Thailand trip advice

[sifenn]

Happy New Year to the UK Butterfly community

I'd welcome advice/recommendations from anyone with experience of butterflying in Thailand;I have booked flights for a 3 week butterfly trip from mid-March. I've been researching general areas to visit and have decided to spend a week in the north around Chang Mai, and around 10 days travelling out from Bangkok to east and west.

I will likely start in the area north of Chantaburi (SE of Bangkok), exploring the Khao Soi Dao national park and then double back to the west of Bangkok. To the South-West of Bangkok lies the resort of Hua HIn, and inland the Kaeng Krachan national park comes up on search engines as a great place for butterflies, but I'm wondering if I'm likely to encounter many of the same species as seen SE of Bangkok.

The alternative would be to head due West to the area around the infamous River Kwai.

So any experience folk would be willing to share would be gratefully received, including any info on road conditions that might inform choice of car or SUV to hire ! I'm assuming dry season means it may rain occasionally rather than frequent downpours of the wet season.

thanks

Sifenn