Tuesday 5 March 2013

Stuff in Hua Hin

Ten days since I last posted anything, mostly because hanging out in Hua Hin is not overly eventful. While we do "stuff" a lot isn't worth documenting. However, when even the local guys (not mentioning any names Art and Dan) start to get on my case about no postings, I suppose I should write something to let everyone know we are still alive and kicking.
One new tidbit is me joining the Muay Thai gym. Just to be clear I did spell it correctly M U A Y
T H A I. To some that have emailed and used the spelling Maui Thai, well that won't work as Maui is one of the Hawaiian islands. To our other friends that suggested I was taking Mai Tai that can be rather confusing as well. While I have had Mai Tai's, it was when I was in Hawaii on the island of Maui. Having a Mai Tai in the heat of the day was a lot more refreshing than taking Muay Thai and sweating my you know what off! I tried to get Marie to sign up for Muay Thai as well, however she said that since she cannot have a Mai Tai (the alcohol allergy thing) she definitely will not take Muay Thai.
Hua Hin has several markets and a central mall. There are also a lot of shops towards the central part of town, all catering to the tourists, with something for everyone. The beach also has its fair share of vendors pedalling their wares. The night market (starts around 6pm) has a ton of stalls and is a good place to eat. Although it is crowded it is very entertaining to see the people from so many countries and different walks of life. From the ultra small vendor stands serving skewers of mini hot dogs or chicken to the larger sit down restaurants, here is something to satisfy virtually every appetite. If you want fresh fish or lobster and crab, this is the place! All the seafood is displayed on ice, fresh, just waiting to be picked so the chef can cook it to your liking.
From our balcony we are able to view some very interesting birds and listen to their wonderful melodic warble. We spotted a cinnamon coloured bird with striped wings and tail and a crown of feathers standing up on his head. It is a hoopoe and has a long slender bill to penetrate the soil so he can feed on insects and small reptiles. It was a delight to watch this bird flit about on the ground. The other bird, bluish black head and body and rusty brown coloured wings and tail, is a
Coucal (crow pheasant). The yellow one in the tree is a warbler.
Our suite is equipped so we can stock up on simple groceries like muesli, milk, eggs and bread and have our breakfast on the balcony. The mall is conveniently located across the main road and has a huge grocery outlet. During one of our grocery runs we met Emma, in the checkout line. Emma is from Sweden. Marie met her again at the beach and they recognized one and another from the grocery line. Turns out Emma is staying in our hotel, 2 doors down the hall. Coincidence or what? Over the course of the week we got to know Emma and I accepted her invitation to play tennis. Now I haven't ever really played tennis and what little practice I did have was a well over 12-15 years ago. Emma, however, takes lessons and practices with a pro, not to mention she is 20 years younger. We hit the courts in the hotel next door where I ran my butt off, while coach Marie kept my swing in check. Lol. Talk about the blind leading the blind. Actually we came up with the perfect strategy to gain an advantage by giving Emma the side where she faced the sun. All in all it was fun to get out and whack the ball over the net. Not sure how it was for Emma but she was gracious enough complimenting me on my sad attempt to play tennis.
Marie and I went on a short exploration trip of Hua Hin. We took a Songtaew which got us off the main drag so we were able to see where some of the side roads went. We came across a guy on a motorbike with a huge slab of a hive hanging from a short pole on his bike. He also had a bucket with broken pieces and a lot of honey. He had jars and was selling the honey on the street. Next was the ice pedlar, a truck with an open deck carrying huge slabs of ice. The slabs were off-loaded by sliding them down a ramp.
Towards the end of town we discovered another market and ventured in for a tour. The smell in this place was ghastly! The kind of smell that once it gets up your nose it sticks and is there indefinitely! Poor Marie was gagging and even when we left she could not get rid of the odour. In fact it was so bad that a few hours later when we went for dinner (at the night market) Marie thought her food was bad and could not finish. Yucky!
Morning walks and/or Muay Thai, breakfast, time on the beach, visiting, an afternoon coffee, shopping (mostly looking) and dinners with Art and Dan pretty much sums up our days in Hua Hin.
The "green hotel" is where Dan and Art stay. At the beach access by their hotel are a large group of umbrellas and beach lounging chairs available to rent. Art and Dan are regulars here, a couple of beach bums lounging about, bronzing their magnificent bodies in harmony with the other beach patrons. If only they could kite surf. On days when there is a good sea breeze the sky fills with kites of all colours dancing about in the wind, a surfer in tow, tacking across the waves. The pro's make it look easy and effortless while the novice makes it look like a losing battle. Lol

