We Made An Early Start To The Day,

as it was the annual longboat race,

it is held every year at the Mabprachan reservoir, it is an easy drive from Pattaya just take the Siam Country Club Road from Sumkivitt, after a few miles the entrance is on the left, there are traffic marshals in the road to direct traffic, today Diana wore one of her cow girl tops, as we would be out in the open for a long time she did not want to be sun burnt,

although early there were many people here,

 with lots of stalls and competitions to enter,

 with lots to eat and drink,

 Diana fancied an ice tea at one of the stalls,

there was a slight problem though, mud, it had rained over night, driving the bike to the bike park was an adventure in its self, it was a shame about the damp conditions as it made wandering about so difficult,

 but it did not dampen the enthusiasm that these kids had when it was their turn to play and dance,

 all set and ready to go,

 some performers from an early show take a stroll around the stalls,

 the stalls run along the lower road with more in the eucalyptus tree grove behind it,

and this was what we had come to see, the 2012 long tail boat race,

 we by now had made our way to the high road to watch the races,

 the winner almost by a boat length,

 the exhausted crew make their way back for a well earned rest before their next race,

 crews taking a breather as the next race gets underway,

 and the victorious crew paddling back receive cheers from the crowd,

 this time a single boat against the clock,

 every rower in perfect time,

 although it does not look it the climb up the steps is quite hard, so that was our exercise for the day!

 long tail boats from Taipei, Macao, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Cambodia, Burma, Laos, Singapore, Lithuania and Thailand are all competing in the race,

 the prize giving stage,

 which is supported by the Royal Family,

looking at the advertisements there should have also been some buffalo racing, but it seems it was not on today, we decided to take a different route back as we thought the return would be busy, so we went down Soi Numb Plan Wan, only to find that half the road was closed due to road works, the whole area was grid locked, so a quick U turn and along to the next road over and from there to the market on Soi Khao Talo,

 which had not opened yet,

 but the good news is that one stall was early, a fruit stall which was just what we wanted,

 some grapes and apples and we were on our way,

 past more empty stalls,

 it seemed that we were lucky leaving when we did, rain clouds were coming in fast, this the view looking towards Pattaya,

 and looking back inland,

 no sooner had we arrived home than the skies opened up,

 so on to our evening meal, fried shrimp for starters followed by a shrimp salad, then time to go,

out on the town, the VC Hotel nearing the end of its refurbishment,

the Boutique Paradiso now up and running,

we had a couple of drinks in the Super ago-go, then down to Walking Street,

bright lights everywhere you look,

Lucifer's for those wishing to dance the night away,

a new sign for Abbe's Bar, it had now started to rain so we made our way to Champions where we meet up with Brian and Slim Jim, we chatted the night away, then saying our goodbyes we made our way home,

in the pouring rain past the now closed New York ago-go,

along to Second Road then home, a nightcap and then for us we were off to bed.