Fonkluen Hut Hua Hin

... 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 ...

As is only to be expected travelling with Jon and his bl**dy computer, which is too precious to leave unattended in Blighty, the aforementioned laptop fell from his bag onto the road as we were trying to negotiate a taxi to the bus station to come to Hua Hin. Thankfully the laptop survived (unlike the one which suffered a similar fate in a carpark in Coin. Spain - it's monitor died).
So ...

... were running around, distracting Pierre heavily from his Tetris game, which he plays religiously every day in an effort to beat my record of 958 lines.

Today's weather: overcast with sunny periods, high of 34C, humidex of 38C. Pierre, of course, is whining to no end about the heat and is dreaming to get back to the biting cold of Montreal: Home Sweet as honey Home... where it's so cold the cockroaches are frostbitten by now.

... some poor Thai chap anyway as all the seafood and chillies went straight through us. We went out for a look around, lots of bars, some seedy looking, loads of German and Italian restaurants, no Thai people except staff though. There were loads of old expat men with their (mostly young) Thai wives or girlfriends. We ate at a lovely Thai streetside restaurant rather than the rows of tourist places, had ...

... on the piers. Hua Hin beach not quite up to the standard of the island beaches so didn't spend much time there. Row upon row of sunbaked obese Europeans on loungers resembling a pod of beached whales. One rather unattractive woman several decades beyond her prime proceeded to try on a series of bikini tops in front of where we were standing. J still having nightmares. May never set foot on a beach again.

... stop at the cheapest looking western style eaterie we could find. Nice food followed followed by a not very nice bill. We only noticed as we walked out the restaurant that the place was attached to the Hilton Hotel! Ouch! & to think we had been talking about how to save money over dinner! Stopped a total of 2 nights & we are glad it wasn't more. The place could be anywhere as there is nothing authentic Thai about it at all. English pubs & the place is ...

... play with. mission accomplished. suicides averted. oh, the problem? a case where anova says one of the means is different but pairwise comparisons are unable to find the different one. it turned out to be a peculiar violation of the homogeneity of variance assumption. by then i was hungry. i wondered if it was noon yet and whether it would be proper for me to have a beer. if i have one too early pencil will call me an "alcoholism". she means alcoholic of course but it's so cute ...

... the family. Train was a tad slow and I arrived a little later than expected, a quick phone call, a short taxi ride and I met up with Paul at the agreed spot. Met the rest of the family, Pascale and their charming son Ziggy who at only few years old was already multilingual!! Enjoyable evening, splendid meal, good company. I felt very welcome - also it was the first time since I left that I was in a home - it was such a nice break from the routine....' Tuesday 5th Sept 'o6 ...

... similar to when I nodded off. We hadn't moved. If this was England there would have been uproar but I was experiencing the south east Asian patience, no-one else seemed remotely concerned. Partly to check I was on the correct train I went to find a guard who said we would be leaving in half an hour. Aha. At 5 nothing happened and I grabbed the guard as she passed for a new ETD. It should now be 6 o'clock. Under normal circumstances a little annoying, but additionally I couldn't get ...