Because of the unrest in southern Thailand we wanted to put as many kms between us and the border as quick as we could. That was not to be! Just south of Hat Yai, Ruefee ground to an abrupt halt. Lawie figured it was electrics and as luck would have it a mechanical workshop was opposite where we broke down. Fours hours later and an amazing bill for NZ$53 we were on the road again. The solenoid had to be replaced and we were fortunate that it happened on the outskirts of town and that someone spoke a bit of English.

We camped at a gas station at Patthaluna. The amazing array of vehicles continue to impact on us. Even more amazing the number of unrestrained children in cars and on motor bikes.

We noticed small differences between the 2 countries. Firstly the road signs were much more difficult to follow as very little English on them, so our GPS has really come into its own. The houses have lovely clay pots for water tanks. A couple of these would look great in any entrance way back home. The dog population seems to have multiplied 10 fold and there doesn’t seem to be as much rubbish littered around. Palms have been replaced by rubber tree plantations and coconuts are being harvested.

The drive to Phuket Island was interesting. Lots of limestone mountains everywhere & very spectacular. We camped on the Island at Kanala, just south of Patong Beach. This area was badly hit by the tsunami. Waves as tall as palm trees (As you can see in the photograph posted) had hit the area. You could see the trees dying off where the water had covered them. Walking through the rubble was a humbling experience.

We were camped not far from where 18 local people had lost their lives. In broken English local people shared details of their horrific ordeal and were so thankful to have survived.

Moving on around the Island Khao Lak the area looked like a war zone and it was the worst hit area we had seen. Whole resorts totally wiped out and nearly a whole town totally erased. Cars, electrical and white goods appliances piled into big heaps along the roadside. A huge relief operation was evident with a big army presence and lots of displacement camps had been set up. Many people are still living in tents. Although it was only 2 months since the Tsunami had hit we were really impressed with how quickly things were being rebuilt and starting to open up again.

"Phuket Island to Bangkok"

Leaving Phuket Island on the 25th February 2005 we wanted to cross back again onto the east coast. Heading north we crossed over through the Khao Sok National Park which was a lovely drive through small villages and majestic lush covered peaks. Arriving at Surat Thani we hugged the coast line, stopping to look at rubber tree plantations along the way.

We took the lead with Paul and Jill following, it was great with the CBs as we chatted while we drove along pointing out any thing of interest on the way. Just north of Surat Thani we found the most perfect camping spot, at Samret Beach by Tha Chana. We parked right on the beach under the coconut palms, making sure we had daylight above our heads as we didn’t want any coconuts dropping onto us from great heights! What a perfect place to be. We had a couple of restaurants to choose from and shared the beach with just one local family. There were little huts with table and chairs scattered along the beach front which we sat at while we ate & drank and watched the local fisherman getting shell fish and some sort of worms. We chatted to the local family, and watched the moon rising it was just the most perfect night. The beer was great 50 Bt which is well under NZ$2.00 for a large bottle and our fabulous Thai style meal was around $2.00NZ.

Lawrie was somewhat wobbly climbing up into the 4x4 penthouse suite that night. Forgetting to put his shoes away, he awoke the next morning to find one was missing and he found the other one 50 meters away half chewed. Paul reckons the snores were vibrating the walls of his camper!


We left Jill and Paul at Samret Beach and we continued up north, headed for Hua Hin, some 300kms north on the coast. Friends Lynna and Leslie Stewart were there and we wanted to catch up with them before they headed back to Sweden. Our drive was interesting, on the secondary roads we passed elephants, working in the fields, being transported etc, lots of local markets and many coconut plantations. As it was harvest time, we passed lots of trucks carrying them to markets and road side stalls selling them. The amount of produce etc they manage to load onto their trucks continues to amaze us, surprisingly we see few breakdowns. We had a lovely stop at Prachuap Khiri Khan. The beach was lovely, water so clear and blue.

Hua Hin is the King of Thailand’s summer residence, the people are devoted to their King. Huge billboards fill the skyline and his photos are everywhere. You know when the King is in residence as 3 war ships sit off shore. We noticed a lot more Europeans here too, due to the tsunami Europeans who would have normally have gone to Phuket Island were now coming to Hua Hin. We had a great few days with Lynna & Leslie, dining out at the local restaurants, treated ourselves to a blissful foot massage, and shopped till we dropped at the markets. They were wonderful hosts and it was really nice to catch up with them but sadly it was time to move on.

