The Son and his beloved expressed an interest to visit a sea turtle conservation centre. No problem, except it was slap bang in the middle of a navy base.

Nothing daunted, we rolled up at the entrance to the base and were halted by a man with a big gun. We were then directed to a guard house where another man with a big gun, even bigger muscles, and a truckload of communication equipment looked at us with weary eyes. The conversation went something like this:

Man with big gun: I will need an ID card for the Thais, and the passport from each of the farangs.

She who must be obeyed: I left my ID at home and the farangs don’t have their passports. But, on a brighter note, you can have the farang driver’s driving licence.

MWBG: Surely you must have your ID card with you?

SWMBO: No, sorry.

MWBG: And you should know that farangs must surrender their passports to enter military facilities.

SWMBO: Yes, I know, sorry.

MWBG: So there is no way I can let you in with just a farang driving licence.

SWMBO: Oh, go on, please.

MWBG: Oh, alright then.

So wonderfully Thai.

As was the turtle conservation facility which consisted of a small building with a rather crap display and an area with tanks containing turtles of various sizes.

The Downtown Inn in Chiang Mai is a mid-range hotel with mixed reviews on Trip Advisor. One guest noted “The only thing that was truly offensive was the disgusting bed sheets that were stained with what looked to be blood, coffee,… “.

Not sure about the coffee; but the blood might be connected to the fact that seven people have recently died having stayed at the hotel; including a pair of British pensioners who were found dead in their room. The local police were on the case and decided it was food poisoning caused by eating toxic seaweed. The governor of Chiang Mai announced that the fact that all these people had been staying at the same hotel was just an unfortunate coincidence and very bad luck for the hotel owner. Pretty bad luck for those that died too, although he didn’t mention that.

A passing tropical storm meant big seas and high winds this morning; time for intrepid windsurfers with high levels of fitness and skill to hit the water. That excluded me of course, so I had to be content to stand on the shore and take some photos.

Star performer was Bo from Amara Windsurfing who managed to find air in all manner of places:

You don’t have to go far in Thailand to find a temple. Most are attractive buildings. worthy of poking a camera towards; but once you have done a couple, they all start to look the same.

There are exceptions, most notable of which is the astonishing white temple near Chang Rai. And yesterday, not far from the pink Ganesh, we found a stainless steel temple under construction.

The latest attempt by Royal Garden Plaza to drag unwilling potential customers through the doors is a coffee festival.

Yesterday was nominated (by me) as being Pattaya Pinhole Day, and The Son and I headed off to a local temple to shoot some pinhole photos.

As usual, his eye found more interesting angles than I did. This mirrored the experience from our recent trip to Chiang Mai where he captured some stunning images; and I didn’t. He has his mother’s artistic genes, and I have the artistic flair of a house brick.

Never mind, it was fun and I expect there will be another designated Pattaya Pinhole Day soon.

Spike shots:

Bit of a sporty day in Pattaya today which I fully intended covering.

First was to be the mountain bike challenge which would involve an early start on Pratumnak hill. Regretfully, I was required to go and drink coffee and eat brownies at the polo club for the official purpose of discussing a book to which I am to contribute; so that was one event off the list.

Never mind, on the way back I would photograph a sepak takraw tournament on Jomtien beach. Except I wouldn’t because they were not playing and there was nowhere to park. Two failures in a row.

Next on the list was the first ever floorball match in Thailand. Not sure what floorball looks like; but decided it might be photogenic, so headed off to the stadium. Damn, it seemed popular! There were buses and a very full car park, not the minority sport I had expected. Getting closer, and we realised we were in the middle of a massive Christian rally, with no floorball in sight. Our fears were confirmed by this: