and called in to pay our Internet bill,
at the 3BB office on Thepprasit Road,
the next time I will be walking past here will be on Friday for the night market, how different it looks in the day time, I had a plan, I was going to drive out to the big temple complex just outside Pattaya, Wat Yansangwararam, then on to the Buddha on the mountain and finally end up at the gravel works, I was there many years ago, where gravel and stone had been removed a lake had appeared which had the nicest shade of blue/green water, it may not still be there but as I will be in the area I will have a look,
I drove along the Sukhumvit Road towards Sattahip and turned off right for the temple complex, some way along it I stopped at this church, and took a few pictures,
and a little further along this Chinese shrine,
the was a small shrine by the road that I turned into,
and here it was,
I soon arrived at the complex before you reach it there is a small road that runs along side the lake, cars are not allowed on it so it means a small walk to look across to some of the buildings on the lake, there is a rope strung across this part of the lake for some reason, you can just make it out in the picture,
and the heron has no trouble in seeing it or using it as a perch to fish,
there is an unbelievably high fountain at the far end of the lake,
and zooming in one of the temples I will be seeing later,
I made my way to the entrance,
but first I went here in the coach car park, which had remarkably few coaches in it,
I had never been to this part of the temple before,
it was a nicely laid out garden,
with a shrine and facilities to have a snack and freshen up,
then back on the motorcycle to one of the temples by the lake, just as I was walking to it, there was a brilliant flash of metallic blue,
I zoomed in as much as I could, it looked nice at rest but in flight it was stunning,
this was the shrine I had stopped by,
opposite the hospital,
I made my way into the main complex,
some of the temples are huge,
and of course you can go inside,
then back on my motorcycle,
to look at the pools,
and other shrines,
at the far end of the pool,
there is a waterfall,
with different gilded figures at the head of it,
I parked the motorcycle and had a walk,
looking at some of the other buildings,
all of them immaculate,
it was just a pity it was not a little more sunny,
but it was still very hot,
back on the move to my next port of call,
and there it is across the lake, Viharn Sien or Anek Kusala Sala a collection of Chinese artefacts and antiques,
as I made my way towards it I stopped,
to take a few more pictures,
and here it is,
so many rich vibrate colours, I did not go inside as I had other places to visit, one of them was a place I visited a few years ago, it is an non-hunting breeding sanctuary, the last time I was there it had three enclosures, 10 or so deer in each, a large aviary with toucans and horn-bills and few smaller cages with pheasants, I stopped at the entrance and was told it was 20 baht for my motorcycle, it was free that last time I visited but no problem, but was then told another 200 baht for me! if I was going to stay and have a good look around I would have paid, but as I had other places I wanted to see I declined the offer,
it does not look it, but it is a long way up! you need legs of steel to climb it,
I arrived at the Buddha mountain, the figure of Buddha is 130 meters tall,
next stop the quarry,
the lake that I remembered from a few years ago has somewhat changed,
as indeed has the quarry, it is so much bigger than just a few years ago,
I called in at a nearby temple, the last on this trip,
going to the quarry I noticed this building,
so I took a couple of pictures on the way home, I do not have a clue what it is, hotel, sanctuary maybe even a private house?
what lurks behind the green gates? I have no idea,
arriving home it was time for my evening meal, then feet up fro a couple of movies, first a Fistful Of Dollars, great Western, it does not seem like it but I was 14 years old when I went to the pictures to see this film, that is 53 years ago!
keeping to that theme Wild, Wild West, a great Western comedy,
to round the evening off The Prestige, yes I know I have seen it many times before, I just enjoyed seeing it again and with that I was off to bed.
