I managed to get on my "new" bike (actually the mens mountain bike here at the villa, which we only got unlocked yesterday) at 9 and thankfully the beach road was remarkably quiet ... ish.
I rode down the the south end and took a couple of pics around the south end as I headed north.
It was pretty much like this all along the beach road other than in central Cha Am.
My definition of quiet is now when I see any empty cars space on the foreshore.
Our timing wasn't as good as it could have been and we had lunch late, which meant that we missed the Songkran Festival parade 😞
We decided to go for a long walk to make up for it.
This walk is about 4.5km, and ~500m further than we would normally go.
A round trip of 9 kms, on wet sand, makes my conscience feel OK.
From near the end of Narathip Road looking south
From near the end of Narathip Road looking west.
Beach umbrellas so close together that they form a huge ongoing canopy
The 3 pics above are for my friend Baz.
He just bought a 40hp motor, similar to what powers this type of water borne death trap, for his yacht, which I estimate would be 6 to 10 times bigger!
These units are held together with chewing gum, bits of old fishing line, ropes from old buoys and floats, a bit of spit and anything else they can muster up for free.
And there are lots of them all over the beach
They are generally used to pull these "banana boats" at speeds that are frightening.
The whole set up look guaranteed to end up in tears but I haven't heard of any accidents, yet.
There are a few really nice proper jet skis as well.
This is where I took the following two pics
Looking south
Looking north
This where I took the following four pics.
It is on the beach outside the Cha Am Grand Condotel, which as the name implies is a hotel full of condominiums. It doesn't look anywhere near as flash in real life as it does on any of the various websites that have their condos for sale or rent.
Run down, as in poorly maintained, steps down to the beach from the condotel
Looking north
Looking south
Looking up.
You can see how unkept it is a ground level.
The Grand Pacific Sovereign from afar, south side.
With that palatial looking structure on its roof.
As you get closer to the centre of Cha Am the umbrellas creep off the foreshore and onto the beach.
I'd wager a dollar, or 22.25 baht, that it not exactly legal and that someone in authority is making a few, or many, baht from this practice.
Welcome to Thailand!
A view from under the canopy of umbrellas. I think you can rent a stretcher
for 5 hours at a cost of 30 baht (~AUD 1.30ish)
Here we are on the way home heading up Narathip Road and we have had quite a few bucket of water poured on us by kids and their parents already.
To have them do this is an honour as it is a sign of friendship and good wishes.
BUT, some of the older kids and their mischievous friends and family sometimes have ice water!
Like the crew with the guy you see the left.
Well, today ice water was just fine. Other than the little surprise at the beginning it was very welcome, because it was damn hot.
Here we are, finally at home and wringing wet!
Tonight the girls stayed up and watched the 2017 version of "Papillon" and I hit the sack early.
Tomorrow is Sunday. A day of rest and one I'm looking forward to.
I hope wherever you are your smiles outnumber your frowns.
Until tomorrow, stay well.
Lucky mobile phones are waterproof
ReplyDeleteWhen they are in a zip lock bag and only pulled out for use when you are well away from anyone with a bucket or water gun you're sort of safe.
ReplyDeleteI say "sort of" because crews cruise the streets in utes full of water containers and pitch buckets of it on you as they drive past.
In fact, we were told that if you go to the parade "DO NOT take your phone or anything you don't want to get wet!" I think that's the really wet part of the day.
It's hard to convey, but it's really fun, especially for the little kids, and really refreshing.
I am very impressed by the thorough detail, organisation and presentation of your daily blogs and I am enjoying them so so much. They have been a welcoming distraction from this darn research report I am writing!! I cant help but wonder how you are managing to not eat before 12 noon while you are surrounded by all that delicious food!!! I hope the language lessons are paying off for you Tizz. I'm looking forward to seeing photos of any interesting or bizarre objects you see loaded onto motor bikes/scooters. Take care, keep safe and enjoy (a Beer Chang for me!)
ReplyDeleteDear Unknown, first and foremost thank you for your compliments and enticement to drink beer.
DeleteTiz and I are trying to figure out whom you might be, and as we have 10's of 1000's of blog followers 🤣 it's really really hard.
But we've narrowed it down to a very likely one of two. To narrow it down even further you might give us a clue.
Do you live in God's country - Straya?
Do you reside in a little country town or are you in a beautiful house in the suburbs?
Are you male or female, and to be cognisant of the local culture, or 3rd gender?
Are you professionally associated with the law or medicine?
Will you only drink XXXX out of can wrapped in a scungy old cooler or are you happy to drink rakija out of a beer bottle in a brown paper bag?
Answers to some or all of those question should reveal your identity, but even if we never find out - thanks for reading the blog and your input and we ask you to keep doing it.
Cheers
Loving the blogs mate! Looks and sounds like paradise.
ReplyDeleteCheers
Great to hear from you Waz, and thanks for the compliment.
ReplyDeleteYes the place is pretty easy to settle into and even easier to enjoy.
We'll have to get the old crew together for another BBQ when we get back but in the meantime please pass on a g'day to all those that are left in the place.
I've got Mark and Dan's details and am keeping in touch with them.
Off to the pool now.
Take care and keep warm.
Cheers