Sarah's Chonburi Pictures 31st January 2008.

OK folks .. you'll need to use your "back button" to return to this page if you decide to click the thumb nails.

It's my first Suporn Clinic organized day out. The itinerary was a visit to "the Chinese Temple" at Bang Saen .. thinking ancient monument .. think again .. it was a building site. Next stop was to be "Monkey Mountain" .. no it wasn't a zoo or a game reserve, it was a troop of monkeys by the side of the road. They were pitiful in a way .. waiting for the next band of tourists to buy some fruit and feed them .. the older ones were in terrible condition. Finally it was on to Dr Suporn's beech house .. and very nice it was too, time to relax and  chill .. and an opportunity for me to fulfil one wish .. a paddle in the sea in Thailand.



The entrance to the Chinese temple .. a cunning angle into the sun .








 

Standing back across the street to get a long shot of what looks like a north American Indian totem pole .. Chinese style. I've clipped the edge of another building on the right .. spot the scaffolding ..LOL.












Another long shot from just inside the gate .. trying to avoid the scaffolding on my left .. this is the main temple building.










Oop's .. sorry about the scaffolding .. ancient monument this isn't.













Standing in the same place as the last picture, this is a zoomed in a bit picture of the front of the temple .. I did manage the stairs to the top floor .. the view from there across to the sea was stunning.












Yes it's me .. standing at the bottom of the steps up into the temple. Picture courtesy of Tina if I remember correctly.










You strike up friendships while you're here, this is Rosalyn and her partner Tina, from Canada. Their sense of humour had us in fits of laughter at the evening meal table. I like to think they are friends, as a couple together they are more in keeping with Karen and I, proof that marriages like ours can survive the transition of a partner.

A little note : Their shoes are missing, removing shoes is often a requirement before going into some buildings in Thailand, especially temples, we did here and we did several times in our mini tour of Bangkok ( see day 25 pictures ).





We had a short drive further along the coast .. to "Monkey Mountain" .. little babies like this left parked in a road side tree while the parents begged for food on the curb side.












This cute little thing .. nearly an adult .. looks innocent enough .. but he's actually casing the joint, he's looking inside the van .. they are opportunist thieves who will snatch camera's and hand bags from people or out of the van .. 












One very pregnant female that wasn't getting a look in with the feeding .. till I came along .. she wasn't very friendly though.













One angle of view at "Dr Suporn's beech house" .. standing at the bottom of the steep ramp off the road that had the van's exhaust scraping as we left.









... and round a bit .. the inlaid mosaic in the drive was beautiful .. lucky they don't have snow or ice here .. I bet it's slippery in the rain !!!









Wild life .. I was walking down the path from the indoor swimming pool down to the beech when I saw this little fellow scuttle  across the path.









I did it .. one of the things I wanted to do while here was get a paddle in the sea ..  sorted .. picture courtesy  of Rosalyn who was having a paddle too ..









A view back up to the house from near where I was paddling .. two more friends I made in Chon Buri are taking in the view and cool beech air .. Audrey and her mom Lorraine .. yes these two are from North America too ..  Audrey is really nice,  little more than half my age, but she wasn't worried by that, and we chatted a lot on Yahoo messenger while there and still do back at home.








This is another couple, Laura and Micheline from the French speaking area of Switzerland, who I made friends with. They are a lovely couple, with Micheline really looking after Laura.  Laura had her surgery a couple of days after me, and I helped Micheline communicate with the nurses in a time of need through my computer and the limited French I can speak. More proof, that our marriages can survive transition, and how special friendships can be created.







These tiny fish are being stored in a monster vase near the car port in the second picture of the house here, I suspect they are to stock a large water feature that was clearly being repaired between the indoor swimming pool and the first "Pagoda" on the path down to the beech ..








I couldn't resist a few flower shots while I'm here in one of Dr Suporn's gardens .. these look like some kind of orchid .. but I'm not an expert.









Another pretty one ..













A view out across the sea from the roof of the indoor swimming pool ..










The view back the other way from where I was standing looking out to sea .. that's the house ..










On the way home we stopped at a road side souvenir hut .. I bought a few items including some fantastically "mellow" wind chimes ..










While at the souvenir place I spotted another converted motorcycle .. this one brings a new meaning to fast food .. LOL.










The souvenirs here are basically tat .. to find decent items you really had to search .. some of the bigger ones where actually really nice .. though not this elephant headed Buddha. Problem was the big ones also weighed a lot .. getting them home would have cost a fortune.