From Bangkok to Khao Sok

On the road again

20.02.2013 21 °C

So there we were in Bangkok, 5am in the morning, 4 sheets to the wind and grappling with one of those conundrums that we thought had been consigned to our rapidly receding youth: go to bed for an hour or two or keep going untill we board the train at 9? In conclave with our new found best friends from France we took the only sensible option and racked up another round. As ever with these early morning brainwaves we paid dearly for it on the slow journey south to our next destination, the seaside resort of Hua Hin.
The Brains Trust

The Brains Trust

There isn't a whole lot to say about Hua Hin other than that its full of Russians and we couldn't wait to get out of there. (I've been reminded that there was a beautiful coffee shop there by herself). Here's a picture of Niamh waiting for the train south.

The littlest hobo

Our next destination was a small town about 400km south of Bangkok called Ban Saphan Yai. Thinking that we could just roll into town and find the beach there waiting for us, we very fortunately met an Aussie in a pick up outside the station who recognised us for what we were, lost and naively ill-prepared. After sending us in the right direction we eventually ended up at a really quiet and relaxing beach side resort where we ended up staying much longer than we expected to. We met some really good people while we were there not the least of which were the Tandem Turners, a newly married English couple who were cycling from New Zealand back to the UK - on a tandem!!

Kat and Steve, the Tandem Turners

They had been on the road about 8 months when we met them and they reckoned they had another 12 months ahead of them. Steve already had an epic beard so it'll be interesting to see what length it gets to by the time he gets home. If anyone is interested in following their progress you can check them out on www.tandemturners.com
We also met a man from Dungannon who had lived in the area for about 15 years and had a successful restaurant (Tae's Restaurant if anyone's in the area) in the town. Ray had married locally and his son Tommy was educated in Methody College. Ray was an engineer by trade but despite this unpromising background, he was great company and was liable to burst into song at any time.

Ray from the County Down

Our next port of call on the journey south was Khao Sok National Park, a huge expanse of ancient rain forest in the interior. After a couple of weeks of utter laziness it was good to blow off the cobwebs and get active again hiking through the forest. The park is spectacular and has probably been the highlight of our time in southern Thailand.