Days 32-36 in Hua Hin
It’s currently Tuesday 4th August and it’s time
to catch up on 9 days’ worth of blogging about my life in Thailand. I have been
away on a little holiday from teaching, because the 30th and 31st
was a Buddhist holiday, meaning nobody had to work. Also, my school was kind
enough to give me the whole week off leading up to the Thursday, which I was extremely grateful for!
I had an incredible week and have so much to say about it, but I really don’t want to bore you all to
death with reams of information about sand reaching places it shouldn’t,
endless trips to the market and the amount of steak and beer I consumed- so
I’ll try and keep it as short and sweet as possible (a bit like the amount of
sun we got on every beach trip…)
Day 32: Saturday 25th July
I woke up to the most amazing 70- something messages on my family WhatsApp chat.... My brother Ross is getting married! He proposed to Lucy, his girlfriend of 9 years whilst on their anniversary holiday in beautiful Santorini. I'm so happy for them!!
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| Lucy and Ross |
Kanang and her friend took me to Ban Pai bus station at 8pm
to meet Hannah, Jodie, Samten, Cream and Jiang. Hannah and Jodie are ETAs like
me, but the other three are Chinese and English teachers in their school. It
was my first time meeting them, and they were all instantly welcoming and
lovely J
We planned to go for dinner before our 10pm bus but ended up sitting in the bus
station eating crisp sandwiches and yoghurts which was equally as good! The bus
was a bit like a tiny coach/ large luxury minivan, which had reclining seats,
TV screens and speakers in the headrests. A lady came round with snacks and
drinks, which was pretty cool too! The 5-hour journey flew by, and the next
thing I knew we were getting into a minivan for the next leg of our journey: a
3-hour hellish death ride to Hua Hin, where I would be spending the next 8 days!
The van driver seemed to be on some kind of drug, judging by his driving. I
genuinely cannot understand how we didn’t die in that van. The van’s terrified
silence was rarely broken by the odd gasp, and a shout of “JESUS CHRIST” from
me as we came inches to the car in front at 60mph.
Day 33: Sunday 26th July
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| Hannah by the pool |
Somehow we arrived unscathed at 6:30am, and found a trusty
7-11 supermarket for an obligatory cheese and ham toastie (which happened to be
my first one!). Even though we couldn’t check into our villa until 12pm, we got
a taxi to the resort and set up camp by the pool. It was so beautiful and calm
at 7am as we swam in the morning light, unsure if we were going to get chucked
out at any moment! We spent the morning there, swimming, napping and
sunbathing. Oh, and a dog came and did a tiny wee on my bag. At 11 we were
allowed to go to our room, which was a lovely villa with a kitchen, living room
and two bedrooms. There were 6 of us and only 2 beds, so we had to do some
shuffling around! After a couple of hours sleep we went to the main Hua Hin
beach. Jiang had never been to the beach or in the sea before, so I was really
excited to be a part of it! I had a foot massage from a really strong, really old lady. Think she was trying to beat me up because I bartered her down! After the beach we went for some Indian food and
then to the night market, where I bought some clothes and too much jewellery,
as usual! We were all knackered so we had an early- ish night.
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| Beach foot massage |
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| Night market |
Day 34: Monday 27th July
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| Cha Am jumping with Cream and Samten |
We went to a different beach in Cha Am, about 30 minutes
away. It was supposedly nicer, with clear water and whiter sands but it was
pretty much the same as Hua Hin, just quieter. We chilled and swam, and I got
pretty stuck into my new book, “A Thousand Splendid Suns”. In the evening we
went out in search of karaoke. We found a little place which was pretty much a
little box room that smelt of toilets and had no access to natural light or
oxygen, and stayed there all night, belting out the tunes and drinking
cocktails. It was my first time doing karaoke, and I enjoyed it more than I
thought! Cream and Jiang went home as it was late, and the rest of us stayed
out and found a club that played really good music and sold overpriced beer.
After a 7-11 toastie and tuktuk ride, we found ourselves in the middle of our
villa resort, lost and with no clue as to where our villa was! After over 30
minutes or so, we found it- thank God!
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| The beautiful train station |
Day 35: Tuesday 28th July
Slightly hungover. My companions are leaving today to go
about an hour down the road, while I am staying in Hua Hin in order to meet some
more ETAs tomorrow. This means that I am alone all day today and tonight- eek!
I ask myself: “does this make me a solo traveller now?” hahah. I asked the nice
resort receptionist if I could stay by the pool for the day as I was alone and
she said it was fine. She even offered to take me to lunch, to a place just
outside the resort gates. I had no food and no way of getting anywhere so I
accepted her offer, and so off we went in the little golf buggy to lunch! We
chatted over lunch, and it turned out her boyfriend is Australian and lives
with her there in Hua Hin- that explains why her English is so good! I spent
the whole day alone, lying beneath the cloudy sky. Unbeknown to me, I was
getting burnt to a crisp.
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| Loving this! |
It was so chilled and really nice to just do nothing. I made friends with a 70 year
old Swiss man who lives on the resort with his Thai wife, and he told me a bit
about his life, which was really interesting.
The receptionist also came over to me and offered me a lift to my new
hostel later that day! How kind is
this woman?! “Be careful she doesn’t kidnap you”, said my Mum. I knew she was
safe enough though, so at 6pm her Australian boyfriend picked us up and took me
to my hostel in town, about 10 minutes away.
As I’m on my own for the night, I thought I would splash £17
on a double room, as I didn’t know what crazy people I would have to face in
the 8-bed dorm on my own. The queensize bed was certainly incredible- quite possibly the comfiest bed ever. There
are free snacks and coffee available in the hallway which is a nice gesture
that’s unlike any other hostel I've stayed in! I’m just chilling because I
don't fancy going out on my own in the dark tonight. It's nice to just relax!
I've written some letters home to my friends and family and failed to work the
TV. I’m feeling pretty happy right now! And also, I’m proud of myself for
making it through the day alone, and getting to my hostel and being in a random
city- all alone. It sounds simple, but I’ve never done it before! J
Day 36: Wednesday 29th July
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| Roof terrace view |
I was rudely awoken by parades at 8:30am by music and
drumming coming through the hostel’s thin windows. I watched the parade from my
window, as dancing girls and dressed-up cars passed by. I had a pretty
leisurely morning, and day for that matter. Jess and Gwen are arriving tonight
at about 7pm so I have a whole day to kill. The hostel provided a free
breakfast of toast and jam in the café below, and coffee from the little snack
station outside my room. I was moved into my new room at 12: the 8 bed female dorm.
I was pleasantly surprised- the room was nice and we even had A/C and a sofa. I
went for a walk, with no idea where I was going. I wasn’t keen on the idea of
going to the beach alone, so I found a familiar part of town and stationed
myself at a Starbucks on the main road. I sat outside for a fair few hours,
glued to my book and drinking fresh carrot juice- I know, how edgy!
Once back at the hostel, I took my
7-11 toasties up to the roof terrace as the sun was going down. There were two
swiss girls up there already who I got chatting to. They offered me some wine-
of course I accepted- and we had a lovely chat about our travels and life.
Later that night Jess and Gwen finally arrived, woohoo! We headed out to the
night market, where I was pretty much a local by now, and ate steak and drank
cocktails. We ended up visiting the club that I went to the other night, and
had a good ol’ dance and some bloody cold slushy shots!
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| STEAK |
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| What a pretty bar! |
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| Frozen shots |
I'm writing the second half of my Hua Hin holiday adventures in another post so you don't all fall asleep like I currently am. Thanks to everyone who made the first half of the week so great!
Peace,
Olivia
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