Day 2, Thursday 2nd December - Bang Khen, Bangkok
Relaxed.......The relaxed atmosphere continues this morning at Bleu Marine as we take breakfast on the patio with a comfortable breeze blowing. There will be some attractions to visit on the way back but I don't intend to flog a dead horse today even though I could easily do so. Sattahip district despite being a base for Thailand's naval fleet has plenty of enjoyable coastal areas as we found out yesterday but before we head back to the coast there's something else I's like to check out.
Ban Plu Ta Luang Railway Station.......Ban Phlu Ta Luang railway station is a railway station located in Phlu Ta Luang Subdistrict. It is a class 3 railway station located 184 km from Bangkok. It is the current terminus of operational trains from Bangkok receiving just two per day but the line continues and will in future service a new station at U-Tapao International Airport.
Samaesan Seafood.......Samaesan has enough attractions to justify retracing our steps this morning. The obvious point of interest is Samaesan seafood market which presents a vast quantity and variety of seafood. It's curious that we started these autumn tours in the north of Chonburi province and visited Ang Sila seafood market, the only real difference there being that Ang Sila has a pier. Here they succeed in tempting us to buy something to take back home. What I didn't realise is that they have facilities to prepare the food. The Asian seabass for example turns out deep fried and a kilo of crabs currently still alive become steamed crabs before too long. I add a few more goodies which will end up in my suitcase.
Luang Pho Dam.......We continue onto Ban Samaesan past the restaurant we dined in yesterday, reaching Wihan Luang Pho Dam, a temple on Samaesan Hill affording glorious views of Koh Samaesan and other islands. Luang Pho Dam is the name of the image in the temple's image hall. For no obvious reason to me, Luang Pho is referred to as black.
Ban Samaesan.......We now head into the fishing port area with its narrow streets where there are countless piers to support a large fleet of fishing boats. Here in these congested streets, we resist the temptation to go exploring but head on through the town to an attraction on the far side not to be missed. As mentioned before, Sattahip is a major Royal Thai Naval base. You cannot travel too far in this area without seeing the association there is with the Thai Navy which owns a lot of land around here. We next arrive at a museum where there is a monitoring station.
Thai Island and Sea Natural History Museum.......For the Thai Island and Sea Natural History Museum you can purchase tickets at the information center at the base of Samaesan Hill. Although the normal ticket price for foreigners is 100 baht, I get a break being considered too old and feeble to need to pay. Hmmmm! Well, this natural history museum is built on the hillside. There are steps to ascend which gives you access to 5 levels, 4 of which are exhibition halls while the building at the top currently has no access although there is a viewpoint. The halls are as follows:-
Level 1 deals with the development of life on earth.
Level 2 deals with the nature of forests and the essential function fungi, algae and microbes in decomposition.
Level 3 deals with island habitats and bird life.
Level 4 deals with life in the oceans and in particular the effects of plastic waste.
The museum works under the patronage of HRH Princess Sirindhorn in assessing the damage being done as the result of pollution in the oceans and has produced a step-by-step approach to help alleviate the problem.
Nam Sai Beach.......As mentioned, we have no plans to make a long day site visiting but there are certainly some attractions here which would justify a revisit. Time is now well into afternoon and as we need some lunch there seems to be an ideal location not far away which is also a natural attraction. To reach it we need to gain permission as the land is owned by the Navy. This is granted by production of the right form of identification. Any activity here is strictly controlled so you would not expect free for all commercial enterprise here. Nevertheless, the Navy realises that it has a lovely piece of real estate, namely Nam Sai Beach and allows a limited number of operators to set up a food court where visitors can buy food and drink to take down to the beach. No vendors are allowed on the beach so visitors have to make their own arrangements. In effect this is a private beach and what a little gem it is too, not at all crowded right now but I guess it is at weekends. The beach area is quite small but it is safe. Apart from swimming and bathing the most popular past time here seems to be kayaking. To my way of my thinking, this is much nicer than Pattaya Beach especially for families.
