I apologize for not writing an update every day like I initially said I was going to do. The internet is very poor and sometimes we can’t get online for a couple of days at a time. I will continue to post as often as possible!
Hua Hin – May 13 – 17
We spent five days in the beautiful community of Hua Hin, Thailand at the wonderful subhamitra Hotel. Every morning we would sleep in, relax, and slowly make our way out of the hotel. We went to a place called Euro Cafe each morning for breakfast. They had amazing breakfast, including bacon and eggs! They also had freshly baked pastries and desserts. After breakfast we would head down to the beach. On the way we would stop and look at dozens of little shops and shopping stands. The beach itself was beautiful. It was really hot and humid, but once we were on the beach there was a nice breeze to keep us comfortable. The water was warm (like bath water). Everyday there were people going around on the beach selling things (dresses, jewellery, blankets, bathing suits, snacks, etc.), and there were even people coming around offering to give manicures, pedicures and massages as we laid on the beach! There were also a group of people with horses and you could pay to ride one down the beach. One guy tried really hard to convince me to go, and when I said he was allergic he said... I will take care of you, haha. I didn’t give in! We mostly just read books and talked amongst ourselves as we soaked in the sun in the sand!
When we got too hot lying on the beach we would spend some time in the water. We were uncomfortable leaving our things lying on the beach unsupervised, so one day Tori & Jill decided to go far out in the ocean and I stayed near shore. As I watched them jump around in the waves like children, I noticed Tori’s face... pure agony. Apparently a wave had lifted them up and tossed them onto a coral reef. They made their way back to shore and my career quickly changed from teacher to doctor. They were sliced up from head to toe and there was blood dripping everywhere. Tori looked like she had fallen off of her bike. As I write this they can laugh about how dramatic it seemed at the time, and now it has turned into a few minor scrapes. I’m sure glad I was the one who decided to watch our stuff on the beach!
We found it very interesting that the local people were always fully clothed (pants, long sleeved shirts, socks, and even toques). They do this because in Thailand the people with pale skin are the most beautiful. They thought we were crazy to be soaking up the sun and trying to get a tan!
On the second night (Friday, May 13) we got together with all of the people who came to the resort from Manitoba. There were about 60 of us. It was nice to meet new people and re-connect with some of the people from Brandon University that we hadn’t seen in a few days. The dinner itself wasn’t that great, and they jammed us all into a tiny restaurant so it was extremely hot and sticky. After supper we checked out one night market and then went to Swenson’s, an AMAZING ice cream place. They had every flavour of hard ice cream possible, plus shakes, splits and parfaits! It was a nice way to cool down after our sticky dinner!
A couple of the nights we went to look at the night markets, and bought a TON of stuff. We kept forgetting we still had 6 weeks to shop and there are much bigger malls and markets to go to... so on the third night we made a pact not to go to any more markets until our next adventure (this didn’t last long)! It was very interesting to shop at the markets, because the people expect you to barter, which none of us three were good at or felt comfortable doing. We got better at it after a couple of days got some pretty good deals, we think!
Each evening after touring around we would come back to our hotel, shower (as we were full of sweat and sand) and put on a movie and/or play cards to relax before we went to bed. We realize that we are lame and we could watch movies and/or play cards at home, but we were so busy during the day that we were too exhausted to go out partying at night. We decided that we would much rather spend our money on souvenirs and adventures than wasting it on alcohol.
Oh don’t let me forget... on the first day when we were walking to the beach Tori stepped in dog poo! For those of you who know Tori this came as no surprise to us and it was quite the ordeal!
The whole time we were here people kept mentioning this place called “Monkey Mountain.” On Monday, May 16th, the three of us decided we should venture from the beach and check it out. We rode on our very first tuk-tuk to get there. A tuk-tuk is a type of taxi, which is pretty much a box on the back of a motorcycle (you should google it!). It was really cool, and something that is very common around Thailand. The tuk-tuk took us all the way to the top of a mountain where there were monkeys everywhere! Tori, Jill & I were scared by this, as none of us got our rabies shots before coming on the trip! We saw another group of people from Brandon University who were feeding the monkeys and taking pictures with them. We were content to just watch and take pictures of the cute little guys! There was also a Buddhist temple on the mountain. We didn’t think we could go in because you are supposed to have your legs completely covered, but there were people there who lent us some sarongs to wear in. We had to climb an excessive amount of stairs to get to the temple. Once we got up there we could see the beautiful detailing of it and there was an amazing view of the ocean and the beach where we had spent the last few days.
When we got back to our hotel, we were already beginning to feel really sunburnt, so we decided to stay out of the sun for the day. After all, we had just spent three days laying in the direct sunlight on the beach! So for the afternoon we relaxed in the hotel enjoying the view from our balcony, resting and reading our books. We then headed back out to Swenson’s for some more delicious ice cream!
In the evening our professor organized for all of the Brandon University students to meet up for supper again. We went to a restaurant on the pier. We had an amazing view of the ocean and the beach. There was a nice breeze and the food was really good! After supper we all walked over to the Hilton hotel. Our professor took us up to the 17th floor on the sky bar where we had a breathtaking view of Hua Hin. We stayed there and visited for a while, and then walked around the community. As we walked down one street we saw an elephant! There was a guy walking it around and you could pay 20 baht to feed it! We also saw some really cool bars and markets.
On Tuesday, May 17 we packed up our room and headed back to the Hilton as soon as we woke up. I wanted to see the view during the day, and we got some amazing pictures! We then went for breakfast and headed back to the hotel to wait for the vans to take us back to Bangkok.
This trip to Hua Hin was an amazing week full of shopping and relaxation. It was a great start to my Thailand adventure and I can hardly wait to see what else is in store during the next seven weeks!
No comments:
Post a Comment