I started this page a few days ago with good intentions but here I sit, one day before we leave for Bangkok, typing in the finishing touches. Art left for a convention in Pattaya, Dan is waiting for his lady Meow (she should arrive today), Ron keeping busy at the gym and Emma headed home for Sweden. Funny how time works. When we first got here and were looking forward we thought, wow, 2 weeks might be a bit long? Now, as we look back we think where did all the days go? Tomorrow, Sunday, we head to Bangkok for our final four days in Thailand.
We will let you know about Bangkok in a couple of days.



























Monday 25 February 2013

More of Hua Hin

Relaxing days hanging around Hua Hin. Kite surfing. Three amigos. Stuff.



















Blueberry and our beach

Our room at the Blueberry and the beach. It is soooooo nice to be on this side of the main road as we do not need to cross it to go to the beach. Out our door, a quick left and 100 meters to the sand. Perfect!
The water on this side of Thailand has more waves and is not clear like on Koh Lanta. Also more wind which attracts the kite surfers. We enjoyed sitting on the beach in the wind, getting blasted by the sand, while watching several kite surfers. I thought of giving it a try but then had this vision of being towed across the ocean, unable to turn the kite and ending up in Singapore. Think I'll wait for a small lake. Lol
Time to get the sand out of our teeth, so we headed to the Market Villa Mall for a refreshment and a bit of window shopping. While sitting next door to the KFC (yes, a Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet) enjoying a coffee and some quality jazz, the shrill sound of a whistle screeched loudly destroying the moment. We looked over to the front of KFC where now there were a group of five uniformed young employees lined up in two rows. There was another group of uniformed personnel conducting an inspection of the young group. Next the young group started a cheerleader type routine which we deciphered as being a KFC rah rah!
Window shopping the mall was a lot of fun, three levels of a lot of unique shops and also some of the same chain stores we have at home. Walking by Swenson's Marie felt a need to photograph an extremely tasty looking ice cream sunday. Two more strides and we were confronted by a mega size ice cream poster. Talk about the power of advertising, especially combined with weak will power! Yessiree, we indulged; one mango sunday with green sticky rice and one hot fudge. Yummy.

































Saturday 23 February 2013

Hua Hin

For those that are wondering where the daily blog went, well between travel, looking for a new hotel and wifi issues, we have been out of commission for a few days. Also Art and Dan have been keeping us out late. Lol.

New day, new town and another familiar face. Our buddy Ron, also from Vernon, showed up at the hotel today. Art and Dan were already out and about, so Ron offered to familiarize us with the town. Our hike first took us to the local gym where Ron buffs up his body daily.
After showing us his small suite we continued on to an area where there were a series of small narrow streets, lots of guest houses and small hotels and a ton of shops. Obviously this was a great area for tourists. Lots to see. Here, on the beach front, was the Hilton hotel. Talk about a wow factor! A standard room for a mere $330.00, (that's in US dollars), a night and you could get up and have breakfast on the ocean front. I thought I heard someone tell me Thailand was really inexpensive? Some pictures of the beach by the Hilton. We were surprised how much garbage was on the beach. One would think with a hotel like the Hilton, they would have a large staff assigned to keep the beach clean. Someone has to pick up after all the lazy tourists.
For the afternoon Marie and I once again went hunting for accommodations. We looked at a lot of rooms, some a bit too basic but most just priced over our budget. Nearing our first hotel and running our of places too view we saw a sign, "room for rent". Called the Blueberry, close to the beach with a pool, Marie thought for sure we were wasting our time. The host showed us the room and we were delightfully surprised, a one bedroom apartment size suite. Very nice and even nicer when they told us we could rent it for $840 BHT a night. Fits the budget, beautiful room and awesome location. Deal!