We jumped ship and spent spring break in Thailand; probably away about 10 days including traveling time. It was actually the wife's idea to go kiteboarding ...! We ended up in Hua Hin, a tourist town 200km south of Bangkok famous for it's beach and seafood. And the PKRA competition had just been through there too ...
We rented a condo in the Tira Tiraa building; lovely 2 room with kitchen, giant bed, cable TV etc and a swimming pool in the complex that we used every day. It was close to the main road and apart from the train, I thought it was nice and quiet.
Took my 15m and 12m Synergy and North Sumo 155x41 with me cos all the 'net guides or reviews I'd read about where we were going said "18 knots or more every day!" ... bah humbug. Nowhere near enough for even the 15!
We spent a few days wandering around town, checked out the beach etc, then I had 2 'lessons' (supervised rentals really) with the North Kiteboarding Club. Not enough wind either days for my lard arse to get up and going really, even with the 'superior' North Rebel 14m and North Phantom 154x45 board. Thought we'd zap on down to Pran Buri to have a look, supposed to be good. Much better wind there (although it had shifted to sea breezes so that probably helped) and I met Jay from Kiteboarding Asia and jacked up another 'lesson' for the next day. Walked up and down the beach for miles to have a look at the kiteboarders down near the village. Sleepy little town, could be a nice place to stay ... hmm.
Came back the next day, had a lesson with Laurent on a 16m Airush DNA I think and a Square One like my other board in Japan. Went pretty good, fairly massive downwinder! Got a ride back up the beach on the back of Laurent's scooter.
Decided to go back again the next day but the wife was bored so she stayed in town. Had a cracking day with an Airush Flow 15m and a Nobile something or other big fat wide board, 144x45 IIRC. Pop! straight up and riding! Still couldn't go upwind but had 2 fabulous long downwinders, maybe 2 hours each ... and a long walk up the road! Got a bit overpowered on the last run but was all good.
We had a great trip - some really good food was had, we got to eat lamb and decent gravy and onion rings and pizza and all the good things, cooked PROPERLY like we CAN'T get in Japan. And the kiteboarding was great, so I can recommend it as a destination. Pretty cheap place to stay too, although we spent a lot of money living it up!
It was a real let-down coming back into Japan, with their provincial attitudes and paranoia, after the lovely people we'd been around in Thailand ... but that's another story ...
Here's a compilation of video that Olivia made on her Sony Cybershot thing ... not to great but hey, it's a memory!
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