A slow day in Ayuthaya
Has the old capital suddenly become a twilight zone?
We pulled into Ayuthaya Station and it was like the grave. Where was the welcoming committee? Where were the hordes of taxi drivers pulling at our shirt-sleeves with an enthusiastic chorus of ‘where you go? where you go?'
A day out in Suphanburi
A town that really does have an off-the-beaten-track feel
It's a comfortable 90-minute drive north from Bangkok and seemed to have plenty to offer even the most demanding day-tripper. Perhaps when you are flanked by tourism heavyweights like Ayutthaya and Kanchanaburi, it's difficult to get a look in?
Interesting Thailand stuff - June 2016
Another selection of interesting blog and article links
The rainy season is almost upon us. Why not kick back and enjoy some of the best Thailand-related articles that I've found on the internet over the past several months.
An old friend revisited
A weekend at Cha'am Beach
Cha'am has never pretended to be anything else other than a no-nonsense destination for the cost-conscious weekend traveler or day-tripper.
The slow train to Ayuthaya
A day in Thailand's old capital
I'm not sure where I got the inspiration from but I had a sudden urge to take a train in Thailand - nothing too ambitious or demanding, just a stress-free couple of hours from Bangkok to somewhere else. That would do nicely.
Why had no one told me about Chantaburi?
It's clean and it's green. Please don't miss it.
The only time I'd ever been to Chantaburi Province was over twenty years ago, when an Indian friend (a gemstone dealer by profession) took me down there to see one of the famous open-air gemstone markets. And although it was an interesting experience at the time, walking around on a muddy scrap of land, gawping at gemstone stalls, was still the only image that came to mind whenever Chantaburi was mentioned to me - until last weekend of course, when I came away with a completely different point of view.
A brief adventure in Kanchanburi
A welcome break from the hustle and bustle of Bangkok
Getting out of the major cities and certain tourist areas (Samui, Pattaya, etc.) allows you to rediscover the Thai capacity for extraordinary kindness and generosity
A Thai field trip
Where's our risk assessment?
I'm hoping to be invited on another Thai school field trip. The students are well behaved, and it was quite a lot of fun! Who would have thought you could get a job that pays you to have a good time at the zoo?
A river island
The fascinating island of Koh Kred in Bangkok
Have you ever heard of an island in the middle of a river? It sounds absurd, right? But there is an island 20 kilometers away from Bangkok where a lot of locals and foreign travelers/tourists frequently go to escape from the noise in the city. In fact, according to "Lonely Planet," Thailand's travel information and guide, this place ranks #7 out of 792 things to do in Bangkok.
A day in Pattaya
How was Thailand's favorite beach resort holding up?
“Gone up-market” is always a risky expression to use where Pattaya is concerned, but that’s genuinely how I felt about area around the beach road and the sea-front. Gone were many of the tatty beer-bars I remember from yesteryear and in their place was an assortment of pricey Indian restaurants, air-conditioned shopping malls and a selection of swanky hotels.
