Pattawia Resort & Spa Hua - Hin Prachuap Khiri Khan

... I have no other choices.

The flight was on time (this is the only leg we had to purchase as the rest of the ticket was frequent flier award) and we arrived in Bangkok with our driver holding a sign with my name on it waiting to transfer us from Bangkok airport to the Hyatt in Hua Hin.

Hua Hin is where the Thai King live most of the ...

... boxing in Thailand ( I saw an exhibition match at a Thai food festival in Battersea Park). The Bangkok venue is the size of Wembley arena and takes at least an hour to return from - a bit like seeing a west end show while living in Stoketonia. Hua Hin stadium was much more intimate. We shared a table with 3 guys from Calgary ...

... a retreat to the hotel and cancellation of all plans, we got a cab (initially in the opposite direct) then a bus 3 hours down the coast to Hua Hin, where the King has a holiday palace. It's very jolly, lovely beach. My 25p Lying Planet that I bought from Andover library remarks (in 2001) that girlie bars were starting to appear. The whole street are hotel is in is wall to wall girlie bars now.

Hua Hin is a mainland resort town 3 hours South of Bangkok. Unfortunatley, for the budget concious traveller, it is also a Royal Family holiday hotspot, so prices tend to be higher here than most other places in Thailand.

The reason for my 2 night stopover here in Hua Hin was quite simply the beach. And the Law of the Sod reared it's ugly head as soon as I arrived and failed to burrow itself again for the folliwng 2 days. It rained, constantly ...

The journey from Kanchanaburi to Hua Hin should have been a simple one. Catch a bus to Ratchaburi I was told, ten change for the bus to Hua Hin. The bus to Ratchaburi took 2 hours, on the outskirts of the City the lady conductor asked me as to where I was heading
"To Hua Hin" I replied, she then carried on walking down the bus to find another passenger on the same route to provide me assistance. Obviously being 2 months into this trip I thought I ...

... to know there is such a secluded and beautiful place only a few hours outside of Bangkok, and it is super reasonable as far as expenses go. We definitely plan to go back to see the other cave and the viewpoint we didn't get to this time. Only 3 more full weeks of school until parent conferences and a long weekend...woo hoo! (But it should be a fun few weeks before spring break...I've got a lot of things up my sleeves for the kids) :-D

... Nous nous regalons chaque jour de sea food (crevettes, crabes, poissons, etc...). Nous avons goute a la specialite locale : le poisson coupe et seche au soleil, puis grille avec une salade de mangues... Mmmmmmh un veritable delice... Nous avons grimpe une colline pour visiter un petit temple et nous avons eu droit au comite d'accueil local.. Une horde de singes nous attendaient... Nous avons malheureusement ete ...

... me. The temples range from 1,000 to 500 years old and are in various conditions. I thought the old Hindu temple was the coolest built from rock. All of the other temples are Buddhist and that one has been converted to that now. There are so many in town that they just blend in with all of the other buildings. Sometimes you are halfway past one before you realize it. I needed and got a good night sleep despite having a window without glass right on a ...

... find iron bars? do they hide them under their safron robes? in cambodia, monks apparently stay up late gambling and drinking rice wine. often they throw a live toad into the wine to give it an extra punch. there was one case where a taxi driver was budgeoned to death with an iron bar for trying to leave the game prematurely with his winnings. in another case, a drunken monk streaked through the town at 3am. he was arrested by the police. it was reported that he would be disrobed.

... I could speak better Thai than I was letting on! Got to stay in one of the newly built luxury resort style bungalows this time (a bit different from last time) cos I was a "guest". I had expected to be sleeping in a tent! But hardly slept at all anyway as I had to get used to the constant jungle noise anyway. sun 24th april Got up at 6am, something I can always do surprisingly easily here but never at home. Strange. Baking hot even at that time, but at least not as ...