Hua Hin

Hi all,
Jana and I just took our first trip (in Thailand) outside of Bangkok this past weekend. We went to Hua Hin, a beach town about 3 hours south of BKK that Lonely Planet describes as a "beach resort that priveleges luxury over hedonism"--a fairly apt description. There are several upscale hotels and condominium buildings, much of Hua Hin looks very similar to Florida: palm trees, tons of sun, and elaborate condominium buildings. I'll forego more general descriptions to give you all a day-by-day account.
Day 1
We left Bkk about 630 in the morning. We left early in order to move through traffic quickly. This plan worked well until we ran into--of all things--a marathon running through downtown Bkk. Needless to say, we were stuck in traffic at this point for over an hour. Finally, we arrived at the bus station about a little after 8 and got on our bus shortly after. We arrived in Hua Hin about noon. After a quick bite we headed to our guesthouse--450 baht a night, or about 13 $. (In this case we got we paid for, fortunately we didn't spend much time in the room itself.) We quickly evacuated our room and headed to the beach. The beach at Hua Hin is quite nice, the sand is white and fine, though the ocean was a little murky just coming off of their wet season. (The pictures make the water look clearer than it actually was.) We hung out at the beach for several hours and then after the sand, travel, and fatigue started to cause a little turmoil we decided it was time to get cleaned up. We ran home, showered, and then headed to a seafood restaurant a couple of our friends recommended.
I've had some good meals in Thailand (I've had some great meals in Thailand) but I think Jana and I would agree this was the best we've had. We ordered bbq prawns and a whole steamed fish with a side of steamed rice. The prawns we're huge (see the pics)and very delicious and the fish was--according to Jana: "The best fish I've every had." The dishes were served with garlic/chili sauce and sweet/sour sauce that were more savoury than seeing Brad Martin fail. The food was so good we decided to go ahead and order two more entrees. After dinner we headed to "downtown" Hua Hin--a small area full of al fresco bars--hung out here for a little while and went home.
The next morning we headed to Khao Takiab, a large cliff overlooking Hua Hin. This was one of the more diverse and rich experiences we've had in Thailand--combining incredible natural beauty, beautiful shrines, and a million half-wild, half-domesticated monkeys. Besides the food, this was my personal highlight of the trip, very Thai and very rewarding. After this, we headed to our tuk-tuk driver's personal hook-up (all the tuk-tuk drivers are connected to some store that offers them a comission for bringing tourists to their site), an elephant/horse/atv adventure camp. After some haggling with the Thai workers there, we decided to go ahead and ride an elephant. The elephant rider took us through a swamp and around a winding (sometimes steep path). You basically feel like you're falling off the giant at all times so Jana was screaming accordingly. After a while, our guide hopped off and invited me (I think he knew this would be a little much for Jana) to climb down onto the head.
This was about enough excitement for us for the day so we headed home, changed and went to the beach for a few hours. After the beach we cleaned up, went "downtown" and celebrated Jana's birthday (one day early) at a pizza restaurant. Good pizza is surprisingly hard to get in Thailand, and we were both pleasantly surprised by the price and quality of our pizza. After dinner, we stopped by the al fresco bar we went to the previous night, met a British couple that we talked to for a while, and eventually headed back to our guesthouse. The next morning we left Hua Hin at noon.
My overall impression from Hua Hin is of a more laid-back and relaxed Thailand. (It's often said that there are two Thailand's, Bkk and everywhere else.) Though Thais in general are best characterized as more laid-back than their Western counterparts, in Hua Hin this outlook is definitely more pronounced.

Lately

Hello Everyone,

So, we started Thai classes yesterday!!! It was great fun, and we know more Thai than we thought we did. All the words that we hear all the time now have some meaning. We take classes two days a week, Tuesday and Thursday. The classes are only one hour and a half, so no stress. Sean is the star of the class of course. He answers all the questions. Then, when Jum, our teacher, calls on me, I look at Sean like, "what did she just ask me?" You can take the student out of Truman but you can't take the Truman out of the student.

Last night we went to a coffee and dessert party. Everyone brought a dessert and a liquor to got with the espresso, which the host made. Sean nor I drink coffee so we pretty much felt like our hearts were going to beat out of chests with the combination of sugar and coffee. However it was a good time and we got some good tips about Hua Hin, which we are going to on Sunday.

Thanksgiving. Things were looking good for a nice big turkey dinner at this American Restaurant. We, however, have to work Thanksgiving night from 6:30 to 9:30. Also, a couple of our other friends have to work those hours as well, so we are not sure what we are going to do yet. We will be with our friends so that is what is important. Although, we both wish we could be with our families.

We are finally going to the beach. We will be leaving on Sunday, so look for pictures and updates.

Loy Krathong

Last night was Loy Krathong, a festival to celebrate and thank the Goddess of Water. Loy means to float and Krathong means raft. Loy Krathong is originally an Indian tradition that the Thais have adopted. Basically everyone goes down the the water, so in Bangkok it is Chao Phraya River and sets afloat a Krathong made from banana leaves and is decorated with flowers, candles, and incense sticks. You light the candles and the incense and then put it in the water, making a wish for something bad in your life to float away and saying a prayer of thanks for water.

We decided to do a dinner cruise, so that we would be on the water the whole time. First we went down the the river, and it was total chaos. There were people everywhere, which is normal but this was madness. We finally figured out what boat to take in order to get to the pier that our ship was leaving from. Once we got to River City Pier we took another smaller boat in order to get to the Chao Phraya Princess which was the name of the big boat we were cruising on.


When we were on the boat a woman walked us to our table. First she took us to the upper deck and we were so excited because we really wanted to sit in the open air outside. Then, she kept walking further and further to the point of the ship. When she finally sat us, we literally had the 2nd best table on the boat. We could see everything, it was amazing.

The cruie served dinner, they had an international buffet. So, there were mashed potatoes, which we have not had for a long time. They had lots of Thai food, seafood, desserts, and fruit. The food was okay, the Thai food was actually not that good and the farang (foreign) food was better. Usually it is always the opposite, most farang food here is not that good, especially American food.

The cruise went up and down the river, showcasing Wat Arun and Grand Palace. It also stopped in front of the Oriental Hotel for a fireworks show. The Oriental Hotel is the best hotel in Thailand and ranked second as the best hotel in the world. Anyway, the fireworks show was great and it was awesome because all of the boats were floating out in the middle for the show.

The cruise also had a singer, who was a bit crazy. She acted like she slammed about 10 red bulls before taking stage. She was all over the place, and desperately trying to get people to dance. They played some real hits: "Tequila", "La Bamba","Hero". Basically all the classics. All in all it was one of our best nights here.

Ayutthaya

Ayutthaya was the former capital of Thailand until the Burmese set fire to pretty much the whole town. The city was famous for its lavish temples and Grand Palace. Most of trip was spent viewing the ruins. There is nothing left of the Grand Palace except what looks like a few scattered stones.

Sean and I took the train to Ayutthaya, which is about an hour and a half. The price of the train is 30Baht for both, so it was one dollar for us to travel there. The train ride was an amazing way to see rice fields, the shrimp farms, and the many huts that people live in.

After we saw everything in Aytthaya we started the bargaining tactics to try to get a Tuk-Tuk to Bang Pa-in Palace. The Palace is known as the Summer Palace for the King and Queen and also many other Royal Families. It is more of a campus than just one palace, as you can see from our pictures. So, we finally bargained with a man to take us there for 200 baht which is six dollars. He tooks there and back to the train station, a total of an hour and a half driving time.