Background
Chang FA Cup Round of 16 – I try not to miss Ratchaburi’s cup matches, wherever they are.
Day 1
A Day of Disappointments……………….
It all started off, 20 minutes into the journey when my wife announced she’d forgotten her Insulin. I had to turn around, and start again.
Next problem, we were driving around the Ratchaburi by-pass. A warning light appeared on the dashboard, and my acceleration became nigh on nothing. This continued until I stopped at a service station about an hour further on. Re-started, and everything was back to normal – I guess the little motor mechanic elves fixed it whilst I was having a pee break.
When planning my route, I spotted something en-route – Cherry Blossoms View Point. First thoughts were I must have missed Cherry Blossom season. However, I checked reviews, and although falling, there was still plenty of blossom to see, which was posted 4 days ago. I decided it was worth a punt. After all, it was only about 5 miles off my route.
My satnav took me into Kasetsart University. We found the row of cherry trees, but the blossom was very sparse, not even worth stopping to take a photo. It had been worth the punt, but 10 wasted miles.
One thing that was very noticeable as we drove through rural central Thailand was the amount of crop burning that was going on. I read in the news a few days earlier that 2 farmers had been arrested for crop burning, because it is totally illegal. Well, those 2 guys must be feeling really gutted as they are the token victims for this year’s crop burning season. We must have passed hundreds of other farmers openly burning their fields – if we could see them, where were the police?
Both evenings in Suphanburi the air was thick with smoke. At the football match it was like sitting in a smelly fog.
Next stop was our hotel, the Songphanburi Hotel. As we pulled up, I realised I’d stayed here before in about 2016. Very posh for me, but amazingly cheap at just 800฿/night, which included breakfast (200฿ each if purchased separately).
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Driving on to the car park it was like landing on the surface of the Moon – I’d passed my Moon driving licence by mastering Soi 94 in Hua Hin, so we were OK. My poor car is getting old – what a bit of bone rattling.
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We had the wheelchair with us, but ‘just in case’, and had no intention of using it. However, not remembering the hotel when booking, I made sure it was wheelchair friendly. Yes, there was ramp to the bottom of the stairs, but then an almighty climb to get to reception. I did find a ramp later, but I’d have struggled pushing a wheelchair up that ramp. A 5* hotel, but no little helpers.
Gasping for air, we reached the reception desk, which was manned??? by 4 ladyboys (just to digress a little, when looking for restaurants, every restaurant that I looked at came with a LGBT Friendly statement – were we in the San Francisco of Thailand?). The first ladyboy was completely stumped when he asked if he could see my passport, and I said, “No!” He gave me his best Frank Spencer look as I reached inside my wallet for my pink Thai ID card.
Check in was fairly straightforward, and we went to our room. One other thing I check when booking is the availability of a kettle in the room (stories of Japanese boiling their underwear in hotel kettles doesn’t put me off). This hotel boasted kettles in every room. We got to our room, and no kettle. I’d already decided we were going to visit the coffee shop before unpacking, and that visit was now via reception – where’s our kettle? The katoey (different one this time) explained we didn’t need a kettle because the hotel had a coffee shop. Kettles had been removed from all rooms. Being my most assertive, I explained I was going to the coffee shop, and when I returned to my room there would be a kettle waiting for us to use – there was.
Reception was quite luxurious, and I sat down to enjoy my strawberry and yoghurt smoothie. Yes, the reception was very luxurious, but the aircon was raining down all over the place. Subsequent investigation revealed little puddles on many seats. The rain wasn’t heavy enough to make me move/spoil the experience.
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It was back to the room to enjoy our kettle, have a shower and ready ourselves for the evening’s treat disappointment. During my research for the trip, viewing the coloured fountains at Suphanburi’s Tower (Banharn – Jamsai Tower) came up as a must do. The advice I’d read was arrive as the sun goes down. I’d checked, and closing time was 7pm daily. We arrived just after 6pm. Everything was locked up. Yes, I could have parked up, and looked through the railings, but it would have given a budgerigar trapped in his cage effect – no thank you.
I set the satnav to take us back to the hotel, where I parked up, and we walked to a restaurant we had chosen for the night. My wife looked at the photos on Google and declared this particular restaurant as the one to go – yuk. Food was tasteless, and very oily. We ate a little, paid the bill (350 with drinks – I guess we got what we paid for), and stopped off at 7-Eleven as we went back to our room.
A very disappointing day.
To be continued…………………………………….
