Beachy Keen

Apologies for the delay for the second part of the "Before and After" series, but my room is incomplete and therefore I cannot do the "After" entry justice yet.



Instead, today's installment will focus on the long weekend just spent in Hua Hin, a beach town about 2 hours outside Bangkok. We took school vans down, they seat 10 people plus the driver and are pretty nice. They have aircon and televisions and curtains and seem to be a more comfortable way to travel than all piling into the back of a pickup like the Thais do! We saw a few trucks that must have had over 30 people sitting in them, hanging out the back and sides!!!

We stayed at the Subhamitra Hotel. My room was nice and had a fan. Unfortunately I didn't realize until the LAST day that the highest setting on the fan is not 4 but actually 1, so I was a little toasty but still okay. The room was 482 baht/night, which is about $15/night. Apparently other beach resorts are much less expensive- private townhouses right on the beach for about $6/night. I am still amazed by the cost of living difference here!

The beach was about a ten minute walk, which was mostly nice except for the treacherous crossing of the major road running through the town.



...but it was worth it when I got there!



There was a little restaurant/bar/concert stage right behind where we rented chairs. The staff come around and ask if you want drinks...I got a pina colada, which I hoped would come served in a coconut or a pineapple (alas, it didn't).





This lovely lady was giving massages and manicures and, as seen above, pedicures. 100 baht for a pedicure right on the beach!!! That's about $3. Unreal.








The beach is powder-fine sand with hardly any rocks, except these big ones.
There are little holes all over and there's a little tiny crab in every one; they all run down their holes when you walk by.



Just beautiful.
I'm told this is just the beginning....

Until next time,
Heather