Blogs from Phetchaburi, Western Thailand, Thailand, Asia

Phetchaburi was always on our list for this trip, and a few days there got us back on schedule just in time to head back to the capital and get ready to leave Thailand! Thanks to the likes of bucketlistblog we had an idea what the town had to offer. Have to say though, we were very impressed and glad we decided to stay for three nights. This is the sort of place that backpackers would have been seeking out years ago but right now foreign visitors are few and far between. It's a real shame as it does dampen the atmosphere somewhat, but we still had a great time. We stayed at the Bosston Hotel which, when we first arrived, seemed to be so far out of town we were a bit disappointed. It's a ... read more

I started the day by getting up just after sunrise to have a look at what birds could be seen on the grounds of the accommodation. Although the ideal situation would be to leave very early in the morning to get some early morning birding outside of Bangkok and miss the rush hour, this of course would not be possible with my non-birding family who for some reason totally unknown to me wanted a lie in after a 24 hour journey. Anyway I got up early setting an alarm for just after sunrise which of course made me very popular. There were some cool birds around the grounds of the accommodation such as a loudly calling Coppersmith Barbet. I will post a list of birds in the Big Year thread (and link to it here when ... read more

MORE PICTURES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE! Today I got up at 6 a.m. and was out on the road half an hour later, happy to escape the room. I followed the Autobahn 35 for a while and then turned onto a rural road which was a real relief. Everything seemed more natural and was much more quiet. I had about 48 km to go on this day and the pain in my ass (literally J)got worse, the saddle was probably not a good idea. I miss my old-man-style saddle and I hope to find a better one in one of the next towns. But there are almost no bicycles. I think you can be in Thailand one year and see less bicycles than you would see at one crossroads in Saigon… However, it seems ... read more

Fish-Massage, Fish-Massage! Die ersten sechs Stunden Flug gingen recht holprig vonstatten. Wir knuepften uns beide einen drei Stunden Film vor (Avatar) und die andere Haelfte der Zeit verbrachten wir mit aufgeregt sein und Essen. Von Dubai haben wir nicht viel sehen koennen, da es finstere Nacht war. Jule war mit seinem Eichhoernchenpulli aber der Star am Flughafen! Nach weiteren sechs Stunden in der Luft landeten wir dann heil in Bangkok. Die Lage am Flughafen war zuerst etwas unuebersichtlich, denn alle Traveller standen in etwa so geordnet in ihren Reihen, wie Festivalgaenger an einem Donnerstag in Scheessel. In etwa eine Stunde verging bis wir endlich thailaendischen Boden betreten konnten. Der public Taxistand war schnell gefunden und sofort war klar: Thailaender haben einen Faible fuer knallige Farben. Wir bekamen ein gelb-gruenes Taxi mit einem sehr schweigsamen Fahre... read more

Another one for you.... We left the peninsular of Raleigh due to thinning wallets. It wasnt entirely a shame to go because it was absolutely pissing it down and so all there was to do was essentially eat and converse with other travellers (not a bad thing at all but fairly mundane and repetitive). We left to go back up further north and so got a coach back up to Bangkok. Nothing exceptional really happened as it was a 14 hour cramped coach journey (I could hear moans of anguish fom behind me at times, but the bastard deserved it). When we got to Bangkok we immediately headed out again to catch another bus - one that would take us to Petchaburi. The normal custom is for the bus conductor to alert farang to their impeding ... read more