Bangkok beckoned and we had to met up with the rest of our traveling companions who had made it there and were arranging their Chinese/Kazastan visas. Driving north we saw lots of salt fields which were being harvested. The road side stalls are for ever changing depending what’s been grown and produced locally. Dried fish swing in the breeze, and brightly packaged salt are what’s on offer today. The thing that amazes us is they don’t just have a couple of stalls they have about 20 all selling the same thing. Then you will pass some banana stalls and there is another 20 stalls just selling bananas. The beaming smile we get when we pull up to our chosen one is lovely.

Joseph and Janet made it to Bangkok first and they were finding a suitable site for us all to camp. They were the only ones we had not as yet met. We had an address but reading the road signs were all in double dutch to us, again talk about lucky and in a city of 6 million, we drove past a service station and I spied a campervan. The challenge was to exit the 12 lane highway and get back to where I had seen the campervan. Half and hour later we pulled in beside the campervan and sure enough it was them. It was good to finally meet them both. Joseph & Janet had found another garage that had ample room for us all and were planning to move the next day, so it was perfect timing on our part

The garage was an excellent base while we did all the paper work/visas etc required for the China leg of our trip. Joseph and Janet had also done a great job finding out the bus routes for us to go into the city from our garage station baset. The PTT Garage had blocked off and area for us and had even arranged for the local police to patrol past us through the night, talk about feeling very privileged. Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights were market nights in the car park so we didn’t have to go far to shop. Along side us was a company called Cockpit which mainly sells Bridgestone tyres, batteries, mag wheels etc. The manager Pratheep Muenharn and his staff gave us a fantastic welcome, gave us hats, a chilly bin, cd holders and kept us supplied with fresh drinking water. We had a good party night with them and their friends sharing the music from all our different countries.

"The Whole Team Together At Last - Bangkok 2/03/2005"

The whole team is together for the first time! Jill and Paul, Janet and Joseph in” 2J’s Retreat “Lynda and John in ‘Global Roamer ‘and us in ‘Ruefee 3. We have already had some good outing. We headed into town and did a trip on the Chao Phraya River, exploring the Bangkok waterways. It was great to be on the water with a lovely breeze, away from the roasting temperatures on the Bangkok streets.


The trip cost just over $NZ2.00 each for an all day pass and we were able to jump on and off the boat as often as we liked. We got off at the Grand Palace stop, wandered around the shops and just enjoyed the atmosphere and the buzz of the area. Lawrie is now able to give us the accurate time on his new Rolex!

We have several good malls located nearby. The Paradise Mall is huge and stretches for miles. It features beautiful waterfalls, birds free flying, fish, a huge play area for children and is like a mini Disneyland with rides, game machine, karaoke rooms etc. A kids paradise – but hey now, the big kids enjoyed a ride on an elevated boat ride which gave us a birds eye view of the whole area.

We did a 130km drive to Kranchanaburi to see the Bridge over the River Kwai, (death Railway bridge) it was quite scary walking over the bridge. No safety regulations here and with one wrong step you would have been over the side. We caught a long boat back, and did a ¾ hour trip down the river looking at various sights along the way for NZ$2.50 each. Amazing boats and how they fly through the water!. The area is very historic area over 16,000 POWs lost their lives building the railway between Burma and Thailand for the Japanese during the Second World War. Passing us as we motored down the river were lots of karaoke boats being towed and everyone aboard was dancing and partying hard, what a great way to spend a day. We also visited the Jeath War Museum, which is run by the Monks. Definitely an odd assortment of memorabilia, but interesting reading the letters and looking at the graphic paintings done by the POWs.

Lawrie and John did some great bartering that day and got some matching shirts – sorry, you will have to wait for the photo’s!!!. While we were stopped, a group of Thai ladies wanted to look in John’s motor home, so John held out his hand and said 20B please for entry and 100B for a photo. Much to our amusement they paid! So in they go opening everything that opened and having a right old sticky beak. We were finding it hard to keep a straight face at this point. Then after some time out they all came out and John gave them their money back. We had such a laugh. Another good day was had by all.

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