Day 16 - Wednesday 3 December 2014, Bangkok

Anti-climax..... Today was always going to be an anti-climax with no site visits planned. Awake before 7 am I make no attempt to finalise my blog. In fact my notes are up to date but I haven't published anything for two days. With nothing interesting expected to be added today, I decide to complete my tour blog when I return to Bangkok. I've made no attempt at all to secure breakfast and concentrate entirely on packing. That done, I make myself a coffee in reception and add to that, something from a minimart, part of the BP Tower complex. At just 9 am I'm on my way but perhaps there is time to record something on this day.
Tonight in Bangkok.....I head for Phitsanulok railway station. I'll be lucky if I see anything as it's too late for the morning traffic: And so it proves. Nice try though. I find my way out of the city somehow, rejoining highway 11 heading south. This road is at least 2 lanes wide so progress is good despite heavy trucks using this route. I carry on through Pitchit Province then onto Nakhon Sawan then, into early afternoon a couple of rest stops are needed, the second for lunch but not quite up to the standard I've been used to. I hand the driving over to Katoon who makes good progress through the next provinces; Uthai Thani, Chainat, Singburi, and Angthong, all relatively small. On reaching Ayutthaya with less than 100 kilometres to go there's a projected arrival time just after 3 pm. Soon the Kanchanapisek eastern ring road is reached, route 9. It's not long now till this tour finally ends. On reaching base Katoon disappears to give the car a clean up and do some shopping. At 4.30 pm the car is ready to send back to the airport. That's a straightforward process this time and I'm not surprised to learn that I've recorded 3,140 kilometres this tour, an average of nearly 200 kilometres per day.
Final thoughts.....Back at base around 6.30 pm I put the final touches to my blog for this tour but there will have to be a conclusion. The tour has been so full of opportunity that it will take a while to sum it up. In a nutshell the tour has lived up to its title, 'Natural Thailand', in so many ways and I've had the added advantage of being free from any heath issues that have compromised previous tours. No doubt as time passes this tour will be remembered as one of my greatest adventures and I'm already thinking about a sequel, 'Natural Thailand (2)'. I will remain in Bangkok now for another 8 days then return to the UK for Christmas. In the remaining time I can only hope to sort and catalog my picture files in the near future, totaling nearly 1,500. To succeed in reviewing individual sites which were visited on this tour, as I hope to do, will take much longer.
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