Spend a month one night in Hua Hin
Thai Pom and I journeyed to Hua Hin on Friday last. Now that the new bridge on the ring road is finished the drive is a piece of cake. Took 3hours and 15 min from Samut Prakhan. That included stops for gas, two rest stops for the ladies and about 15 minutes drive down the beach at Cha Am.
Stayed at the Jinjjing Guest House. Reservations got a little screwed up but hey, TIT. Thai Pom stayed in a broom closet while Ms. E. G. and I had a nice spacious room with a decent sized deck. Nice and clean and the fridge was full of cold beverage. Cost was around 1k a night. And they really didn't rip you off on the beverages from the fridge. Decent staff and all but one MAJOR problem with staying there. Like most places that cater to tourists in this country nobody expects you to drive. Parking is about as plentiful as hen's teeth.
This being a -lay-back- weekend we didn't do much at all. Went down the the "bar" area for a few cold singha, not much action at all. The eye-candy was totally non-existent (counted two worth a second look over a two day period). After a few we mossied on down to this place to try the seafood (what else when your at the beach with two Thai ladies??)
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Was thinking to myself as we entered this long pier that "its surely a tourist rip off"
Didn't turn out that way at all. Dinner for four (6 dishes) and 4 large singha was just a tad over 1100 Thb. The staff were great and funny and the food was excellent.
Due to camera and battery problems I don't have pix of every dish.
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If your anywhere around water you going to eat deep fried fish if you are within arms reach of Thai Pom. I swear, in an earlier life this guy was a fish. The small hoi were nice with a dusky almost BBQ type sauce. Interesting.
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The rock lobster was excellent, we damn near ordered another couple of orders but decided against it. The fried rice must have been the 'kitchen sink" variety. Had biog chunks of lobster, crab and prawns it it. Really decent
I didn't get decent photos of the squid or the prawns in curry sauce which was other worldly. I could have been just as happy with any of the dishes as main courses they were that good.
Saturday we had breaky and headed out for some exploring. We spent about 4 -5 hours exploring the coast between Hua Hin and Pranburi. It was neat just to piddle along and nose around in places a lot of folks that travel the main highways don't see. (We never did find the cliff jumping monkeys... but saw tons of new developments just south of Hua Hin. Who is going to buy all those units?????)
We ended up on a long stretch of beach, must have been several miles that ended at a park. Can't recall exactly how we got there but it can't be all that hard to find. A very nice beach that was clean and free of any population other than fishermen. There was the occasional resort/condo complex across the road from the beach but nothing hi-rise or extraordinary.
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We did see some "tree houses" that were mentioned in another thread. Cute, sadly was going to take a pix on the way back but never returned.
We continued along this beach looking around and the ladies chatted up a fisherman's wife and got the scoop. Gotta get there early in the AM to buy prawns, rock lobsters from the boatmen.
We ended up here at Khaao Ko Sa Park a nice beach with lots of stuff for Thais. Jet skies, ATVs and banana boats. The park encompasses several hiking trails and overlooks apparently.
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We went next door for a cool drink and the ladies Som Tam (can't go 20 minutes without eating it seems when your on the road). A very typical bamboo and sticks place run by the typical Thai family. Caused some commotion and merriment when I ordered Kaffee Yen and dad heard kaffee lon. I repeated it and one of the girls caught the mistake and tried to correct dad... No way he heard kaffee lon.
When he arrived with the Kaffee lon and I repeated Yen the girls busted up laughing and gave him a bit of good natured stick for it. A nice family and a great place to sit and watch the water and folks in the park. BTW the Som Tam (2 types) was apparently quite good, should be after Ms E. G. gave specific instructions on how to make it.
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This young lady took over our table after the fiasco with dad (whom you can see in the background still catching it from daughter #2), she had a smile that would melt ice. Can 't see it in the photo but her eyes actually twinkled when she lit up.
I'm always on the look for some arty type photos to take. I like to find contrasting textures and colors. Here are a couple of shots I took on the way back to the car.
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The last one reminds me of something or someone, maybe DD?
We continued our wander down the road finding all kinds of little nooks and crannies that were inhabited. In one such spot we found about 50 tables set up on the beach with white linens, wine glasses etc. surely a wedding being prepped for.
WE continued on and ran into some serious mango orchards. Tons of the fruit hanging off the trees. As you can see in the picture below lots and lots of fruit. The lady doing the harvesting is very picky about which ones she takes. gotta be just right.
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Eventually we worked our way back to Hua Hin in time for some reading and relaxing. That evening had a couple of beers while the ladies checked out the night market, despite what the barmaid told them. " You live in Bangkok? Don't shop here it way to expensive, go home and shop". Turns out she was right. Its the only time I've seen the two of them, Ms TP and Ms EG go shopping and come back with absolutely NOTHING!
Had a couple of beers in the Irish bar, nice place and again good staff. It was the only place that looked like civilization had taken hold in Hua Hin. Can't believe the number of empty bars/restaurants/beer bars we passed while walking the town. We covered just about all of it in two nights.
Seemed all we saw were dead-enders (Irish bar excepted) both male and female on the streets. Luckily we were two couples so we had our own conversations and fun. This was my second trip to Hua Hin, the first in about 4 -5 years and I'm of the opinion that it is for relaxation and nothing else. If your looking for action, look elsewhere.
All-in-all a great get away for a couple of days respite. I'll let Thai Pom fill you in on the trip back. He knows alot more about Noah's Ark than I do..
E. G,
