I was heading out for a decent camping trip, but issues at home meant it was only a one-nighter. However, good fun anyway.
Into the Pa Dang (formerly Chiang Dao) NP, but the camping area was closed, so they sent me down the road to the Pong Arng hot spring. They charged me 80Baht (3 different tickets) to stay the night.
Must say, the park was very clean, no sign of garbage anywhere.
A lovely area and all to myself...
I had recently bought a Hennessy Sylnylon Monsoon flysheet, for use with the hammock and camping in the rainy season, so wanted to test that out.
The hammock came with a couple of free rainwater collectors which clip on the flysheet to collect rainwater. I used the bladder from the Sawyer water filter and screwed that into the water collector.
The original small Hennessy flysheet clips on to the hammock line, but the larger Monsoon fly has it own lines. Quite a clever design, as on each end it has storm blast doors which hook on to the underneath of the flysheet and velcro down the sides with a clip at the end, plus each door has it's own guy line. The sides of the fly are held by 3 guys lines per side, each with a bungee or rope line option.
It was hot in the afternoon and evening, so I left the blast doors hanging open which allowed better cooling inside. There was lightning flashing around all evening and by midnight, I had jumped out and clipped on the blast doors. Then the torrential monsoon rain came for about 2 hours, hammering down on the flysheet.
Result; The flysheet worked perfectly and I stayed completely dry inside the hammock. The wind was not that strong so we'll see how it performs when the wind blows hard too.
The hot spring pools were excellent so I was in and out of there and the cold mineral water shower until fully relaxed.
In the pursuit of comfortable camping.... I had strapped on the bike a collapsible chair, which really is worth carrying at my age. The chair packs up small so no hassle really to carry. Also trying out the new cooking gear. The $20 micro stove set-up is great.
After trying to hold my dinner by hand over a pot of boiling water to warm it.......... realised there was an easy way...... some sticks laid across the top of the pot keeps the plastic tray off the hot aluminium, spaghetti bolognaise for dinner was pretty good.
Into the Pa Dang (formerly Chiang Dao) NP, but the camping area was closed, so they sent me down the road to the Pong Arng hot spring. They charged me 80Baht (3 different tickets) to stay the night.
Must say, the park was very clean, no sign of garbage anywhere.
A lovely area and all to myself...
I had recently bought a Hennessy Sylnylon Monsoon flysheet, for use with the hammock and camping in the rainy season, so wanted to test that out.
The hammock came with a couple of free rainwater collectors which clip on the flysheet to collect rainwater. I used the bladder from the Sawyer water filter and screwed that into the water collector.
The original small Hennessy flysheet clips on to the hammock line, but the larger Monsoon fly has it own lines. Quite a clever design, as on each end it has storm blast doors which hook on to the underneath of the flysheet and velcro down the sides with a clip at the end, plus each door has it's own guy line. The sides of the fly are held by 3 guys lines per side, each with a bungee or rope line option.
It was hot in the afternoon and evening, so I left the blast doors hanging open which allowed better cooling inside. There was lightning flashing around all evening and by midnight, I had jumped out and clipped on the blast doors. Then the torrential monsoon rain came for about 2 hours, hammering down on the flysheet.
Result; The flysheet worked perfectly and I stayed completely dry inside the hammock. The wind was not that strong so we'll see how it performs when the wind blows hard too.
The hot spring pools were excellent so I was in and out of there and the cold mineral water shower until fully relaxed.
In the pursuit of comfortable camping.... I had strapped on the bike a collapsible chair, which really is worth carrying at my age. The chair packs up small so no hassle really to carry. Also trying out the new cooking gear. The $20 micro stove set-up is great.
After trying to hold my dinner by hand over a pot of boiling water to warm it.......... realised there was an easy way...... some sticks laid across the top of the pot keeps the plastic tray off the hot aluminium, spaghetti bolognaise for dinner was pretty good.