Frustration.......Well, all good things must come to an end and by 4:00pm it should be a leisurely drive back to Bangkok. However, there is something I need to check out on the way back but an indication of things to come happens when we reach Si Racha. I'm trying to find Si Racha Junction railway station but we meet heavy Friday night traffic and the station is not near to a major highway. Progress becomes really slow and a little bit of frustration starts to set in. I begin to wonder what there will be at Si Racha railway station that would make this diversion worthwhile.
Jubilation.......After a grueling hour later, we arrive at the station and frustration evaporates in seconds. There are locomotives here. More than I ever expected to see. For a start there is a small engineering depot which would normally have a few engines in view; and so there are, probably about a dozen overall. But parked in a station sidings there are more, a lot more, part of a consigned of new stock recently arrived from China. Hoping to see a couple of these engines on this autumn tour, it is beyond my wildest dreams to see about a dozen lined up waiting for commissioning.
Back to Frustration.......For me this is a personal highlight of the day but there's still a matter of returning to Bangkok where on setting the Satnav I'm advised of horrendous congestion building up still some distance before the outer ring road. Arriving in the area we find our worst fears confirmed and try and locate an alternate route which seems to get us into an even worse mess. By the time we've done some shopping and reached the residence it's not far off 9:00pm. So, 90 kilometres in 4 hours? You must be joking. Arriving under these circumstances how can you say you've had a relaxing day? Dinner has to be a simple affair as sleep seems to be higher on the agenda.
It's such a pity about the ending but at least in all other respects this has been a great little tour the like of which I wouldn't mind repeating but at least in this regard it's been the same as other tours as having its bittersweet moments.
First Page.
Relaxed.......The relaxed atmosphere continues this morning at Bleu Marine as we take breakfast on the patio with a comfortable breeze blowing. There will be some attractions to visit on the way back but I don't intend to flog a dead horse today even though I could easily do so. Sattahip district despite being a base for Thailand's naval fleet has plenty of enjoyable coastal areas as we found out yesterday but before we head back to the coast there's something else I's like to check out.
Ban Plu Ta Luang Railway Station.......Ban Phlu Ta Luang railway station is a railway station located in Phlu Ta Luang Subdistrict. It is a class 3 railway station located 184 km from Bangkok. It is the current terminus of operational trains from Bangkok receiving just two per day but the line continues and will in future service a new station at U-Tapao International Airport.
Samaesan Seafood.......Samaesan has enough attractions to justify retracing our steps this morning. The obvious point of interest is Samaesan seafood market which presents a vast quantity and variety of seafood. It's curious that we started these autumn tours in the north of Chonburi province and visited Ang Sila seafood market, the only real difference there being that Ang Sila has a pier. Here they succeed in tempting us to buy something to take back home. What I didn't realise is that they have facilities to prepare the food. The Asian seabass for example turns out deep fried and a kilo of crabs currently still alive become steamed crabs before too long. I add a few more goodies which will end up in my suitcase.
Luang Pho Dam.......We continue onto Ban Samaesan past the restaurant we dined in yesterday, reaching Wihan Luang Pho Dam, a temple on Samaesan Hill affording glorious views of Koh Samaesan and other islands. Luang Pho Dam is the name of the image in the temple's image hall. For no obvious reason to me, Luang Pho is referred to as black.
Ban Samaesan.......We now head into the fishing port area with its narrow streets where there are countless piers to support a large fleet of fishing boats. Here in these congested streets, we resist the temptation to go exploring but head on through the town to an attraction on the far side not to be missed. As mentioned before, Sattahip is a major Royal Thai Naval base. You cannot travel too far in this area without seeing the association there is with the Thai Navy which owns a lot of land around here. We next arrive at a museum where there is a monitoring station.
