I was awoken on Sunday morning to the sound of wife squealing like demented piglet.
"It's cold." She excitedly proclaimed. "There's a polar vortex over Thailand!"
She was right, it was cold. Just 18 centigrade to be precise which is unheard of in April, the hottest month and it had been 37C just a day earlier. Before I'd had chance come around and attempt to process the bizarre 'polar vortex' information, she uttered those fateful words...
"Let's go camping. I've found a great new campsite by the river near Nakhon Nayok ."
Under closed eyelids, I rolled my eyes.
"Good idea, darling. I'll get the camping gear out."
On Sunday we had to work, so it was decided we would leave on Monday morning and stay a couple of nights. I gingerly suggested that the 'polar vortex' might have closed back up by this time but as expected, she was having none of it, and so it came to pass, I loaded up the motorbike with the camping gear and by 9am on Monday morning we were heading off to Nakhon Nayok province. Nakhon Nayok is about 90 miles from home and depending on traffic would take just short of a couple of hours to get there. As soon as we started getting away from the urban sprawl of Rangsit and along the 305, the roads quietened and we picked up the pace. It's actually a route we travel often and I really enjoy the ride once you clear Thanyaburi. The road is good and gets quieter as you go with the canal and road mirroring the route side by side through mainly open countryside, which you can enjoy as you ride along.
The sun was shining brightly as I glanced at the dashboard to see the temperature already showing 29C...
None stop, we motored through Nakhon Nayok town itself and onto the 3049 and were soon turning off onto a local road for the final couple of miles to the camp site.
Being a Monday, most people were at work so apart from a couple of tents, we were alone.
First impressions were that the site was lovely, clean and well-kept. Many Thai camp sites are poor, with dreadful toilets and have unemptied rubbish bins and sacks of trash randomly dotted around but you could see immediately that this was different and kept clean and tidy by the owners with pride.
The site was in two halves and you had a choice of where to pitch, either under the shade of the bamboo trees or on a lovely open grass field, both of which were on the banks of the meandering Nakon Nayok river.
We went for the shade, the polar vortex was definitely closing...
Open space...
...or under the bamboo
The decision was tempered by the fact that bamboo is a breeding ground for bugs and often a home for snakes and all manner of wee timorous, and not so timorous beasties but a quick look up the trees and I could see nothing moving!
The site had electric hook-up so we rented a fan and got pitched on the hard earth which despite us having had quite a lot of unseasonal rain in Bangkok in the past couple of weeks, seemed not to have reached this far inland. The sprinklers were constantly watering the grass in the next field to keep it green and fresh.
What was really nice was that cars and bikes weren't allowed in with the tents and had to stay in the carpark so to shift your stuff, they had thoughtfully provided little carts to help you.
The cleanliness and facilities of the site were a bonus as the real reason for the choice was the river. Being brought up by the ocean on a paradise island, the wife has zero interest in beaches and crystal blue ocean waters but instead loves rivers and mountains, and here, she was happy, and so it followed, so was I.
"Happy wife, happy life." As they say in Thailand...in Thai...
As the river was fairly fast flowing in the middle, they had created a cordoned off area using floating pads and life jackets and rubber tubes were available to use. All at a small additional fee of course!
They had also built a slide down the bank which was cool but as always in Thailand, you take responsibility for your own safety!
The life jackets were clean, in very good condition and hung up neatly instead of the usual pile of ragged junk you might expect to see.
As nice as it was, there was still lots of concrete about to split your skull open on!
A lovely terrace overlooked the river and gave great views both up and downstream.
And it was on this terrace where they laid out complimentary coffee, Ovaltine and Pa Thong Po (Thai deep fried dough balls) for breakfast which was an unexpected but nice touch!
Food was available to buy on site and there was also a burger truck which only opened on weekends.
I was slightly in the dog house because I hadn't packed all the little fairly lights and things that Thais love to adorn their tents with but the camp site had enough of their own and as darkness fell, thankfully along with the temperature, the place was lit up and looked lovely like a camping wonderland...
...except under the bamboos where we were pitched which became like the filmset of the Blair Witch Project...
Happy wife, happy life but it won't be if she sees I posted this picture!
The Toilets...
Were really clean and they provided you with flip-flops to wear so you didn't get the floors of the showers dirty with your shoes.
There was plenty of soap, shower gel and shampoo as well as paper towels and even toilet paper! This was luxury.
Not sure about the decor of the gent's urinals however, it looked as though someone with a perforated stomach ulcer had just vomited all over the walls!
I mentioned at the top about the bins being tidy and emptied, they also sorted the trash too into recyclables which were all bagged up to sell on! There wasn't a single piece of litter to be seen around the camp. Excellent.
There were plenty of other things to do, you could hire ATVs or go rafting and there were many trails for the ramblers to follow. If you don't have your own tent, they can be hired, ready erect.
As for cost, we paid 200Baht per person per night ($6.00USD, £4.50GBP) with an extra 150 baht per night for the pair of us for the electric and a fan.
By the time night fell on day two, the 'polar vortex' had closed completely and it was back to 'normal' April with the temperature that night not dropping below 30centigrade and sleep was hard to come by so early next morning, we decided to call it draw, pack up and ride home...for some aircon and some sleep!
This is why Thai's don't camp in April, because it seems only...
Mad wives and Englishmen go camp in the April sun...
(Apologies to Noel Coward!)
