12.20 North, 99.58 East

This past week we had a much-needed vacation in Pranburi, about three-and-a-half hours' drive south of Bangkok, on the Gulf of Thailand. This was our first road trip in Thailand, which was not without its own challenges, but it was great to take our car out onto the open road. The highways in Thailand are very similar to those in the States -- at times we could've been on Route 460 on our way to Virginia Beach.


We stayed at a tiny resort called Aleenta. The resort has only fifteen rooms, four of them bungalows that sit right on the beach. The resort -- which has won awards from Conde Nast, Luxury Travel magazine, and a bunch of others -- was beautiful. Since it's currently low season in Thailand, there weren't many people around. From our bungalow we had an almost 180-degree view of the ocean and could watch the tides and the fishing boats right from our bed.


We didn't really do much other than lie around and read all week, which was exactly what we needed. We took a few walks on the beach, but we didn't risk swimming in the ocean, thanks to the hordes of very large jellyfish.


Our bungalow had a private plunge pool, though, so while we couldn't swim any laps, we could cool off whenever we needed to.


We drove up to the town of Hua Hin in the middle of the week to see Thailand's oldest beach resort. Hua Hin used to be a small fishing village, but it's grown up a lot over the last few decades. The King of Thailand has a summer palace there -- in fact, it's where he lives most of the time. We can't say we were real taken with Hua Hin, but we had a lovely lunch at the Sofitel Railway Hotel, a beautiful colonial-era hotel built in 1923. Its topiary garden is thought to be one of the best in the world, and it really was incredible. Most amazing were a pair of 30-foot-long peacocks, a flight of geese, and a life-sized elephant.

All in all, it was a wonderful week with lots of good food and relaxation.