Left Pattaya and drove up towards Bangkok. We were hoping to skirt the city on the south so that we could avoid most of the traffic. It is actually built up all the way to Bangkok and out the other side. Lots of traffic and as we went around the ring road (9) it was slow going with lots of queues.
During a coffee and refueling break we finally cracked the mystery of normal pickups with huge loads ….. simple …. you just bolt on some truck springs!
After we turned off the 9 we saw a sign showing a short cut to Cha-am on a rural, scenic route. This was not on our map, but decided that anything was better than the big busy roads. It was actually a great choice and it wound its way down close to the coast. All the way along were what we think are oyster beds, miles and miles of them. Every so often there was a river to cross, crowded with colourful fishing boats.
Along the road there are racks where people are drying the small fish.
We turned off onto a small road to Puk Tian Beach looking for a nice spot for the night. This is a very quiet resort, some of the big buildings looked unused. It is like it has been developed a little and not quite taken off. Maybe there is just too much choice. It did however make a nice overnight stop, very close to the water. In fact so close that we started dreaming about tsunami’s!
That’s the great thing about touring Thailand in a camper, there are so few around that people never mind where you park. Just to the left of the camper you can see the Lady of the Sea. We do not have a reference to this and have not searched yet, but we think it is for good luck for the fishermen. Let us know if you look!
Tomorrow we will continue down towards Cha-am to find a place to take Tom and Ben when they arrive in a couple of weeks.
troopytracks 