Chonburi - Long Boat Racing

While the provincial capital has a large buffalo race festival,

http://tinamue.blogspot.com/2010/10/chonburi-buffalo-racing.html

there is also a long boat race on Mabprachan Reservoir (covering both Nongprue and Pong municipalities) in November.

 The boats compete in two categories: 55 oarsmen or 30 oarsmen.

Run Betsy Run

The festival on the reservoir's shore is small, but there are activities for kids and also a buffalo race.

Chonburi - Wat Yannasangwararam

Wat Yannasangwararam Woramahaviharn is located in Huay Yai municipality, roughly 15 km south of Pattaya. Its location is more easy to pinpoint if you continue on Sukhumvit Road (Highway 3) to the Na Jomtien area where you then soon will find signs guiding you in the right direction.

Construction of the temple started in 1976 and the Royal Family have supported this temple since then. The Supreme Patriarch intended this temple be a place for practicing Dhamma and wanted a location relatively near Bangkok.

Inside the temple compound area, there are plenty of trees to provide shade and full facilities for visitors such as food, drinks and clean restrooms. There is also a museum explaining the basic Buddhist terms to laymen.  My favorite quote is: "You alone can change yourself". You cannot blame other people for your deeds - it is up to you to avoid committing sin by choosing the right path.

Chonburi - Sri Racha

Sri Racha is an old fishing village and center for seaborne transport that has grown big. Off the coast is Koh Si Chang. That island provides natural shelter for ships and has for centuries been a stopping point for vessels going to or coming from Bangkok. Even before that, the shelter provided by the island also allowed transshipments to take place - cargoes were moved from large oceangoing vessels to barges that went up to Ayutthaya. Sri Racha therefore became the home to customs house and immigration authorities to handle the interaction with foreign merchant vessels.

Chinese Buddha?

Wat Ko Loi is located on a small island connected with the mainland by a 1.5 km long causeway. The temple mixes Thai style Buddha statues with Chinese religious icons. It is the center for many festivals during the year, including Loy Krathong. On the island, there are also concrete ponds with large turtles and it may bring you good luck to feed them.

Ang Sila is located north of Sri Racha, just south of Chonburi city. It is another old fishing village that has become a popular tourist destination. It is not amazing beaches that attract people, but a reputation for amazing seafood.

Bay at Ang Sila

Chonburi - New Year at Wat Song Metta

When entering a new year, this is most often something people celebrate. However, many people take the opportunity to ponder the year that has passed and look ahead at what the new year may bring. Apart from the widespread tradition of making somewhat superficial resolutions for the new year, some people take a more serious approach. They choose to enter a new year while praying at a temple.

People are gathering

Wat Song Metta Wanaram is on a hill overlooking Ban Bang Saray (or Sa-Re) near Sattahip. New Year's Eve it will fill up with people chanting and praying for hours led by the monks of the temple.

Find yourself a place and a white cotton thread

If you are a believer, or maybe just want to try anything to secure some good fortune, then join us tomorrow evening. Or listen in on the internet radio broadcast.

http://www.watsongmetta.com/

Happy New Year

Chonburi - Pattaya Sheep Farm

In Thailand, the trend of making cute animals available for town folks to pet probably started near Suan Pheung in Ratchaburi with the upscale Swiss Valley Hip Resort roughly 10 years ago. Since then, the concept was copied but simplified into petting zoos that catered to people's desire to snap cute photos.

Air craft and wind mill - where are the sheep?

Such venues are in Thailand often called "sheep farms" and at first they spread across Ratchaburi, then started to pop up in Khao Kho, and they are now found all across Thailand.

Sheep galore

There are two sheep farms near Pattaya - actually, in Bang Lamung and in Na Jomtien.

Car rental that I can afford, but I need somebody to push me.

The one in Bang Lamung is the biggest one and if you are young at heart, it can be quite fun to spend an hour there.You can pad and feed sheep, donkeys, ponies, pigs, ducks, geese, and chickens as well as take a boat load of cute photos. Much more fun than the cluster of fake European houses south of Pattaya:

http://tinamue.blogspot.com/2013/08/chonburi-mimosa-city-of-fakes.html

Chonburi - Pattaya: City of Culture

Every year in December, Pattaya City sponsors a merit making ceremony early a Saturday morning. Last year, 2,600 monks were bused in. 

At his speech, and I am paraphrasing, the mayor of Pattaya said the ceremony was partly intended to show that Pattaya is not only a city of sin. However, I am pretty sure that this ceremony – starting at sunrise – escapes the attention of nearly all tourists and of the Thais engaged in the many shades of sinful activity that goes on all around Pattaya.

After the speeches, the monks circulated to allow worshipers to pay their respects and get their prayers answered. Considering that the Lord Buddha taught that the way to salvation is to free oneself from temptations and unholy matters such as money, it was an interesting aspect of the ceremony that 60% of the MC’s calls for prayer were for riches.

Chonburi - Pattaya Fireworks

Every year in November, Pattaya City arranges a fireworks competition stretching over two evenings where several nations vie for the honors. I have enjoyed the view both from the exclusivity (USD 100 tickets) of Hilton’s terrace bar and from a less luxurious beach chair (USD 1.50).

The view from up high at Hilton is far better than from shore side, but down at street level one meets more interesting aspects of real life. Last year, a Russian enjoyed the show together with a bottle of Thai whiskey. When the bottle was almost empty, he decided to go for a swim. Fully dressed and seriously drunk, he made it waist-high into the sea before he collapsed. Several good Samaritans rushed to pull the Russian back on the beach where he sat, drenched and smiling, for the rest of the show. 

