Day 35 Thurs 5 October 2006 Hua Hin – Bangkok, Thailand

Left the Anantara resort and headed to Bangkok via Nakhon Pathom, stopping in Petchaburi to explore some hill top temples we had spotted from the highway. After driving around the town looking at several other temples we decided against ascending the temple hill even though it had a funicular as the weather looked very threatening. Shortly afterwards we were engulfed in a torrential storm which made driving v difficult but didn’t seem to deter some of the locals who managed to park their trucks in canals in the central reservation on two occasions in quick succession.

Fortunately it had stopped by the time we reached Nakhon Pathom, the site of Phra Pathom Chedi, the world’s tallest Buddhist monument, a 127m high chedi or stupa. Incorporated within the bell shaped base of the bronze tiled spire is an original C6th stupa with buddhas all around the base.

By the time we hit the outskirts of Bangkok it was pouring with the road flooded in places and darkness falling adding to the fun. Traffic was horrendous, more like traffic treacle than traffic jam. It didn’t help that a certain intrepid one had misread the map and we were in completely the wrong quadrant of the spaghetti junction cum carpark called Bangkok. We finally made it to the hotel five hours later

Weather – showers 31,
Distance 217km
Distance from start 7382km