Chantaburi - a multitude of options

Chantaburi has something for everyone. The province has great beaches, highlands with waterfalls and hot springs, remnants of gem mines as well several destinations for history buffs. In a temple in the city center, Buddha statues are kept in a building with a roof shaped like the helmet worn by the great Taksin who won Siam back from the Burmese.

Chantaburi was from where the general (later king) gathered his forces, built his fleet, and subsequently launched his attack on the Burmese. Later, Siam came under pressure from the expansionist French that didn't think French Indochina was quite large enough. French troops therefore marched up the coast from today's China and didn't stop until they reached Chantaburi. 

French-built "Chicken-shit Prison"

They occupied the territory until the king of Siam gave two of "his" Cambodian provinces to the French. The French combined incarceration of Thai prisoners with farming - there is a structure near Laem Singh, which used to have prisoners on the ground floor while the top floor was a chicken coop. Due to gravity, the prisoner were "showered" in chicken droppings, which they obviously saw as a great insult.

Beach destinations include Laem Singh and Hat Chao Lao (with Laem Sadet)

http://tinamue.blogspot.com/2011/12/chantaburi-laem-singh.html


http://tinamue.blogspot.com/2010/02/chantanaburi-chao-lao.html

The road from Chantaburi city to Sa Kaeo city goes parallel to the Thai border with Cambodia and there are a couple of small "border markets" and lots of waterfalls along the way. The key destination in that area is Soi Dao.

Rolling hills near Soi Dao

Suphanburi - Buffalo Show

I passed through Supanburi and decided to drop by the Buffalo Village.

http://tinamue.blogspot.com/2010/04/suphanburi-buffalo-village.html

Unlike my first visit, this time there was no special (high) entrance fee to pay although the sign still says Caucasians have to pay five times the rate Asians pay. 

Isuzu of olden days

The show and the sights (feed a buffalo, ride on a buffalo etc) were the same. Well worth a Thai entrance fee, but not worth a farang entrance fee.

Brother, can you spare a dime for another slurpee?

Khon Kaen - More Dinosaurs

On my way to Loei. I saw a road sign and decided to take a detour to a dinosaur museum. It turned out to be located in the middle of nowhere in Khon Kaen - or rather on the road to Phu Wiang National Park. A geological formation – a crescent shaped ridge – leaves only one road in and out to the museum.

A Friendly Dinosaur

The outdoor area covers 160,000 square meters, but the museum itself was not as impressive as the one in Nong Bua Lamphu (http://tinamue.blogspot.com/2013/02/nong-bua-lamphu-dinosaurs.html) and did – as unfortunately is usual in Thailand – charge Caucasians more than Thais. 

A Less Friendly Dinosaur

Since there actually isn’t much to say about dinosaurs in Thailand, the museum also went at some length to explain the evolution of species and geological formations.