Road Trip to Uthai Thani

[Big Boy]

Not my normal trip report with loads of photos (there will be some Monday and the next day), but i thought I'd write a report anyway, for my own benefit, even if nobody else likes it . I will post 4 short(ish) installments.

I travelled with wado-karate to Uthai Thani last week, basically acting as taxi driver to half of the Prachuap karate team when they competed in the Provincial Thai Youth Games. Rather than a normal trip report, it will be a series of observations, with a few add-ons. This could just as easily be entitled how lucky/unlucky we are to live in Hua Hin.

We set out at 9am last Wednesday morning. I was being guided by Google Maps on my phone, which proved to be almost perfect (only one minor traffic violation, but nobody was watching ). Once we’d passed the palace traffic lights, traffic volume was moderate to low.

Our route took us through Ratchaburi, Nakhon Pathom and Suphanburi. When we passed Suphanburi, I thought, whoops, here we go, the satnav is going haywire. We’d been dual or higher carriageway until Suphanburi, so very easy driving. Then I’m directed down a silly single track side lane for about a mile, and I’m thinking WTF!!! We crossed a small bridge, turned right, and we were on an irrigation canal service road.

Well, we were on the service road for 47 miles, and it was brilliant. No other traffic, a road surface that was perfect. However, it wasn’t the road so much, but the irrigation canal system that was going through the heart of Thailand, which got my attention. Because I was the only vehicle, I had time to observe. I had never appreciated what a complex irrigation canal system there was in Thailand. It seemed to be being managed very carefully. In some places, the canal was almost dried out, but looking at the fields around them there was plenty of water. In other places, fields were drying, but the canal had water, which was in the process of being carefully pumped to where it was most needed.

Then the canals themselves – every now and then we’d come across a team of men pumping water from one to another. Every few hundred yards we came across farmer’s hoses and pumps to irrigate their individual fields. It was all very interesting. It is just amazing that so much effort goes on unseen behind the scenes to keep Thailand fertile. I made a point of coming home on the same road because it was so interesting.

Wildlife in and around the canals was interesting too. Where there was water, we saw a few very large monitor lizards swimming along. The varied bird life was surprising to say the least. When the irrigation canals ended, we were just about in Uthai Thani.

..../ tomorrow, thoughts on Uthai Thani.

[Chazz14]

Your photos should be interesting...

#Chazz#

[Big Boy]

Uthai Thani

As Prachuap were subsidizing the team, accommodation was not too expensive, but as things turned out, we couldn’t have found better digs. The bedrooms were small, but en-suite; but the best part was our 2 rooms were connected to a single living room, which meant we could socialize together.

Uthai Thani itself made us feel lucky to live in a town such as Hua Hin. Basically, the town was in bed and asleep by 8pm. We were using technology to find eating establishments. Plenty of restaurants were being thrown up, and almost all ‘attractive’ restaurants were closed by 7pm. A search for bars did not throw up any results until our final night. As far as we could see, in the entirety of Uthai Thani there were just three 7-11s. We were struggling – training wasn’t finishing until 6:30pm; after which we needed to shower and change.

The first night, we walked, and walked and walked. We found nothing apart from the occasional meatball seller (I’m not a meatball person). We were sure we’d find something. We ignored a 7-11, and simply discounted a KFC (which didn’t close until 9). Many miles later, we were almost back at our digs, when the glow of a light in the distance seemed to call to us. It was a Ma and Pa shop, which was getting ready to close. So 2 of Prachuap’s athletes, wado-karate and I had to settle for pot noodle for our evening meal.

Rather distraught by this experience, we decided we had to be more proactive the following night. We searched on Google Maps for restaurants that were still open. Most were due to close within an hour. We decided which of the remaining restaurants looked suitable and prioritized 5 in case we didn’t like the look of them when we got there. The first 4 had closed permanently i.e. not where they were supposed to be. Our final chance was a steak house that was supposed to remain open until 11pm. There it was like an oasis in the desert. The food was quite nice as well, and not too expensive.

In reality, we went back there the next night as well, and the novelty of eating had worn off. The food was still good, but looking at the décor, it was pretty grim. Probably, if situated in Hua Hin, we’d have just walked past, but when in the wilds of Uthai Thani, standards lower.

On our 4th night, we did the search again. This time we couldn’t believe our eyes when a Gastro Pub with an opening time of 5pm to 11pm was thrown up. A pub in Uthai Thani? Who would use it? Everybody is tucked up in bed by 8pm. We had to try it anyway.

We arrived, and I was underwhelmed. It was an old Thai house, with capacity for about 15 people inside. We were sat in the back yard, which was covered with a useless giant mosquito net. Useless, because the entrance was wide open. The inside bar was closed for a private party, so was packed full. We were alone outside, although a few tables did fill while were there.

The bar sold the usual Thai beer, but had an impressive array of Craft Beers and Ciders on display. I rarely drink, but wado-karate did try one of their ciders at 8%. Said it wasn’t as good as real cider and went back to drinking Chang.

The menu was quite large, but had nothing I really fancied. I started criticizing the choices to the others in our group, and the waitress overheard me (actually, I think she was one of a pair of Toms who ran the bar, and was doing a bit of waitressing as well). Talk about going for the jugular – she started lecturing me about the menu being the best in Uthai Thani, and wanted to know what was wrong with it. I obliged by telling her, but she didn’t want to know – I think agreement was the only option she wanted to hear. For Uthai Thani, it probably was an amazing menu, but there was nothing that I fancied on it. I ended up ordering Pork Fried Rice. Everybody ordered, and when the food came, portion sizes were minute. Every one of our party had to order a second meal.

