looked a little too much 'santa's grotto' for my liking. The best thing I found was the view, from the roof of the building you looked down on countryside, hills and that perfect 'Irish green' or now what I will refer to as 'Thai green', with fast moving rain clouds adding to the majestic vista.
As we finished our tour of the Wat, having been blessed by monks, received donations of food, pictures and wristbands for luck, we returned to the bus baht just as it began to pour down again. On we went to Namtok Phliu National Park (where my friend said we could see the waterfalls). As you enter the park there are market stalls ligning your route, directed by one such stall holder we were directed into a makeshift garage where we could unload and purchase items from him to refresh ourselves. You can also buy plants resembling huge runner beans for feeding the carp which swim in the waters and such things as inflatables and water wings for the kids. Laiden up with buckets of fish food and with kids tripping up over their inflatable life supports, we traipsed upwards for about 500 metres, stopping once to pay the the 200 baht foreigner entrance fee and 20 baht Thai fee. When visiting such places I do not object to paying a different fee. Most places of interest should be free or have a small charge for Thai's and as Foreigners tend to earn much more, why shouldn't we pay more to view all things Thai. The waterfalls have various stopping off points if you need them where you can sit and recover and at three levels there are pools of water filled with small and large carp where you can swim or feed the constantly hungry buggers. The falls themselves are splendid and worth the trip alone. Even if it had not been raining (off and on) you will come back wet and as the area has a thick forest surround it also has a fairly tropical feel.
The swimming was a delight and refreshing, if somewhat chilly, and the kids were alternately scared and engrossed by the fish swimming around them, although there were tears when one of the poor little blighters got caught in the midst of a fish feeding frenzy.
After a couple of hours, we headed back to our luxurious transport for the drive homeward and, of course, the downpoor began again.
Being hilly country the air was clean and a lot fresher than experienced in the likes of Bangkok and Pattaya and the scenery is magnificent in the latter part of the journey. I can honestly say that due to a combination of the elevated area, the sopping rain and the open air transport I had never been so chilled in Thailand. An experience that I had oft wished for on baking steamy days. I tried to explain to my fellow passengers that being from Manchester, England, I was used to the rain, but I get the feeling that my attempts at communicating this left them with the impression that Manchester is a tropical hotbed where beautiful waterfalls abound. I cared little that my shirt was soaked once more as we ventured homeward, I dined regally on the remains of the sticky rice and bbq ribs and chicken and by the time we got back to Pattaya (and the dry) my shirt was air dried. Along the way there was much dropping of heads, closing of eyes and screams as each awoke with a crash as the bus baht hit yet another hole in the road and we passengers were flung skyward. As I exited the vehicle it was suggested that today I get a massage and my back and kneck defintely concurred.
Worth the trip, I think so, although next time I will find out how far we are actually going, how long it will take, will probably try and fit in one or two more things to see and do and definitely take an air con car!