We woke up this morning thinking it would be our last day with Nat and Dom before they headed back to Bangkok to spend some time relaxing. But! As it often happens when travelling, they decided last minute to continue up to Chiang Rai. So we booked our busses and had a look at accomodation options and that was that!
However, that morning Dom and I had booked to go shooting at a range in Chiang Mai. We were picked up by a local women and her young son and driven 45 minutes out of town (on the way to Chiang Rai). I had booked 10 rounds with a Glock 19 pistol. And Dom had gone an all out package with: 20 rounds with the Glock, 10 with a Remington model 870 shotgun and 5 shots with a Troy AR15 Pump action rifle. Fairly cheap prices with my Glock at 900 bhat and Dom's package at 5,000 bhat.
It was an interesting experience. Having shot various calibers of rifles and shotguns before, I was not new to shooting or gun safety. Funnily enough there was a policeman in attendance. I assume as some sort of safety officer. However there was little to no explanation on gun safety or operation of a firearm. I was allowed to load the magazine, but my instructor who was at my side throughout the experience loaded and cocked the weapon. I was carefully handed the gun with it kept pointing down range the whole time, so thats a plus for safety I guess! I wasn't given a target which was a little bit disappointing. Instead there was a square 'human shaped' piece of steel about 10m away to shoot at. Granted it made a cool sound when the rounds hit, but it was annoying not to be able to get a gauge of my accuracy. The best I could do was shoot for the smallest section of the target to make it as difficult as possible, and listen for the 'ping' to know if it was a successful shot. Of the last 6 shots of 10, shooting at the 'head' section of the target, I would say 5 of them hit. So as far as I can tell I was fairly accurate. Another thing that I found interesting was the lack of recoil. I guess you expect there to be some what of a kick. In actual fact it was barely noticeable, a testament to the design of this weapon. I could see that you could easily and accurately expend the 15 round magazine in no time. It felt very reliable In my hands, and I can see why the Australian police use this brand as a standard issue.
Once I was done it was dome turn. for some reason he was given a target, and was able to achieve a high level of accuracy from his 15 rounds. Then it was on to the shotgun. Pump action weapons are illegal in Australia, so this was something that we would not have been able to try at home. It was good fun to watch, this weapon had a serious amount of kick, and I'm sure Dom would have felt that the next day! Finally the AR15 rifle, also pump action, assumably because they are not allowed semi or full automatic, at least at the rifle range (and for good reason). For the shotgun and rife we had entered a small side shed shooting out across a grassy range off to the side of the main range. The retort from this rifle was massive. You could see the shockwave from the with each shot. Despite having hearing protection on, you could still hear and feel the the intensity of each round. Once Dom had completed this final shot we were able to take a quick photo and we were off! A very quick but enjoyable experience!
While we were away, Allisha and Nat had decided to venture into town to a cafe we had visited the night before. They had seen a peculiar coffee on the menu which was mixed with some kind of pea powder, turning the coffee blue! Its a bit hard to see in the photo but we were assured it was much more vivid in real life, and also very tasty.
We had been dropped off in the centre of town to meet so the four of us could go to the two remaining installations of the museum. Having purchased tickets a few days earlier, we wandered over to the closest of the two, coming across a colourful exhibit. Unsure of its meaning or purpose we decided to take some photos for good measure.
From there we entered the other parts of the museum. This was a smaller building that showed the history of the town of Chiang Mai. The exhibit was quite interesting and well constructed. However, Allisha and I have been to so many of these things in the last 8 months, we occasionally loose interest. Instead we skimmed the long wordy explanations, picking up some interesting tidbits along the way, and took some funny photos with the exhibits.
Later that night Allisha and I decided to visit the night market again. We had hoped to meet up with a friend from home as well! Unfortunately he was feeling a little under the weather, and after spending half an hour trying to find each other at the busy market, he decided to call it a night. No harm done, Allisha and I had a delicious dinner of spring rolls and gyoza.
We headed back to our accomodation and found Nat, Dom and Red having a few beers. They seemed fairly set up to roll on to some bars. So we all made a move find a place to sink a few beers. After a long time waling around we ended up back at the same bar we had been at two nights prior. A few beers ensued, followed by our standard 7-eleven cheese sammitches.
Soon we were off home, saying a fond good-bye to our new friend Red, and looking forward to moving to Chiang Rai the next day!
-Tom
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