Small road trip Pattaya Sattahip Rayong

[Nereus]

Had to go to Pattaya for the weekend for a not very nice reason. As it has been many years since I have been much past Pattaya I decided to go for a bit of a drive down to Sattahip, Rayong and back today. Before the rain started I may add.

Like most other places in Thailand when it is some time since you were there, the never ending building and road development is amazing.

Tried to go and look at Sattahip military base, but the guards were having none of it. Not sure why the bloody road is so well marked when it is no entry.

Wanted to have look at U-Tapao airport, but again there are guards at the gate. Now they did not stop me because I did a U-turn in front of the gate. BUT, what is interesting is the mounted gate sentinel aircraft. It is an old Grumman Albatross seaplane complete with what appears to be the original radial engines and some drop tanks. Appears to be in good condition considering it is out in the weather. These particular models are of interest to me because I used to go to work offshore in the South China Sea in another life in this model. The late Bryan McCook was the pilot and one of the worlds most experienced sea plane pilots and a good friend. Spent many enjoyable hours in the jump seat when he was flying. Incidentally, they are a handful to land on water!

Looking through the gate I am sure that there is at least one old DC3 parked in there also.
Pete, do you know if anyone can just go in there? And more important, take photos?

About halfway to Rayong there is this almighty great concrete structure being built. I assume it is part of a new Motorway, but just now it looks ridiculous stuck up in the air with a HUGE cantilever having no visible means of support!

But it pales into insignificance when approaching Rayong city! How long has that monster high rise Holiday Inn been there? I guess with all the Industry and associated high rollers having an interest in the area it does well.

Eventually made it to the by-pass road (36) and mostly all new developments along the south end of it. All the big stores have a presence, along with ongoing road works.

The next thing to attract my attention was a place that I think is called "Camp". A collection of what appears to be old Vietnam War era Cessna "Bird Dog" L19 / O-1 aircraft. Pete again, do you know what that place is all about? I was past the place before I spotted the aircraft.

THEN, the biggest surprise of all. There must be thousands of industrial cranes in Thailand, but what is stored at "Krone Cranes" yard has to be the biggest collection of HUGE boom type cranes in SE Asia. What the hell do they do with them? Millions of dollars, not Baht, worth of equipment laying idle. I had no idea that cranes of this type were in Thailand.

Then the rain combined with road construction took over and I was glad to arrive at the Motorway back into Pattaya. Need to go again with a camera and better weather.

edit: add photo of old Albatross

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[Thailightzone]

^ Interesting. When I get to Thailand I'll go on aviation tours with you.

[PeteC]

You can't get in that main front gate with the sea plane, or any of the military area gates, unless Thai and leave your ID card at the front office to be picked up when you leave, or with a special work pass if a foreigner. You get into the airport by the road that runs north/south next to Queen Sirikit Hospital at Kilo 10. Once in there you'll see more stop points leading to the military side of things that you won't be admitted to. You're simply funneled into the airport zone and then out again.

If you want to get in there you have to wait until Children's Day, then it is wide open to everyone and you can take photos all day long. On that day they also bring in a lot of other Thai military hardware and aircraft for people to look at and photograph. That seaplane outside the main gate that you reference can be photographed by anyone, anytime.

The Sattahip side of things is open to Thais as there are popular restaurants, parks and memorials down in there along the sea. Foreigners are OK too if with a Thai and can show your passport. A foreigner alone is a no go though.

That place with the old aircraft on Rt #36 has been there since 36 opened. I've seen it there since the mid 90's. It was opened as an attraction with a small entrance fee, but I'm not sure the Thai owner is still alive. He is/was a Vietnam war era guy who was involved with the military in some way. I'm sure anyone can get in there to look around with a small donation. There was talk long ago that some of the aircraft he has/had were leftovers the Thai military didn't want that were flown into U-Tapao in 1975 by fleeing Vietnamese when Saigon fell. Pete

[oakdale160]

There are some nice small hotels in Sattahip, as so much of the land is military it has been less developed than other areas, The hospital there is a Naval one but is open to civilians and is regarded as the best in the area.

[Nereus]

Along with my mini tour I had reason to visit Ocean Marina at Jomtiem on Monday. For anybody that believes Thailand is just a 3rd World country they should go and take a look. There are hundreds of luxury boats of all shapes and sizes moored there, along with associated workshops, chandlers and a high rise hotel. There is also at least one huge mobile boatlift machine to move boats out of the water to workshops and storage areas. No idea how many boats but I was told that a big percentage of them belong to Thais, and that the place is virtually full up.

I entered via the main gate and parked in the hotel undercroft area on the excuse that I was going shopping. But after walking down to the waterfront I noticed a big car park on the south side of the marina that must have access from Sukhumvit Rd south of the main gate. There does not seem to be any restrictions on walking around the actual marina, but private cars are not permitted past the hotel parking area. A bicycle would be in order to move around!