Trip to Thailand, January 2013
After this we went back into downtown Hua Hin and parked outside to go into a trendy mini-mall/shopping area which was retro 1950s themed. Marcus was hot and tired and I could see a meltdown was imminent. He tripped on a piece of broken sidewalk and collapsed in wails, but he managed to pull himself together and we got inside the shopping area. Thankfully the first stall I saw was a chocolate-covered, sprinkle-topped frozen banana stand. He perked up.
Then we had some pad thai and fried fish balls on a stick and bought some taffy and nori-flavored Lays potato chips. I don’t even like Lays, but wow, those are amazing potato chips. The taffy was almost too sticky to eat, but Marcus really liked it, and in its unwrapping and slow chewing it provided a nice long diversion. I also bought a loaf of sweet white bread stuffed with shredded pork to save for later. Fortified, we walked around, looked at the Fish Spa (tiny fish eat the dead skin off your feet), and window-shopped.
Hua Hin mall--strolling and eating frozen bananas.
Hua Hin mall--robots and fish cakes.
Fun sights at the Hua Hin mall--fish spa and retro 50s-style diner with Christmas-themed burgers.
Back in the car, almost instantly I had two sleeping kids on my lap, and we drove straight to Bangkok. George and Pat dropped us at our hotel, the Anantara Resort on the river, at 3:00, and we hugged our goodbyes and they drove off to return the van, head home, and collapse while we checked into our room and headed to the pool.
Saying goodbye to George and Pat.
Hotel room, getting ready to go to the pool.
Hotel grounds and pool.
This was a beautiful hotel. We were supposed to stay here on our last two nights in Bangkok, after coming back from Chiang Mai, which obviously didn’t happen, so I moved the reservation up to now, our last two nights here anyway, and it all managed to work out. There was a gorgeous room, grounds, lobby, and fabulous pool.
At the pool Marcus found some German brothers and a little English girl to play with, plus a couple of Swedish-Australian cousins. There were lots of families, nearly all European or Australian, and Marcus played very happily until 5:30, when we went back to our room, changed quickly, and came down again to watch the Thai drums, dances, and torch-lighting at 6:00 and then hopped on the 6:15 shuttle boat, right from the hotel dock, to the Taksin BTS station across the water.
On the hotel pier.
Thai drumming, dancing, and torch-lighting at the hotel.
On the hotel ferry and looking back at the hotel.
This was a large transportation hub, but I wasn’t planning on going anywhere else at the moment, as Marcus was really tired, and we just enjoyed the boat ride over on the river—it was so pretty, with all the lights and other boats, and when we got to Taksin it was crowded and bustling and a great taste of the city after the refuge of our hotel.
I tried to remember the twists and turns I took to get out of the station and bought some pork sticks and sticky rice packets (black and white both) at the first vendor I saw. We walked and walked until I saw a line of tuk-tuks, and Marcus pointed out his favorite one, based on the colors and lights, and we waited until that one was in the front and then asked him to drive us around for about 15 minutes and then come back to this spot. He asked for 100 baht, which was a hugely inflated price, of course—he should have used the meter, starting at 35 baht and rising very slowly—but I didn’t care.
Marcus loved the ride—the crowds, the noise, the lights (it was quite dark by now), the swerves. . . he’d been on a tuk-tuk in India but didn’t remember the experience, so it was nice to give this to him now. Samantha was snug in the sling and just along for the ride. The driver dropped us off right where he’d picked us up and I walked around a bit more, poking into a very long food court and some clothing markets, and then going back to the station, carefully managing to retrace my steps, where we hopped on the hotel ferry back.
Up in our room, we ate the pork and rice and an apple and some taffy and the pork-filled bread, and then it was bed for all of us by 9:00 p.m.
Tuk-tuk ride in Bangkok at night.
Another tuk-tuk. Ours was prettier and had more lights, which was why we chose it.
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Created: 1/15/13. Last Modified: 1/15/13.