The biggest mystery about the Gastro Pub is why it only came up on search engines at the weekend.

Oh, how lucky we are living in Hua Hin with vast array of bars, restaurants and food courts at our disposal. I don’t think you appreciate Hua Hin until you visit somewhere like Uthai Thani.

On the other hand, if you want total chill-out, where better to visit? Traffic was very light. On our first night in the steak house we had a window seat. The restaurant was on the main drag through Uthai Thani. We actually commented on how light traffic was – about 1 vehicle a minute going past. Everything (almost) is closed by 8pm, and people just seem to go to bed.

It was funny that a sign on the way in to Uthai Thani said, ‘Welcome to Tourism.’ In reality, there was nothing to do there, and we only saw 3 other Westerners in 4 days there.

..../ tomorrow, Chainat Bird Park

[buksida]

There are a lot of regular Thai towns like this, virtually dead after dark unless you know where to go.

I would say the tourist towns such as Hua Hin are in the minority in that they are reasonably lively because of their nature as a holiday spot for foreigners and locals.

Of course there are advantages and disadvantages of living in both.

[Big Boy]

I agree, but I thought my wife's home town was dead, but it's positively lively after a few nights in Uthai Thani.

[Big Boy]

Chainat Bird Park

On our 2nd day there, there was no karate planned until 4pm, so we took a trip to the Chainat Bird Park about 15 miles away.

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I’ve already mentioned on another thread how the park operates dual pricing, but went out of their way to find a reason to charge me as a Thai.

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This was due to be the highlight of this trip for me. I had been looking forward to it since my trip to the Bird Park in Kuala Lumpur 2 months earlier. In reality, I should have done the 2 trips the other way around. Chainat was poor in comparison.

As we entered the grounds, it all looked very impressive, with plenty photo/selfies opportunities everywhere. In fact, first impressions were excellent.

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We wandered around the large lake, and our first stop was the Aquarium. As aquariums go, this was probably the smallest and worst I had seen.

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We didn’t have time to take advantage of the Bird Park’s own Water Park, so our next stop was the Egg Museum. I must have spent all of a minute in here. It was like walking past the egg counter in Tesco. Yes, a lot of eggs and a lot of different sizes, but an egg is an egg whether it comes from a Sparrow or an Emu. To me, there is nothing exciting about an egg, unless it’s an omlette.

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We continued our journey around the park, still thinking what a nice stroll it was in the sun. Next attraction was on the top of a small hill, the Lhuang Poo Suk Shrine. It was basically a small temple on the top of a hill. The 2 fighters in the party thought they’d better go to order a couple medals for the next day’s competition from Buddha, so up we went. The view was nice.

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Back down again, and we encountered our first Iguana. There turned out to be dozens of these guys around the park, but the first one is always a bit special.

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It was now that we started to realise that this park had seen better days. The first attraction that had died was a large man-made waterfall. The waterfall was dry. At the base was a large pumping house, which was obviously no longer working. There was a smaller waterfall still in operation just along the road.

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From that point we noticed water feature after water feature that was dry. Clearly the mechanism for moving water to where it was needed was not working.

We then entered what should have been the highlight of the visit.

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We passed through the huge hanging chains and into the covered bird enclosure. However, this part of our visit was flawed. No birds, or very few. We basically encountered a couple of Peacocks as we entered the park, and towards the end of the very long walk amongst the dried out lake beds we did find a small lake where there were Storks. Plenty of Iguanas though. I would guess the attraction at Kuala Lumpur had as many birds every 10Mtr2.

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When we went to see the Storks at the remains of the lake, we did see why there were so few birds to be seen. They were literally queuing up to take their turn to escape. Then I looked outside of the huge net, and there were more storks flying outside of the net than were still resident inside.

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Finally, we finished the walk around this giant bird enclosure, where the main attraction was now Iguanas.

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We headed towards the exit and came across a huge caged birds enclosure. Yes, there were birds, but we hadn’t really come to see them in caged enclosures.

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I guess if I hadn’t been to see how it was done properly in Kuala Lumpur so recently, I’d have been more impressed. As it was, I was quite disappointed, and wonder if the lack of birds was the reason for them being so keen to charge me a Thai rate.

..../ tomorrow, Chainat Hornbill FC

[Lost]

...an egg museum.

How eggciting!

[bigston]

Nice Work, BB
apart from the 2 orange ones stapled to their perch
did you see any parrots or were they all too tired and shagged out after a long squawk

[Big Boy]

Chainat Hornbill FC

Wado-karate and I are both keen football supporters, and the home of Chainat Hornbill FC was only a mile from the Bird Park. It would have been rude not to have a look while we were there. Thoughts, typical Thai football ground, but at least it was designed for football, where as many Thai stadiums are Provincial Stadiums designed for running, which puts any football match a long way from supporters.

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The Competition

Prachuap only had 4 fighters. Wado-karate coached 2 of them. Competition was intense, but all 4 fighters brought home medals. 3 of them won Bronze and one won Gold. An excellent performance for a small team. 3 of them will be fighting in Trat in March 2020 and looking to qualify for the Thailand national team. Every one of them did us proud.

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We’d enjoyed Uthai Thani so much, not; we stayed a 4th night, returning Sunday.

The return trip was an exact reverse of the outbound journey. Its unusual for me to go anywhere with a purpose (maybe football). I think we all enjoyed it in a strange sort of way. Would we rush back to Uthai Thani? That's simple - NO.

[Big Boy]

did you see any parrots or were they all too tired and shagged out after a long squawk

Yes, there were plenty of parrots, but all trapped inside inadequate cages In Kuala Lumpur, many were free to fly.