Phetchaburi to Ban Krut, Thailand - three days with a tailwind.

Southern Thailand is the perfect location for road cycling tours. Good roads, considerate drivers, platefuls of delicious food to keep up energy levels and, usually a pleasant resort at the end of the day. Which is why, after completing the Bangkok to Phuket ride in July last year, I'm back again. This time with my bike buddy, Paul and our wives, Cathie and Belinda who have kindly allowed us to cycle while they visit temples, palaces, beaches and coffee shops with the support vehicle.

Starting point is Phetchaburi, a province renown for shrimp and salt farms south of Bangkok. The salt workers, swathed head to toe in loose garments to protect against the fierce sun reflecting off the salt, carry buckets of the crystals slung across their shoulders. Tiny boats are moored in estuaries, ready to go out to the Gulf at night. Fisherman mend nets in the shade during the day. At Hat Cho Am, we eat in a beachside restaurant - shrimp with garlic, chicken with garlic, chicken with ginger and mushrooms, green papaya salad - all tasty and in abundance. Along the beach grow straggly pine trees, offering shade for the holidaying Thais to lounge in deck chairs and swim in the tepid water. We follow the coast all the way to Hua Hin where we eat dinner of yellow curry with soft shell crab at the night market, washed down with Singha beer. The town is famous for being where the King has his summer palace. If it's good enough for..

Day Two is one hundred and sixteen kilometres of tailwind. Look at those trees! The windswept waves break over the road and Thai resorts have strung tight netting along the pine trees beachside to provide relief from the gusts. A friendly guard waves us into the Khao Sam Roi Yot (roughly translated - mountains with 300 peaks). The limestone hills rise steeply out of the plain. All available flat land is resumed for shrimp farms. At one point, one lane of the road is used as a makeshift factory where Burmese workers toss shrimp into forty-four gallon drums.

It's always pleasant to wake with a sunrise over water and the Hadthong Hotel in Prachuap Khiri Khan must offer the best $30 room with a view I know. We start our ride today with a detour through the local air-force base, where a solemn nod is all that's required to get through security. Soon enough we're cycling across the runway, looking out for landing aircraft and monkeys. Although both are reputed to frequent the base, we see neither. We do, however, visit the simple memorial to the site where the Japanese invaded in World War Two, seeking a quick route to Burma and on to India. The battle didn't last long. The waistline of Thailand at this latitude is less than twenty kilometres across. The Japanese were not interested in occupation, only access.

Ao Manou (Bay of Lime) is a curved arc of white sand, with deck chairs under pine trees, and simple holiday accommodation set back from the beach for military personnel. Anyone can swim and relax on the beach, just be gone before sunset when the base shuts down. We had an early morning espresso and enjoyed the view, wishing the military of all countries were so hospitable.

More tailwind today, more easy cycling. After thirty kilometres along the beach with coconuts palms, fishing boats and shanty shacks, we turn onto the highway that offers a wide shoulder and perfect surface. Onto the drops, single formation and breezy riding with few hills. I have yet to witness an aggressive driver in Thailand. Speed, yes, but cyclists are always given space.

We leave the highway at the fifty kilometre mark a nd stop for coconut flavoured, rice-based sweet treats at a village store. A monk pops his head over the high brick wall opposite and gestures to the lady owner. She crosses the road with an energy drink and places it in the basket where the monk has left his money. Monks are not allowed to touch females and this is the simplest method of exchange for both parties. But why does a monk need an energy drink? Shouldn't he be after a non-energy drink? Does one exist? And what would it contain - Milo? Horlicks? Valium?

We ride through a coconut tree plantation for the next ten kilometres. For once, I'm glad to be wearing a helmet. Dropping fruit is much more dangerous than Thai drivers. In the middle of nowhere, not a house or village in sight, stands a high tower with speakers on top. This is so the farmer can hear the National Anthem played at 8am and 6pm every day. Earlier this morning, in Prachuap Khiri Khan, I noticed all Thai pedestrians stand to attention while the anthem sounded across town. Thankfully, the cars kept moving.

We stay the night at Ban Krut on the beach in a thatched hut with our own high wall courtyard, surrounding an open-air shower and toilet. Dinner is an eye-poppingly hot larb, roast chicken drumsticks and grilled prawns, followed by rambutans and a strange pink and white fruit that looks like a child's bracelets.

At midnight, I go to the toilet and a green tree frog jumps on my back. The poor fellow. No doubt, all that screaming took years off his life.

Best riding: the forty kilometre section south of Hua Hin, along the coast. Small fishing villages, a gulf breeze, the smell of cooking.

Worst riding: uuummm, okay... the highway. But only because of the traffic noise, not its supposed dangers.

Can I have more please?: soft shell crab yellow curry, prawns, larb, papaya salad with seafood, any orange-coloured sweet displayed on the front table of a village store.

You call that food? It was pale and fleshy, packaged in a small plastic bag, was kept in the refrigerator and they told me it was a fruit. Yeah, fruit of the vinegar. I quietly slipped it into the rubbish bin and selected some more sticky rice. I can't remember the name, sorry. But I do recall the taste.

Are we in Thailand? Nine year old boys, riding motor scooters. Three schoolgirls on the one motor scooter. No-one wearing helmets.

Favourite Animal: the surprise midnight frog!

Accommodation: Putcharasca Resort, Hua Hin. ($$$; wonderful breakfast, spacious apartments, helpful staff)

Hadthong Hotel, Prachuap Khiri Khan. ($; sensational views, firm beds, ancient bathrooms)

Keeree Waree Resort, Ban Krut. ($$; rustic bungalows, happy frogs, perfect location, hopeless staff... but I'd still stay here again... to visit the frog)