Waking up to another blue sky day - really great weather with a slight breeze, and hot, but not too hot to have to stay indoors. It's so nice to be breathing clean air :) Tuesday, we spent most of the day reading, and relaxing - a swim in the Gulf of Thailand, and a walk down the beach to find an italian (!) restaurant belonging to one of the many beach resorts along this stretch. The complex where we are staying is one of probably 20 or so big buildings along the beachfront.
We had a brilliant day yesterday - I woke up before the night owls and sat on the balcony enjoying the morning sun. We started moving just before lunch, and went down to the pool - we were the only ones in the pool, and I think there are only 5 or so flats being used in this entire complex of approx 500 flats... this is definitely off season. The pool and gardens, and beachfront here are really gorgeous, and well kept and the front lobby area is huge, with a small coffee counter and a shrine to the King and Queen - I took pics and I'll post them on the blog. Hardly any english signage anywhere here, and only one of the staff members speaks some - we are enjoying communicating with each other with sign language and plenty of smiles.
We hired a car to pick us up, and take us to Hua Hin (about 20 minutes away) for the day. First off we visited the former summer palace for Thai royal family. We got dropped off outside the gates of the estate and hired bicycles to tour around. Sarah and Meg grabbed a bicycle built for 2 - hilarious! The estate runs along the beach and is huge - with many outbuildings and gardens, and a monument to King Rama VI, who reigned in the early 1900s. We were to wear sarongs and cover our shoulders, and walked into the palace grounds. The entire former summer palace, now open to the public and probable a good revenue generator, is built on stilts, the living quarters are all on the second floor, and is incredible, no walls (some half walls around a white clawfoot bathtub :) - and long 'hallways' connecting different areas together. The floors are all teak, and we walked barefoot. Many of the rooms are painted in bright blues and yellows, and much of the furniture is still there, including a huge ceremonial dining table that would seat 20 or so. Beautiful gardens with sculpted shrubs in shapes of elephants, deer and fountains with stunning flowers. Truly a tropical paradise.
We then biked back out of the palace area, and hopped back onto the truck (we sat in the back of the pickup - had walls and a roof) and went to the Thai silk factory - neat displays on how different types of silk are spun and woven. Very expensive gift shop inside - Sarah immediately fell in love with a gorgeous scarf then looked at the price tag of 3000 Thai bot - about $100 CAD! She put that one back on the shelf.. and kept looking - not much in our budget but stunning fabrics nonetheless. We found Bob outside at a cool roadside restaurant and had some cold drinks (Singha beer!). The restaurant is also home to the family who runs it, and is full of knickknacks, elephant statues, little pools with ceramic frogs, and pictures - always pictures of the King or Queen - you see portraits everywhere in Thailand (also huge monuments with their pictures along the highways - they love their royal family here), and a little baby fast asleep across the counter.
We then went bowling - yes, bowling - in the one western-style mall in Hua Hin where we had picked up groceries the first day we arrived. Meaghan won the bowling match, much to Bob's chagrin, and then we took off to visit the night market. Very fun, lots of food stalls with fresh seafood on ice displayed - many things I didn't recognize :), mixed with artwork and fabrics, and the usual cheap tshirts, etc. We spent a couple of hours looking around, and decided to have dinner in a very cool restaurant painted bright red and yellow with pictures of the Royal family, and enjoyed a great local Thai meal: stir fried morning glory with oyster sauce and garlic, chicken satay, deep fried squid, salt & pepper fish, green curry with prawns, fried rice with pork and Phad Thai (their signature dish) with noodles. Even Meg filled up - very fun, crowded, loud area full of sights and smells of the local scene - so cool.
Our last night in Thailand, what a great trip!
