We wake up to our very last morning in Bangkok, and head down to the beautiful breakfast buffet for one last meal (I will miss this buffet!). Our ride is picking us up at 10am, so we have some time both before and after eating to pack the last toothbrushes and check under the beds.
Our driver pulls up, and we have the most luxurious bus driving us to Hua Hin this morning! The ceiling is gold, the curtains are gold, there are decorations behind a window on the bench between us and the driver. We are mightily impressed! This sure beats trying to lug all our bags to the train station, onto the train, and then finding our accommodations once we get there. This door to door service cost us less than our airport ride in Osaka, and with twice the seats!
The drive took us through the city of Bangkok, and once again we got to see parts yet unseen. Like this gold decorated bridge!
We end up arriving into Hua Hin just about 1pm, pretty much on the dot 3 hours after departing the Moevenpick. We drop our bags in the condo and head out for some lunch. There’s a restaurant directly across the street from where we are staying, and we head there. The owner is European, the staff is Thai, and their food is delicious.
Maylin, who’s just really getting back to eating after being sick all day yesterday, orders a breakfast platter from the kids menu. Téa orders pasta, and the owner comes back to ask “do you want cashews”? And “do you want garlic”? Both answers are a no from Téa, so her pesto is absolutely perfectly to her liking. Then my lunch hits the table, and I’m lost to the world. So lost in fact, that when Joe’s amazing chicken curry arrives, I’m too busy eating to even take a single picture of his. (I did take several spoonfuls of his curry sauce though, it was magic in a bowl!) My prawns are cooked in green chili peppers and lots of Thai basil, and I am a very happy girl.
After lunch, we stop at the convenience store next door for some basic supplies. Lots of water for drinking and cooking, some paper and cleaning products, plus some stuff for the fridge. We’ll need a real grocery store and a bigger shopping trip soon, but for today, this will do.
Back in the condo, we continue unpacking, and we do our first load of laundry since our daily laundry loads in Osaka. We can hold off on washing the long and warm stuff though, and focus on shorts and t-shirts for now. The girls settle in in their room, with ensuite bathroom, and we settle into our room, with ensuite bathroom. This small condo has everything we need, and we are so happy to have both beds and couches off the floor! (That’s not to say the beds are soft, as they really are not. It’s almost like sleeping on the floor, but higher up?)
If you are offended by a messy condo, please stop scrolling right now, and read more tomorrow instead…
I’ve promised the girls we’ll go swimming every day in Thailand, and even though our original Bangkok hotel didn’t have a pool, the Moevenpick made it possible from day one! Now that we’re here, I’d better keep my promise! Our resort has 9 (!) pools, and we soon learn that the pools on the north side are warmer (more direct sun?) than the ones on the south side. At the end of the 8 pools, we find the kids’ play area, and we have officially arrived. You know, I think we’ll do just fine here in Thailand, even without a White Christmas!
We reluctantly leave the pool at 6pm (because the pools close at 6pm – WHAT??), and head upstairs to shower. We discover that the girls’ bathroom tile is loose and collecting water underneath. We email the AirBnb host, who says that was fixed once already, and a technician will take a look in the morning.
After showers, we go out to hunt for some dinner. Two minutes down the road, we find Dough Land, with great reviews online, and we order our food. While we wait (he said 15 minutes, but his internal watch must be slow, because it takes a full 30 minutes), Joe and Téa walk a little further down the street to see if they can find Bowling Mango for some dessert. That one happens to be closed, but the fruit lady across from Dough Land has papaya, so that’ll have to do for now.
We bring our food home, and the girls share a cheeseburger with fries, and the three of us share an order of their nachos. Joe ordered a chicken kebab, and enjoyed that. The burger was meh and the nachos were not nachos, so if we go back, we may try the pizza, which looked and smelled amazing while we waited for our food. As always, the papaya was glorious. If you truly are what you eat, I am turning into a papaya, and I’m here for it!
I’m with you about the papaya. I still remember my first morning and first papaya in Colombia. Having it so close to source is such a treat.
Aaaaaah and our fruit lady down the street only charges 35THB per portion – I haven’t even had chocolate (!!!) in days!