Blogs from Hua Hin, Western Thailand, Thailand, Asia - page 4

We took a minibus from Kanchanaburi to Hua Hin. Expecting it to be full of backpackers heading for the coast, we were surprised to find it was full of Thai families. We wonder if they paid a little less than we did as it was a bit on the pricey side at 400 Baht (£8) each. Some agencies wanted to charge us extra for our bags too! It wasn't a bad journey but the driver had no idea where to drop us off and we didn't know where we wanted to be dropped off! A recipe for disaster perhaps, but he stopped at a major intersection, pointed one way and said "Beach". That was enough information for us to sort ourselves out. Our initial impression was that we had arrived in Thailands version of Magaluf, a ... read more

Geo: 12.569, 99.9524 One thing I want to do while in Thailand is to ride on an elephant. (I rode on a camel in Cairo, Egypt, being able to look over to the Sphinx and great pyramids while doing it! What a story that was. We'll save that for another time, another adventure, but from memory, since it's long over.) Sunday, November 27 dawned hot and sunny. It was a bit hotter than previous days, but it is so nice not to have to think about piling on 5 or 6 layers of clothing, and then a bulky coat on top of that. Plus hat, scarf, double mittens, thick socks, boots. (I am from Maine.) But I digress. It was hot that day, and very sunny, so my walk into town felt warmer than usual. I ... read more

Geo: 12.569, 99.9524 While I was taking half of a TEFL course in Hua Hin, there were two weekend field trips that our little class took. The first weekend we were there nothing was planned, so three of us checked out Hua Hin's floating market, hoping it was similar to the famous floating market in Bangkok. This one was a disappointment. We 3 all rode out on one scooter; it appears everybody in Thailand rides scooters. I generally try to walk everywhere possible, but the floating market was too far away, and it was quite hot. Once we got there and parked the scooter, we looked for a way to enter; because we all look Western, we were directed to an opening that led to the boats. It cost 100Baht each (about $3 pp) to ride ... read more

Hello everyone! So... here is our last post about our experience at the Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand. If you’ve read the last post, you already know the elephant routine we have been doing: feeding and cleaning 3 times a day, watering the animals and a special project mid-morning. Special projects are also related to the animals’ needs. For example, one day we planted pineapple trees (which will hopefully give pineapples in a year’s time), another day bananas were needed and another day, which was THE HARDEST, there was Harvest. Harvest means loading a very big truck with banana trees. The Mahouts, Thai employees, come with us to cut the trees, in a farm about 20 minutes away from the foundation. They cut and we drag and load the trees onto the truck. The harvest I witnessed ... read more

We are not actually in Hua Hin, about 25km south of there but it won't let me find Pak Nam Pran on here for some reason - maybe because it's so secluded! We spent 3 lazy days in Cha Am, everyday challenging ourselves to spend as little as possible, being well chuffed when we managed to eat a good meal for less than a quid! There wasn't a right lot going on in Cha Am.. it has been referred to as 'Blackpool' so we were happy to move on a day or two earlier than planned.. We did rent bicycles and tried to find the local bus station, cycling with the local traffic, trying not to get knocked over, ringing the little bell every now and then.. mainly because it made us laugh! So Friday morning ... read more