Day 1 – 21 July 2023
Ratchaburi, why Ratchaburi? I hear you ask. I’ve been to Ratchaburi dozens of times to watch the footie, but I’ve never really looked at what else Ratchaburi has to offer. I go from Hua Hin to the stadium every other week, but never see real Ratchaburi. Aside from that, it is really unseen Thailand, and off the main tourist track (apart from maybe the Damnoen Saduak floating market, which in my opinion is the best in Thailand). Being off the tourist track, everything is Thai prices, which is what I was also looking for.
We were planning to leave home at 14:00hrs. It almost never happened, both my wife and I were struck down by a mystery stomach bug. (Too much information, I know, but my wife actually wore a nappy, just in case – it wasn’t needed).
We used my son to load the car with my wife’s usual medical supplies, and I simply turned up to drive the short 2 hour journey to Ratchaburi.
We almost had a disaster en-route (nothing to do with the nappy). I signaled to pull into a service station (usual mirror, signal manoeuvre – I was clear). As I was turning in, some clown on a big bike decided to undertake at incredible speed down the hard shoulder. The fact I didn’t kill him was nothing to do with me. He somehow managed to swerve around me, and stay on the bike. It certainly shook me up. I had a pee, and went to check that my rear indicators were working – they were. He was obviously not concentrating, else he’d have passed on the correct side, but I reckon he had a need for a nappy afterwards.
We checked into the Western Grand Hotel, Ratchaburi. This is a much nicer hotel than I would normally pay for, but you get a lot of hotel for your money out in the Boonies. I’ve used this hotel a few times when getting back late from football matches.
We unpacked (both feeling a little better by now), and rested for an hour before finding somewhere for an evening meal. I’ve spent several nights in Ratchaburi in the past, and it is a typical non-tourist Thai town – people go to bed when the sun goes down. Everything except 7-11s and garages close.
I was scrolling through potential restaurants on Google Maps, and a place called On The River jumped out at me. The food looked Western, and the setting was right on the river. Ratchaburi is very Thai, and the last thing I was expecting was Western Food. I showed it to my wife, and she like the look of the place as well.
Off we went. Google Maps said 7 minutes away. Google Maps is a liar. I’d already taken about 6 legitimate U-turns on the way, when the stupid young lady told me to turn left. Well, I was truly on the riverside, but it was U-turn mania. Turn left, do a U-turn; turn right, do a U-turn, turn left, do a U-turn…... This went on for several minutes without me actually disappearing up my own backside. I stopped, pulled over, and looked at the map and tried to relate it to where I actually was on the map. There was the restaurant on the other side of the river. All of the U-turns in the world was not going to teach my car to do the breaststroke. I sat there, and worked out a sensible route. I would head back into town, do a U-turn, go over the bridge, and take the proper left. I did that, and there were 3 more U-turns – it’s a good job traffic in Ratchaburi is not too busy (and this was evening rush hour). This was followed by turn left and I was going down a narrow lane, which was actually a U-turn (surprise, surprise), with the river just after the U. As I approached the U, Google Maps said turn left – we were there! My head was spinning.
No other cars in the car park. A very modern looking building. We went inside – very posh. Was this really Ratchaburi? We had our choice of table. Of course, we chose to overlook the river (Mae Klong). The river was deserted – I’d have been happier to see some boats on the water. In fact, it could just as easily have been the River Tamar with the tide half in.
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Returning to the hotel was not without incident either. It turned out the narrow lane was one way, so I had to turn left towards the river, and made 3 more U-turns before hitting the main road, and a quiet ride back to the hotel.
It was then time to plot the rest of this visit. We had decided to have this weekend away at very short notice, without any time for proper research. It was time to speak nicely to Mr Google.
………………..to be continued/
