I decided it was time for a road trip. Wife looked at some locations to stay at along the way and picked the resort in Koh Kood. I did all the driving as I really enjoy it.

First stop was in Jomtien area. This was the longest leg of the road trip as I drove us from Lampang to the resort. 688 kms. We stayed at resort called U Pattaya. Initially I was like NO but it really isn't in Pattaya as my wife showed me. This is a cool little resort and no foreigners jammed into the place.



The ride from Lampang to the resort was easy and quite fun. I still to this day do not get what is all the nonsense posted about crap drivers and bad roads. I did not see one accident, never came across bad roads (except one small section being repaved up North) and did not have one close call the entire trip.













Various pics from U Pattaya. I pulled up a stool at the little tikki hut deal and enjoyed a few cocktails. I was able to fly my drone but had some issues with the shutter setting for which I fixed after I left.

We stayed a few days and relaxed, Had some cocktails and enjoyed the quiet place.

Our next stop was Rayong. The plan here was to visit the Piak Off road factory. I wanted a bumper made of steel to replace the plastic skin the Hilux Revo and all new cars and trucks have. I am a firm believer that it pays to have some strength out front anywhere one drives.



We got to the Piak factory and met up with some really cool guys. All off road types. I had been in contact with them about which bumper I wanted however when we got there and looked and my trucks current state the bumper I wanted would not work as my Warn Zeon 10S was to large. The change was going to be their new 2018 bumper.



One thing cool about going to the factory is that the install is free and they pulled my set up right off the assembly line after inspection.



In no time a team of folks were on it tearing it apart. Hard for me to just sit and watch as i love to fab and mod shit myself.



My Revo all apart



The upgraded bumper with the original one I wanted in the fore ground. My factory white plastic skin in upper left. This is a nice piece. 3MM plate steel and the winch and bumper bracket assy are even thicker and slide in to the frame and bolt with all grade 8 hardware.





Winch bumper bracket assembly in place



3.5 hrs later all done and we were ready to go Of course there was an hour lunch in there as we went out to lunch with the guys.

After we left Piak we headed to look for some food snacks for my wife....



Of course as many know, Rayong is huge producer of Durian. While I personally can't stand the stuff my wife LOVES it and she picked up 2 of them. I have to say these did not smell all that bad.

We then headed off to our next resort to stay for 1 night.



This place was empty and huge.





The coast area heading to the resort was pretty nice and very very clean. There were some nice waves



We sat up by pool and ate and enjoyed the breeze.

We got up early as we had to drive to Trat to catch the ferry to Koh Kood.

We caught the ferry to the Island and took a Wild ride in a baht bus to our resort. I was laughing really hard. the other passengers were white knuckled.



We stayed at the The Natural Beach resort. Long story here. So my wife booked a room way off the ocean through Agoda. The resort has about 20 Villas and only 4 were occupied all way off the beach but the 3 facing the ocean were all empty. I asked my wife to see if they would upgrade us cheaply being vacancy is basically empty and this is off season. The first price was silly and I said Naaaah forget it. Then the front desk gal went and saw the manager and asked. I spoke with her and told her that I'd like to stay in the room but not for 12,200 baht a night. She lowered the price down to 10k baht and I said I will pass. As they were putting our luggage in the room we reserved which was 4k bht a night they came back and asked if 7K baht a night would work. I mulled it over and said OK. I look at it this way, Sometimes you have to live a little. I stay so cheaply in Thailand 99% of the time why not splurge.





Room and view we upgraded too.



Place was quite relaxing.



I am not a beer drinker but man this one sure tasted good.



I knocked back a few Mai Tai's and got out my Drone and did some flying. The above pic is of the resort. You can see our room and the nice sitting area.







Various Drone pics of the small bay.



I sat on the pier and enjoyed the view.



Random tropical pic to end the day



Next day I got up and rented a scooter and wife and I did some trekking to see some waterfall areas. This one was right out of a movie. I jumped in and swam over. I wanted to see how deep it was as I wanted to dive off.

We trekked all over the island for the 2 days we were there, had some great sea food and drinks and relaxed. I kick myself in the ass as I brought my GoPro 5 to use when snorkeling but wife convinced me I did not need the accessories stuff I usually pack a long and a vid from the scooter riding around the place would have been awesome. Lesson learned.

A personal note about the Resort we stayed at on Koh Kood. Being this was off season the prices are significantly lower. But with that comes a trade off. The service really sucked ass. It was like a cruise ship. They had the same people doing property upkeep, cooking, waiting tables and making cocktails. (At one point I had to show the guy how to make a Mai Tai). The scooter story is funny (Albeit wife didn't think so). SO we rented a scooter from the resort. 250bht a day. SO they toss us the keys and I go up and inspect it and start it up and pull it out. Wife hops on and rear tire flat. So I push it back in and go down to the counter. Can't find anyone. Finally I see the gardener/bartender/Bellman/Waiter guy and told him. He finds another key. I go up and all seems in order and we leave. We drive to the other side of the island to take in some views and lunch and when we come back...front tire flat. I found a guy to air it up but the valve stem had rotted out. We called the hotel...no answer. So I rode that fkr 16km on a dead flat front tire with wife on the back laughing. It was a wild ride up and down huge hills. We get back to the hotel and I seek out the manager and say WTF, dont you PM your scooters, what happens if some person that is not capable of riding well takes a header on this. You should fix the scooters. They apologized and she gave me another scooter from who knows where that was basically brand new. My wife and I went off again.

My point being, This is a really nice resort but for the price the service should be far better.

After leaving the Island we headed back to Rayong for another night and pick up some stuff before heading back to Ayutthaya to my BIL's house.



We stayed at the Holiday inn in Rayong. Man is this a really nice place. Cheap too. 1600 baht a night. We walked over to Central Plaza for some dinner. The pool is on the 29th floor, I sat at the bar at the 31st floor.




The truck loaded up. HAHA. Wife picked up all sorts of snacks, 4 Durian trees, Some herb tree, 2 Mangosteen trees. In the bed was 4 more Durian and 2 big bags of Sala fruit.

Anyway Back home now. Great Road trip. Our plan is to do these long road trips every 4 to 6 months. They are fun and lots to see. I will look at the Drone Video's and add if the look OK.