Thai Island and Sea Natural History Museum.......For the Thai Island and Sea Natural History Museum you can purchase tickets at the information center at the base of Samaesan Hill. Although the normal ticket price for foreigners is 100 baht, I get a break being considered too old and feeble to need to pay. Hmmmm! Well, this natural history museum is built on the hillside. There are steps to ascend which gives you access to 5 levels, 4 of which are exhibition halls while the building at the top currently has no access although there is a viewpoint. The halls are as follows:-
Level 1 deals with the development of life on earth.
Level 2 deals with the nature of forests and the essential function fungi, algae and microbes in decomposition.
Level 3 deals with island habitats and bird life.
Level 4 deals with life in the oceans and in particular the effects of plastic waste.
The museum works under the patronage of HRH Princess Sirindhorn in assessing the damage being done as the result of pollution in the oceans and has produced a step-by-step approach to help alleviate the problem.
Nam Sai Beach.......As mentioned, we have no plans to make a long day site visiting but there are certainly some attractions here which would justify a revisit. Time is now well into afternoon and as we need some lunch there seems to be an ideal location not far away which is also a natural attraction. To reach it we need to gain permission as the land is owned by the Navy. This is granted by production of the right form of identification. Any activity here is strictly controlled so you would not expect free for all commercial enterprise here. Nevertheless, the Navy realises that it has a lovely piece of real estate, namely Nam Sai Beach and allows a limited number of operators to set up a food court where visitors can buy food and drink to take down to the beach. No vendors are allowed on the beach so visitors have to make their own arrangements. In effect this is a private beach and what a little gem it is too, not at all crowded right now but I guess it is at weekends. The beach area is quite small but it is safe. Apart from swimming and bathing the most popular past time here seems to be kayaking. To my way of my thinking, this is much nicer than Pattaya Beach especially for families.
Frustration.......Well, all good things must come to an end and by 4:00pm it should be a leisurely drive back to Bangkok. However, there is something I need to check out on the way back but an indication of things to come happens when we reach Si Racha. I'm trying to find Si Racha Junction railway station but we meet heavy Friday night traffic and the station is not near to a major highway. Progress becomes really slow and a little bit of frustration starts to set in. I begin to wonder what there will be at Si Racha railway station that would make this diversion worthwhile.
Jubilation.......After a grueling hour later, we arrive at the station and frustration evaporates in seconds. There are locomotives here. More than I ever expected to see. For a start there is a small engineering depot which would normally have a few engines in view; and so there are, probably about a dozen overall. But parked in a station sidings there are more, a lot more, part of a consigned of new stock recently arrived from China. Hoping to see a couple of these engines on this autumn tour, it is beyond my wildest dreams to see about a dozen lined up waiting for commissioning.
Back to Frustration.......For me this is a personal highlight of the day but there's still a matter of returning to Bangkok where on setting the Satnav I'm advised of horrendous congestion building up still some distance before the outer ring road. Arriving in the area we find our worst fears confirmed and try and locate an alternate route which seems to get us into an even worse mess. By the time we've done some shopping and reached the residence it's not far off 9:00pm. So, 90 kilometres in 4 hours? You must be joking. Arriving under these circumstances how can you say you've had a relaxing day? Dinner has to be a simple affair as sleep seems to be higher on the agenda.
It's such a pity about the ending but at least in all other respects this has been a great little tour the like of which I wouldn't mind repeating but at least in this regard it's been the same as other tours as having its bittersweet moments.
First Page.
Ban Plu Ta Luang Railway Station, Phlu Ta Luang, Sattahip District, Chonburi Province
Samaesan Seafood Market, Samaesan, Sattahip District, Chonburi Province
Wihan Luang Pho Dam, Samaesan, Sattahip District, Chonburi Province
Thai Island and Sea Natural History Museum, Samaesan, Sattahip District,
Chonburi Province
Samaesan Fishing Port, Samaesan, Sattahip District, Chonburi Province
Nam Sai Beach, Samaesan, Sattahip District, Chonburi Province
Si Racha Railway Station, Surasak, Si Racha District, Chonburi Province