KITE-SURFING

Thailand’s combination of wind and warm tropical waters make it an ideal destination country for kite-surfers. Both the Andaman coast and the Gulf of Thailand have places suitable for getting a lift, with Phuket offering windy conditions through the second half of the year. Conditions at Samui and Koh Phangan can be fickle, but the seasons follow the northeast monsoon from November to March and the southeast monsoon in July and August. Perhaps the most consistent winds are those on the east coast from Cha-am to Chumphon, and several locations stand out along this stretch. Just a 90-minute drive from Bangkok, Hua Hin is a great place to start for beginners, thanks to the presence of several kite-surfing schools. To the south, the wind picks up in Pranburi a little earlier in the day, and like Hua Hin these blow reliably most months except for March through May. Though Chumphon receives the first winds of the northeast monsoon, its kite-surfing season is significantly shorter, lasting only from October to February. Kite Boarding Asia ( kiteboardingasia.com) runs schools and equipment rentals/shops in all the aforementioned places, with the addition of Pattaya and a newly minted branch in Krabi. Another longtime outfitter on the coastline around Hua Hin is Kite Thailand ( kitethailand.com).