Out Early Again,

but today we have two places to visit,

firstly the Million Year Stone Park,

which also incorporates the Crocodile farm and show,

the entrance fee is 150 baht for Thai nationals and Thai driving licence holders and 300 baht for non-Thai driving licence holders and all others,

naturally we all had to have a few poses,

it was just a shame the day was a bit overcast,

there are numerous aviaries here,

but of course photographing through the wire presents a few problems,

not so for the wild chickens,

we stopped at a few more cages,

and just missed a display by this peacock,

we were watched by this Marabou stork,

a rest and a ride,

then off to the fish pond,

to the fish feeding station,

you can buy a plate of fish pellets for 50 baht,

and feed the fish,

the lake itself is beautifully laid out,

and the fish are huge, predominately giant Mekong catfish, (Pangasius gigas),

whilst the family were feeding the fish, I noticed this tree growing by the lakeside,

with these strange shaped fruit or seeds,

I do not have a clue what they are,

as we made our way to the crocodile part of the park another peacock decided to put on a show,

he was trying to impress this peahen,

a quick look at the juvenile crocodiles,

before we look at their Mums and Dads,

welcome to the show!

included in the ticket price is a show, the times are printed on the back of the map you are given as you enter, normally they are about every hour on the hour, but this may change depending on the season,

the arena,

and the stars,

for some reason we all sat at the back, I guess memories of the leaping crocodile unpleasantness linger,

I sat at the front,

this was the show we were going to see,

and with a fanfare of music the show begun,

crocodiles do not like their tails being pulled,

but eventually one was on the show area,

contrary to what some may believe, these are not rubber teeth,

all set,

and one of the performers runs along the show area, lands on his stomach and slides to within inches of the crocodile mouth, 

and gives the crocodile a kiss,

they say never smile at a crocodile, but this one looks like he is smiling at us,

open wide,

wider,

that's more like it,

oops I dropped something,

and it has gone right down your throat,

let me have a closer look,

the performers made a few more shows with the crocodiles, then a kiss goodbye,

and it was time for them,

and the stars of the show, 

the crocodiles, to say goodbye,

and what better than a little gift from Daisy May?

next stop the tigers,

where you can have your picture taken beside them,

rather than inside them!

we asked Daisy May if she wanted a picture taken with them,

but she said she would rather not, so her Mum Lynn did,

we made our way to the crocodile fishing lake,

it looks like great fun,

tie a piece of chicken to a line with a bamboo pole attached,

and try to catch a crocodile,

one is coming in to do battle,

getting closer,

and it is in the bag,

to the victor the spoils,

as well as normal tigers and a few lions there were a few white ones,

we had been to one tiger park before, it was quite disappointing as all of the tigers just laid there, but not so here, this one must have been on get up and go pills, as I watched it started stalking, up on tippy toes, then from a crouch to a full blown flying leap in zero seconds flat, it launched itself at the family so fast I could not even shout 'lookout!' as it crashed against the wire of the cage, it gave all of the family more than a shock I can tell you!

this was new from our last visit here,

 a giraffe enclosure,

there were several of them here,

and this was the great part, when on the walkway you were at their head height,

so this is something I have never heard of before,

you could feed them,

we have all feed elephants,

birds,

fish,

and crocodiles,

but this is the first time I have ever heard of feeding giraffes,

and they were the most gentle of giants, even Daisy May was happy to feed them,

I glanced over at one of the crocodile enclosures,

where one of them was leaving it's jaws open,

when I noticed this heron stalking one of the many small fish in one of the crocodile pools,

I am not sure if the heron realised it to was being stalked,

we said goodbye to the giraffes,

who by a strange happenstance almost matched the concrete pillars their enclosure was made out of, 

elephants next,

no one wanted a ride,

but somehow Dad was told,

to stand by one of the elephants,

and guess what happened next?