Chonburi - Ban Bang Saray

I first visited the “English Club” in Ban Bang Saray in 1999. Back then, Bang Saray was a sleepy fishing village with a few good seafood restaurants. The “English Club”, actually named “The Bang Saray Club“, is a restaurant trying to maintain some of the atmosphere of a member’s only club for gentlemen, e.g., by maintaining a dress code. 
I forgot why the club back when was located where it is, but there is a distinct deficit of high-society types in Bang Saray, so the club is slightly derelict. Service is slow, prices are high, but the atmosphere is relaxing and views across the bay to Jomtien and Pattaya are interesting.

Ten years ago, I was briefly involved in my friend’s attempt to sell Bali-style houses to foreigners. The project did not get off the ground. Things have moved ahead fast in Bang Saray since then. In recent years, a lot of housing estates and guest houses have been built as Bang Saray has become a popular destination for European retirees.

The beaches around Bang Saray are not impressive, but the beaches north of the small harbor are popular destinations for picnic. The beaches to the south are slightly better, but are located inside a Thai naval base. However, the guards can easily be talked into letting you inside the base.

Chonburi - Sattahip

Samaesan is a small "typical" Thai fishing village just south of the port / base used by the Royal Thai Navy. The smell is the first thing you notice in Samaesan. The pungent smell comes from the cooking, drying and processing of small fish (whatever they are called). During a boat trip you will see thousands of "silver fish" making big jumps out of the water around the boat. Thai people like to eat this fish dried or fried in oil with sugar and salt.

http://samaesan.com/Location/shop-19.html

To escape the smell, visit the beautiful temple on the hill. From there, there is the view of islands just off the coast with their white beaches and crystal-clear water.

The waters around the islands have several coral reefs and the wreck of Hardeep, which was sunk in the Second World War. It is now at the bottom of the sea at 26 meter and is a popular destination for SCUBA divers. The wreck is home to moray eels, sea turtles, and a lot of other marine life.

Wreckdiving is exciting and challenging. But the sea around Samaesan has strong and treacherous currents, which can be dangerous - I ran out of air during one of my Hardeep dives - so one has to be extra careful.

http://www.thaiwreckdiver.com/hardeep_wreck.htm

Chonburi - Sanctuary of Truth

Located on Laem Rachvate in Na Kluea (just north of Pattaya) is a somewhat peculiar structure. While the webpage talks about ancient (Eastern) vision and wisdom as well as of ancient Thai ingenuity, the wooden building's style is an overly "busy" version of Khmer architecture.

While that in itself can be interesting -- and the official website (see link below) goes to a great length explaining the symbolic meaning of the many carvings -- I am not impressed by the entrance fees charges, by the tourists that arrive by the bus loads, and by the numerous side-activities going on to generate revenues.

http://www.sanctuaryoftruth.com/history.php

To me, money rather than spiritual enlightening and pursuit of "truth" has become the main objective. But, each to one's own.

Chonburi - Mimosa City of Fakes

Mimosa brands itself as "City of Love", so one could expect it to be related to weddings or romantic dinners. But it is basically three rows of traditional Thai shop-houses that have been converted into a poor replica of various European architectural styles. I cannot figure out how that relates to love.

Mimosa promotes itself as a community lifestyle mall, which - I must admit -  I don't know means.

In this case, the local community would never dream of going shopping at Mimosa. The products offered are aimed at tourists (and priced accordingly) plus there are plenty of food outlets. And judging from the mostly Thai (Bangkokian) visitors, the lifestyle seems to be to snap photos.

Is this a Dutch or a German shophouse ?

Mimosa is yet another" snap cute photos and buy tacky souvenirs" destination, which can be reached on a day trip from Bangkok. It is located on Sukhumvit Road in Na Jomtien, a few kilometers south of Pattaya.

http://tinamue.blogspot.com/2012/11/prachuab-khiri-khan-hua-hin-floating.html

Time stands still in Italy

Chonburi - Laem Chabang

Laem Chabang is Thailand’s largest container port and I happened to spend an afternoon on one of the port’s tug boats. 

Laem Chabang is the primary exit point for the export of stuff manufactured in Thailand’s industrial heartland; namely the provinces of Chonburi, Rayong, and Chachoengsao. What is made in Thailand covers a wide spectrum. For example, Caterpillar and Komatsu make heavy earth moving equipment, Ducatti makes motorcycles, Titleist makes golf balls, STP&I assembles for the huge LNG facilities being built in Australia, and the list goes on.

One of the primary export items to move through Laem Chabang is vehicles. The before-mentioned provinces form “The Detroit of the East”. Mitsubishi, Toyota, Ford, Mazda, Isuzu, and Chevrolet all have their factories there – Toyota furthermore has its original plant in Samut Prakarn – and they all export large quantities of vehicles to ASEAN, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and even further away.

The picture above shows one of the car terminals with lots of Toyotas. The few vehicles pointing inland have just been off-loaded (imported from Indonesia) while the rest are ready to be driven onboard the car carrier. 

Chonburi - Buffalo Racing

The annual buffalo races are held in the 11th lunar month – normally in October. This year, it was on October 22nd. The races are held in front of the municipal office in the provincial capital.

The races are sprints – mad 100-yard dashes that somewhat resemble stampedes – with the riders pushing their beasts of burden forward in the hopes of winning cash rewards with beasts of burden competing in large, medium and small sizes.

There were also a beauty pageant for buffalos.

Of course, no such event is complete without a market, a fun fair, some folk music concerts and a beauty pageant. Who wouldn’t want to be crowned as Miss Buffalo?

The week featured slingshot shooting, kite competitions, slimy bamboo post-climbing, cock fighting and Muay Thai boxing filling the playbill.