On The Road South... Bangkok to Hua Hin

Well, so much for Chiang Mai! Unfortunately the call of some scuba diving, plus the fact I need to head south in a few weeks to meet up with the birthday crew means it makes more sense for me to go south instead of north. Besides, it's nice weather down south right now, and still a bit chilly up north, whereas when I'm back in Thailand in June and July, when it's scorching, it'll make more sense for me to go up north where it's cooler!

Had a nice last couple of days in Bangkok. I realised I never went to the Jim Thompson House so headed there for one afternoon before wandering for a couple of hours along some lovely canals and getting totally lost in Bangkok. Met up with Pete Bomber, a friend of John McCarten, a guy I used to work with at Bits Studios. Went out for a lovely meal near Khao San road followed by some drinks at the Shamrock. Watched some old dude sing some pretty mean songs. He's still got plenty of life in him! Not every day you see some guy in his late 50's singing Greenday, Red Hot Chillies, Guns 'n' Roses etc. Quite amusing!

Mel suggested heading down to Hua Hin for a couple of days to visit Terry, Kriss' father. So that kind of helped change my mind about heading south as well! We jumped into her Land Rover and sped on down to Hua Hin to stay a couple of days with him.

Click here to see the photos

This is my second time to Hua Hin, although the first time, 6 years ago, I didn't see that much. It has changed quite a bit though. There's a lot more development going on here. It's not quite as rustic as I remember it to be. We headed out yesterday to Sam Roi Yot National Park, which is gorgeous, to visit a well known cave there, Phraya Nakhorn cave, where a shrine and pagoda has been set up inside a collapsed cave. Stunning, although the hike up the side of the mountain in 36 degrees C made me sweat more water than Kosh spits out in 5 minutes of talking.

Heading down to Prechuap Kiri Khan on the train tonight. Mel will head back to Bangkok, so this'll be the first time since I left that I'll be truly left to my own devices. Can't wait! Not that I don't like people's company, but I've been dying to get away on my own now for quite a while.

Don't know if you should all believe me, since my plans seem to change all the time, but I should be heading down to Bang Saphan Yai after Prechuap Kiri Khan. It's supposed to be very quiet, with barely any toursits with some fantastic diving that has barely been exploited. From there I should continue south to Chumphon before taking the ferry to Koh Tao, then to Koh Samui to meet up with the birthday revellers!
That's the great thing about being away with no commitments. I can change my plans at a click of a finger without any consequences!

Oh, and Happy Chinese New Year to you all! Sorry to the London crew for not being there to organise the annual dim sum raid at Jade Gardens! By now, you should all be able to do it yourselves!