Ta-Daa!

a quick ice cream stop,

and we continued our walk around a new development in the park,

cooling fountains and the start of a Thai village,

so we sat by the fountains to cool down,

it is called the Million Year Old Stone Park,

because, yes you guessed it, there are lots of stones here over a million years old,

so a quick pose,

or two,

a little further up the pathway we noticed these Bougainvillea,

the leaves beautifully coloured,

the colours so strong,

so the girls just had to have another pose,

another stop by some of the huge rocks for a picture of Mum and Dad,

and the family,

we slowly started to make our way back to the truck,

the skies starting to look heavy with rain,

but nothing could dampen our spirits,

another photo opportunity and we were off,

to our next port of call, 

Underwater World, the entrance fee is 250 baht for Thai nationals and Thai driving licence holders and 500 baht for non-Thai driving licence holders and all others,

we stopped just inside the entrance for a quick picture then in we went,

one of the first crustaceans we spotted was this arthropod, a coconut crab,

then a look into one of the shallow pools,

that had a stingray,

and sand shark in it amongst other fish and rays,

now here is a tease, you can put your hand in the aquarium through these holes, but the water does not flow out,

there is also a nice freshwater pool, by this rock feature,

full of fish all waiting to be fed,

lots of them,

we also passed a conservation project, this one for turtles,

just before the main entrance,

there are two other free standing displays,

a quick pose,

then into the dark we go,

there is illumination from above,

but the use of the flash on cameras is forbidden, so a last look outside,

and the tour begins,

some of the aquariums were quite bight like this one,

I will call this one Mr. Grumpy Face,

the view looking through to some of the tunnels that we will be walking along later,

one aquarium had some unusual fish in it,

like this box fish, so called because it looks,

well like a box, 

next a predator, 

a barracuda, 

I know I should not say it,

but every time I see one of these I want some one to pop it into a pot,

it is defiantly in there,

and there it is, in the centre of the picture, a master of camouflage a octopus,

we then made our way into the tunnels,

all of the family,

amazed at the life all around us,

so we stopped,

for a few quick pictures,

and a few more,

all great fun,

then into the bright,

which was a sales area,

I liked the glass fish,

so much work,

must have gone into making them,

then back into the next tunnel, you can see by the size of a hand how big these fish were,

and there were lots of them,

we continued our walk,

taking pictures on the way,

until the tunnel ended,

where we found a number of small exhibits, like this boxing shrimp,

and mantis shrimp,

plus a few anemones as well,

we now made our way into the third and final tunnel,

where some maintenance was being carried out,

a stingray comes to rest on the ceiling, well his floor,

unlike the previous two tunnels that were salt-water, this one was freshwater,

we moved into the world of ultra violet as everyone's whites appeared to glow,

a last goodbye to the tunnels,

and into the world of jellyfish,

whose appearance changed every few seconds,

 as the lighting did,

from green,

to red,

yellow,

blue,

and pink,

next a selection of sand jellyfish, 

they do not move as such but sit on the sand using the tentacles not for locomotion, but to move food into their mouths,

in the next room,

a series of jellyfish aquariums,

that like the large aquarium we had seen before,

they changed colour every few seconds,

so I had to take more than a few pictures,

it was quite mesmerising,

all to soon our visit was over,

so we said our farewells to the aquarium,

and made a move to Makro next door to stock up on the wine, we had reached a critical low in our stocks,


just after we arrived home the heavens opened up, it seemed like Pattaya was the centre of a huge storm that went on for an hour or more,

 but then,

 glad rags on,

we were out for an evening meal,

Lyn and daughter Daisy May,

Sandio,

Diana had the camera, so I snuck in,

so first thing, 

up to the salad bar,

 tonight we were joined by Mr. Tony,

 first round of starters,

Dioshane,

Lyn,

and Dad,

next, time for the main courses,

eyes down and tuck in,


but for Mr. Tony,

and myself we had a second plate of starters, 

 but then of course, on to our main courses, ,this one for Mr. Tony,

and this one I chose for myself, 

'Cheers!'s,

the pizza was popular with Daisy May,

 and Dioshane,

next on with the desserts,

and there were so many to chose from,

no prizes for guessing who is going to have ice cream!

some cake for Mum,

fresh fruit for Sandio,

and Dad,

 and you guessed it, ice cream for Daisy May,

which looked so good Sandio had to try some, 

so he made this multicoloured dish yet again another lovely meal from Cherry's, the International buffet is held every Wednesday and Saturday evening and cost just 399 baht, which considering the selection of food available seems very reasonable, if you wish to visit Cherry's it is on Third Road opposite what was once the site of the X-Cite disco,

back home it was feet up for a late night movie, what better than a boys own adventure than The Mummy, a great tale of daring do from all concerned, after the film a couple of nightcaps and we were all off to bed.