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Strategy……..
Having decided very early on in the year that this trip out to Bangkok should last 7 weeks, I decided that there would be 3 tours. As a rule of thumb, if I spent two thirds of the time travelling on tours, then 32 days would be as much as I could handle. For the first tour I intended to pursue the strategic aim of covering as many of Thailand’s provinces as possible. However, that strategic aim will seem to need modifying if this tour is at all successful. Basically replacing the ‘as many provinces as possible’ with ‘all provinces’ since there will only be a dozen or so provinces that have never been featured on my tours.
Provinces
Suphanburi……..
To set the tour off, one of those provinces was my initial aiming point although on the way I was fortunate to add a few sites in Suphanburi province, missed off a previous tour.
Uthai Thani…….. Reaching Uthai Thani province, I set about building a site list but immediately hit a problem. Never before had I gone touring in May which turned out to have significant disadvantages. All my knowledge about Thailand’s weather pattern indicated that the monsoon rains start this month. However, arriving in late April, it was still in the hot dry season which continued well into May, so much so that temperature sored to over 40 celsius on a couple of occasions. This restricted movement, making a full day’s tour almost impossible. Added to that, at the end of the dry season, this province was not at its best with many natural features either closed or not worth visiting. Nevertheless I covered the province as best I could and because of the heat, stayed longer than I needed.
Nakhon Sawan…….. Although at this stage the tour was still open ended- I still needed another aiming point and it seemed quite logical to visit the adjacent province of Nakhon Sawan which I’d only ever passed though before. This province had a better mixture of attractions and as well as being productive, took less time than expected.
Chiang Mai…….. Now coming up to the halfway point in the tour, I really needed to firm up on plans for the remainder of the tour and made quite an unexpected decision. I would head north to cover Chiang Mai province. This province I’d visited a number of times before but I’d never recorded anything significant since this website has been running, just once passing through. Chaing Mai is a huge province and once I committed to it there was no turning back. It would occupy most if not all the remainder of the tour. The result was the capture of an incredible amount of material for my website despite the continuing heatwave that seemed more discomforting in the city itself. By the 16th day of the tour we could have headed back to Bangkok but instead I decided to head northeast to a province that would be less demanding. However, this required a stopover in Chiang Rai province and another day went by.
Phayao…….. Reaching Phayao province, again a lot was achieved in a short time and we even made an excursion across the provincial border with Chiang Rai to visit the hill top of Phu Chi Fa, always high on my wish list. By now I had reached the sensible target of 18 days and was concerned that there would be not enough time after our return to Bangkok before the next tour was due to begin since the second tour had a fixed starting date.
We were still a long way from Bangkok and a stopover was needed in Phitsanulok which took the tour into its 20th day. This left just two days to plan for the next tour.
Effects of weather…….. As mentioned, the weather was a key factor in this tour: Not only did it cause discomfort but compromised the tour reducing the options for visiting natural attractions. One of those did stand out though Doi Inthanon is at such high altitude that there was an immediate drop of 20 degrees celsius it heavy cloud and a thunderstorm.
Other issues…….. Other factors that have been an issue in the past did not give cause for concern this tour except that I did have a nasty head cold over the last few days of the tour. Another category that I sometimes add in the conclusion is food but again there is little to report as we kept to a basic diet without trying local delicacies. However, local river fish dishes and curries were popular.
Data…….. Finally some data. We covered some 3200 kilometres in 20 days which proved quite comfortable at a cost of 5540 baht while the accommodation averaged 550 baht per night. That works out at just over £20 per day for two people. The final total with food and add-ons came within budget even with 2 extra days added.
Rating…….. As for a rating of the tour, I give 7/10. The tour was marked down due to adverse seasonal conditions but without a doubt this was an incredibly productive tour.
Uthai Thani…….. Reaching Uthai Thani province, I set about building a site list but immediately hit a problem. Never before had I gone touring in May which turned out to have significant disadvantages. All my knowledge about Thailand’s weather pattern indicated that the monsoon rains start this month. However, arriving in late April, it was still in the hot dry season which continued well into May, so much so that temperature sored to over 40 celsius on a couple of occasions. This restricted movement, making a full day’s tour almost impossible. Added to that, at the end of the dry season, this province was not at its best with many natural features either closed or not worth visiting. Nevertheless I covered the province as best I could and because of the heat, stayed longer than I needed.
Nakhon Sawan…….. Although at this stage the tour was still open ended- I still needed another aiming point and it seemed quite logical to visit the adjacent province of Nakhon Sawan which I’d only ever passed though before. This province had a better mixture of attractions and as well as being productive, took less time than expected.
Chiang Mai…….. Now coming up to the halfway point in the tour, I really needed to firm up on plans for the remainder of the tour and made quite an unexpected decision. I would head north to cover Chiang Mai province. This province I’d visited a number of times before but I’d never recorded anything significant since this website has been running, just once passing through. Chaing Mai is a huge province and once I committed to it there was no turning back. It would occupy most if not all the remainder of the tour. The result was the capture of an incredible amount of material for my website despite the continuing heatwave that seemed more discomforting in the city itself. By the 16th day of the tour we could have headed back to Bangkok but instead I decided to head northeast to a province that would be less demanding. However, this required a stopover in Chiang Rai province and another day went by.
Phayao…….. Reaching Phayao province, again a lot was achieved in a short time and we even made an excursion across the provincial border with Chiang Rai to visit the hill top of Phu Chi Fa, always high on my wish list. By now I had reached the sensible target of 18 days and was concerned that there would be not enough time after our return to Bangkok before the next tour was due to begin since the second tour had a fixed starting date.
We were still a long way from Bangkok and a stopover was needed in Phitsanulok which took the tour into its 20th day. This left just two days to plan for the next tour.
Effects of weather…….. As mentioned, the weather was a key factor in this tour: Not only did it cause discomfort but compromised the tour reducing the options for visiting natural attractions. One of those did stand out though Doi Inthanon is at such high altitude that there was an immediate drop of 20 degrees celsius it heavy cloud and a thunderstorm.
Other issues…….. Other factors that have been an issue in the past did not give cause for concern this tour except that I did have a nasty head cold over the last few days of the tour. Another category that I sometimes add in the conclusion is food but again there is little to report as we kept to a basic diet without trying local delicacies. However, local river fish dishes and curries were popular.
Data…….. Finally some data. We covered some 3200 kilometres in 20 days which proved quite comfortable at a cost of 5540 baht while the accommodation averaged 550 baht per night. That works out at just over £20 per day for two people. The final total with food and add-ons came within budget even with 2 extra days added.
Rating…….. As for a rating of the tour, I give 7/10. The tour was marked down due to adverse seasonal conditions but without a doubt this was an incredibly productive tour.