Patong Day 6 - 19.11.2008

Today was a little more exciting. I shot two guns!! But we will get to the shortly.

We woke up early again, headed down for breakfast and wroke a few postcards. We lazed about the room for a few hours checking out accommodation on the local islands. Nothing yet! We took our laundry to the local place to get cleaned - the hotel was ready to take us for all our money.
We decided to keep the bikes for another day to adventure to the bottom end of the island. Amazingly beautiful. We left Patong and headed down towards Freedom Beach. We stopped at Karon Noi / Karon Beach for a beer on the beach. We took a little look about town but were back on our bikes for more exploring. We then rode down to Kata / Kata Noi Beach and Stopped at the Kata View Point. I saw a small sign I think it was called 'Siam Beach' so we decided to get off the beaten track and see what was down there. It was a steep down hill ride, there was overgrown shrubs everywhere - these roads werent looked after. You could see that a mud slide had washed bolders, mud and trees onto the road. Even some parts of the road were missing - my vast motor bike experience ensured I was able to swurve past all the obstructions. We passed two houses that didnt appear to have any facilities (ie toilets or running water). When we got to the bottom we met a couple of older german men who explained that this wasnt a popular road - not many tourists visited this area. Apparently there was a big storm about three years ago that washed away houses, crops and destroyed the area.

We eventually made our way up the mountain on our bikes (poor thigs were going flat chat). We headed around to Phromthep Cape. This was by far the best view I have seen our entire trip. Blue and green ocean with a massive island right in the centre. We took a few photos, enjoyed the sights and motored on. We stopped for lunch at Rawi beach. The food made us tired so we decided that instead of going to the Big Buddah not far from Rawi we would head straight home. On our way our of Rawi we were pulled over by police at Haaek Chalong circle-bypass. They asked for our licences. We got them out and were a little nervous because neither of us had motorbike licences? Did we need them? The tourist lady didnt mention anything about licences - she didnt even ask!? He barely even looked at them and waved us on. Crazy!!

We rode about 500m down the road and found the Phuket Shooting Range. We pulled in, two guys came running out to us with ear muffs. You could hear the faint sound of the guns firing. We walked inside, we saw people (kids to adults - both men and women) shooting in little booths. We were just their to look at prices, but thought we may as well do it while we were here. 'What you want?' the man asked. I dont know - a gun is a gun! Doesnt make much of a difference to me. Actually no I want to shoot a shot gun. I looked at Jono, he had a different idea. He wanted to shoot a hand gun. We compromised, we got both :-)

So if I remember correctly it was a 12 guage pump action shot gun and a 45 calibre hand gun. 'Jono your going first'.

The guy took Jono to the little booth. I looked around, there were other people with hand guns and they seemed tame enough. Bang bang bang - nothing much to it. Jono sat down, the guy handed over the gun and explained how to use it (point and shoot I thought - its not that hard?!?). I could see Jono breating and concentrating intensly. He lined up the target and click. There werent any bullets? It was a practise run. I was a little deflated! He got one more practise run. Ok now its time for the real deal. I saw the guy put the case of the bullets into the bottom of the hand gun. Jono looked over with this 'CRAZY' look on his face. Like a kid in a candy store. He had a smile from ear to ear - I laughed. Jono looked back around, the guy took the safety off the gun. He put the gun in Jonos hand. Jono lined up the target. His breathing slowed down, the guy took a step back. I waited for a min or two - nothing happened? Had he broken it? 'BOOM' The sound was piercing. Jonos entire body shook from the power of it. I was expecting to get a bang and a little shake but his whole hand bounced from the force. He got the target! Jono was shaking, I moved to see he face? I hoped he was ok! He was laughing so hard. Almost in tears actually. He finished off his rounds getting the target each and every time, then it was my turn. We swapped goggles and he told me to hold on tight.

I got up to the booth, the guy gave me the gun, told me where to hold and pointed at the target. I aimed and tried to line up the two pieces of mental as good as I could. Then pressed the trigger. Deflated again, it was a test run! After my second test run he put the case into the gun. I am loaded. All I could think of was Counter Strike 'Go go go'. The guy put my the gun in my hand, then moved back. I looked at the target and squeesed the trigger. The darn thing didnt move? I squeesed some more, if jono can do it so can I - it turned out that I had somehow broken the gun. He took the gun out of my hands, mumbled something in thai and took the case of bullets out. He spent a couple of mins fixing what ever it was that I had broken. After fixing it he put my hands in the right places (again) and moved behind me. I held on for dear life, lined up the two pieces of metal again and moved my finger onto the trigger. Once I had the two pieces of metal lined up I pulled the trigger. I thought i was going to loose the blimmin thing, my entire arm bounced with each shot. Such a rush! I finished off my round. Even if you dont like guns, I think you should give it a try. AMAZING! I only hit the circle on the target once, and missed the piece of paper once. Im a terrible shot.

Next was the shot gun. We walked outside into a firing area with little metal bodies as targets. Jono had his go - he hit one target and missed the rest. He said it hurt. I wasnt looking forward to this one. It was my turn. I stepped up and the guy gave me the shot gun. He told me to aim low on the target. He pushed the butt of the shot gun into my shoulder and put my hands in the right places. I lined up the two pieces of metal again, aiming low on the target and pulled the trigger. 'BOOM' Now where talking!! I hit the target! The target fell to the ground. WOW!! My body shook from the blast. This was so much better than the handgun. I tried to do the movie thing and pumped the hand piece really quickly - out popped the empty bullet thing. I felt so cool! I managed to hit four of my five rounds. I could be an fbi agent easily - if I had a shot gun to play with. He he he.

We left the shooting range and sat outside for a few mins. we were both buzzing with excitement and adrenalin. Prob wouldnt ever do it again, but what a rush. We headed home.
At the hotel Jono took his shirt off, I could see a mark from where the shot gun butt had been. I have taken some photos and will load them up later. We both have marks that prove we are tough shot gun tooting idiots. I could of passed as Sarah Palin.

Another day of excitment.Naomi:-)