Silapetch Hotel Hua Hin

... so I read in the guide book that security is really good in this city. The drive took 2.5 hours and I slept most of the way since I got up so early.

The Hyatt is located right on the beach but when we arrived around noon, it was high tide so the ocean came up almost to the pool area (or is it also global warming and the raising sea level?)

... under the red corner. All very jolly.

Loving Hua Hin - long, blonde beach (but not very wide at high tide), fantastic restaurants on piers/jetties over the sea, and an interesting view into the lives of the girlies (who work the girlie bars) from our balcon looking down into their private lives with their kids.

... 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.

... his Thai-tai because everyone, absolutely every single Thai person we meet tells me I look Thai. I don't think I look anything other than VNese but then again, what do I know.

After Pierre acquired his customary farmer's tan, we head back to Bangkok on the 4 pm train, which was filthy (it was 2nd class, there was no 1st class train to and from Hua Hin... makes you wonder what in Heaven's name 3rd class would be like ...

... long lines. He recommended another government-sponsored agency and then went so far as to flag our tuk tuk and get us the best rate in town for travel halfway across the city (20 Baht/ .50 USD)! People in this country are genuinely kind, even to tourists and it always impresses me how they seem to understand how important tourism is to their nation's economy and treat foreigners with respect and smiles no matter how culturally or otherwise ignorant they may be. Or ...

... but not for what seems like awhile. Upon the completion of Songkran I have four weeks remaining, one of which includes a weekend trip to Singapore. Ever since Non-Western World Studies with Mr. Lindeman my junior year I have had a sort of fantasy idea of getting to actually visit Singapore. He spent nine years in Singapore and had more than a few stories to share, he used to say, "if you ever get a chance, you gotta see Singapore." I figured it was a nice thought, but didn't see ...

Today we celebrated our 10 Year Anniversary - yes, you read that right - 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY! Wow, that sounds like such a long time, but really the years have flown by! We went out for a really nice supper to Sizzlers (similar to Tony Roma's back at home). I had a succulent salmon steak with baked potato and ...

... from Ghana, my opportunities to update you were infrequent enough that time and my middle-aged memory acted as filters. Now, I'll have to be more conscious of what I send. I hope that doing this as a blog will keep me from cluttering your inbox. I think I'm sending this to most of the people who got my Ghana updates, but feel free to share the link with anyone you think migh be interested. The highlights of my week so far have been meeting ...

did not have time to read the paper this morning because of my 8am tee time so i left the paper (unread) on the porch for toy to pick up and rushed off to the golf club. teed off with gary and prasark at 8am just ahead of a large group of farangs from hua him called the hua hin golf society. gary found his rhythm and he began to belt out quite a few 2-on situations. he was the winner today by far. afterwards we had lunch together at baan isaan restaurant on the highway across from the ...

... Traditional Thai massage is like nothing we'd ever experienced - invariably a tiny little woman with a grip of iron climbs all over you using knees, elbows and feet to push, pull and manipulate you in every which way possible, all the while smiling sweetly at your yelps of pain. It's fantastic though, very cheap and available on the street everywhere in Thailand.