After checking out we visited the hotel’s coffee shop – Panoza.

Next we stopped at The scenery vintage farm.

First we fed the goats.

Then we tried archery.

All my arrows hit the same ring in different spots about six inches from the bullseye.

I guess it’s good I don’t have to hunt for my dinner every day.

We lingered around the gift shop for a while, using the discount coupon for a sheep’s milk ice cream cone.

I want to make a painting out of this sculpture.

Or perhaps I’m only reminded of an existing piece (that I really like) by Jeremy Geddes.

When looking for the bathroom my only clue which one was the men’s room was this wooden artwork.  I didn’t notice the lever until reviewing these photos later, one can only speculate what happens to that poor chicken when you move the handle….

Ratchaburi is flush with resorts and they all have a different theme.  Obviously the more notable ones are the one we stayed in and Scenery Vintage Farm, but there is also a Flintstone’s themed resort (I’m dubious of their copyright permission) and a Swiss Valley themed one complete with a “swiss timepiece” on the grass, windmills and an actual Swiss white and red old fashioned airplane (not pictured).

This video shows a little bit more of an overview on these resorts:

That place at the end of the video was the candle shop we visited the night before (and would again). After leaving The Scenery Sam’s brother in law was kind enough to spot for a minute to let me hop out and shoot a photo of the massive elephant god (he covers the fine arts) Phra Pikhanatre. I can’t find any online information about the temple that houses this statue.

We’d heard about Bo Khlueng Hot Spring, but upon making the short walk to see it’s bubbling heat it was a little less than impressive.  I did, however, find a big frog in the bathroom.

For lunch we stopped at Monkai again.

The road leaving the valley was very scenic.

After lunch we stopped at Bhan hom thien candle shop again.  This time it was packed with people.

We stopped next at a local oddity, the Pong yub sinkhole.

It was kind of like a walk-through miniature of the grand canyon sculpted out of mud.

Sam’s brother-in-law asked us if we wanted to stop at Khao Bin cave on the way back to Bangkok.  We said “sure” – not knowing what we were in for.
On the empty road leading to the cave site we encountered a troop of little jungle monkeys.

Here is a video from not the same road, but the same province, and same kind of monkey.

watch?v=sicnyw_9xjw (I think the embed code on this isn’t working – so you may have to click the link at left)

They were curious, cautious and most of all – hungry. Sam and I got out of the car and had fun tossing them our leftover pineapple and mangosteen.

Khaobin cave was not what we expected. While most caves are cool, this one was very hot and even more humid than the area outside (Thailand is VERY humid if you didn’t know).

After only a few minutes sweating in there we were rushing down the path to the exit.

The cave hadn’t been preserved well, and thus every bit near eye level had been broken off and taken home by someone.  Clearly fire had been allowed in the cave as many sections of rock overhead were covered with black soot.

Our last stop on the way to Bangkok was Ratchaburi market, the Thailand version of a “farmer’s market.”

All over Thailand I saw these strange signs on trucks and vans.  At first I thought it was some pop culture sign (and I’m still not really sure), but eventually I started to realize it had something to do with search and rescue (or perhaps EMT work).  The sticker is always of a swooning woman being held in the arms of a walking man from the back.

It’s hard to describe what the average city looks like in Thailand to someone who has never been there.  Many city planning restrictions seen in the west are nonexistent in Thailand.  In Bangkok this results in bare electric cable coagulating into clusters overhead everywhere and brand new luxury condos fifty stories high popping up next to slums.  In the small towns this essentially just means lots of  printed advertising hung/plastered on everything in sight and an abundance of rats and cockroaches taking advantage of the street food and (sometimes) poor sanitation systems.  The shot below is simply meant to capture this “average facade” of a small town building in Thailand.

Across this same street, a view of the river:

And one of the “tuk-tuk” methods of transportation:

In Thailand instead of having a guy tossing a sign at the side of the road, they have a girl barking into a mic followed by a bunch of guys holding signs (and one poor soul dragging the amplifier).