Making plans for what to see next in Thailand.
7.7.24
This morning we went for a ride out on the scooter around Sam Roi Yot. We stopped at 2 different temple complexes. Both very beautiful. I got a snotty look from a lady at the 2nd one as I wasn’t in temple clothes. I was walking in the grounds and not planning to go inside anyway.
At the first one we found 6 hungry mouths to enjoy our dog food, whilst wondering why Buddha had been cut in half.
What stunning backdrops. Just beautiful.
The 2nd Temples formed a much larger complex.
We’re convinced the snooty lady kept setting this off. It was a sinister message to people who arrive wearing shorts. Frankly quite terrifying!
We stopped at Tommys burgers to get a quick bite to eat. I ordered while John went to put fuel in the scooter.. By the time John was back the young guy had made an iced mocha and was starting the next drink.
We had just over an hour before our Grab taxi was due to take us to Hua Hin station. Surprisingly Johns fried chicken and rice and my toast were quicker to prepare than the drinks, so off we went to take the scooter back to Larry.
Our Grab was 10 minutes early, so a quick check round the room and off we went.
John has chosen Surat Thani as our next destination. Working out where trains do or don’t stop is confusing, so we’re catching it from Hua Hin as that’s a definite stop.
It felt silly going north to go further south, although it was only about a 45 minute journey from Sam Roi Yot back to Hua Hin.
Needing somewhere to stay tonight I booked the Chaba. The only down side was that the staff weren’t very friendly at Chaba Chalet last week. The upsides are that it’s a good price and only 200m from the train station. So we booked it.
When we turned up the lady on reception was having a drama with a group of foreigners. She smiled as she recognised us, and was rolling her eyes about them.
We had a long walk around Hua Hin, bits we hadn’t seen before. I even found a place that soldered my power bank charging port back on. It hasn’t been right since I dropped it on the plane during all the changing seats palaver on the way here.
Got lured in by the amazing smell of some pizzas, bought iced drinks and sat on the nearby beach.
The pizzas were cooked in pans with like a pressure cooker top. The dough was basically still dough and the toppings just sort of slid off. We were both in a right mess by the time we finished. John even saved some for the street dogs and he never leaves food. Anyone thinking of buying one of these portable oven things, my advice is don’t.
Loved the street where we joined the main road when we left the beach. A much prettier neighbourhood than most, with cute coffee shops and upmarket restaurants. But it soon changed and the next section was all massage places.
On the right hand side of the road were ladies dressed in beauty salon clothing offering professional manicures, masssge and beauty treatments. On the left side was Sluts R Us- younger ladies, in clothing leaving little to the imagination, posing in groups beepıng horns and looking for business.
I apologise to anyone offended by my assumption. They may have been just having an innocent girly afternoon out.
A few doors away there was a school and normal shops again. It’s rare for me to want a beer, but I had a real craving. We went into a bar next to where we’re staying.
We overheard a conversation between an older man and a Thai lady on speaker phone. She was talking about hım sending her money and saying how much she loved him. he kept asking her when she was going to make the effort to visit him. The poor guy looked tired and defeated. He walked away and then came back and sat with us.
He was Australian and was having problems getting his money, the banks are closed as its Sunday and he can’t complete his transaction – all very odd. Felt quite sorry for him really, I think he really appreciated us listening to him and had some general chit chat about the general state of the world.
When we came back to our room John couldn’t open the door. He told the receptionist, a different one than earlier. She had given us the key for room 1. We explained our bags are in 2 and we were definitely told that was our room..
She was really annoyed. We offered to move our bags into room 1. She dismissed us and stomped back into her reception booth! So not much has changed at Chaba Chalet since our last visit.
Anyway, after researching our next destination, Surat Thani, we realised the train station is many miles from the area we want to specifically see and that area we want to see doesn’t need 3 days. So now we’ve booked a hire car for Tuesday.
Plans eventually sorted, we went to the night market for a wander and then had shrimp Pad Thai, with the biggest prawns we’ve ever seen.
A few other shots from today. If anyone knows what these veggies are please say. We think the first 2 are baby aubergines and baby corn, have no idea about the 3rd one.
Just love the feel and sensory overload of the market.
We spent the rest of the evening searching for Surat Thani accommodation and planning what to do there. All very exciting and the plans are coming together nicely.
