…Pottering Around Phang-nga.

About ten days ago I felt the need to travel somewhere. I haven’t really done much since my epic trip up north in November.

Weather? Nope. Can’t blame the weather. Since about mid-January it’s been spectacular with little rain.

Diesel Price? Yes, that’s a bit of a deterrent to road trips. The trip up north cost me way more than I had planned. But, the diesel price has come down three times in the last six weeks, only by teeny amounts, but they are steps in the right direction.

Laziness? Shhh. Who said that?

Anyways, one day I just decided, no more excuses. Time to jump in Bert and go somewhere. The weather was hot and dry, but not perfect. Once the heat starts to build, the air gets humid, and there’s a constant haze. Visibility wasn’t great when I left home just before 8am, but I figured the heat of the sun would burn off some of the humidity. And anyways I just wanted to drive.

The road from here to Krabi Province is not one of the most enjoyable. Dead straight for long sections. Something to be endured rather than enjoyed. No matter. Bert and I were off for an adventure.

First stop, a couple of hours from home, was somewhere I found on Google Maps, quite by accident. I was checking the route to a temple I had expected to be my first place to visit, when Google Maps displayed another one close by. I can’t figure how it does that. Places just pop up, and if you don’t investigate immediately, the next time you go to Google Maps, the place has disappeared. But, I investigated, and I visited…

Wat Khao Hua Sing 8.511427, 98.760953

New, and well hidden. Middle of nowhere up a long gravel road. But worth finding. Golden. Green hilly background. Spectacular setting…

Yes, there’s even a lake, which I almost fell into. That would have spoiled the day!

Quite the find.

So, onwards to…

Wat Bang Thong 8.526969, 98.719914

Regular readers will recognize this as a repeat visit of a repeat visit of a repeat visit. But I wanted to get some better aerial shots…

That’s just a short selection. The rest will be used in my next Aerial Thailand book.

And, actually, that was it for Krabi Province, except for a very brief visit to…

Wat Bang Sawan 8.620110, 98.974128

…on the way home. Which didn’t look too exciting from the air nor on the ground, but for some reason looked far better on Google Maps. Oh well, you win some, and…

Now, the observant amongst you may have noticed the “Where Was I?” button has disappeared from the bottom right corner of my articles. That’s because it has mysteriously stopped working. Nothing I’ve done. Honest. Something to do with a WordPress update I think. I’m hoping the developer of the map plugin will notice and fix it. In the meantime I’ve put the GPS co-ordinates alongside the place names so you can copy’n’past into Google Maps if you want to know where some place is located.

Oh, and the search button in the menu bar has stopped working too. Gremlins to the left of us, gremlins to the right…

Next, it’s Phang-nga Province.