As usual, Bangkok Airways get me here in reasonable comfort, (well, I was in economy....) as I fly to Phuket before making my way about 100kms north to Khao Lak on Thailand’s west coast. This area was an up and coming resort with lots of half completed hotels when the tsunami struck in 2004. It was the worst hit area in Thailand with a wave of over eleven metres. But by now, the hotels have been re built and it is a quiet place with a long area of beach along the Andaman Sea for many kilometres. All the hotels appear low rise and it is described as Phuket 20 years ago. I am staying at the Nang Thong Beach resort on Nang Thong beach which is a lovely collection of individual bungalows, all surrounded by lots of vegetation and fragrant frangipani. Inside they are modern and minimalist, but comfortable, probably my favourite room so far this trip. But again I am short of any British voices – the hotel bookshelves are full of German and Scandinavian books, with just a few Russian – and only four, old, dog eared English ones.... It’s right on the beach and there’s plenty of sunbeds, even so, there are towels on them from quite early......
