It’s Friday, and languages are on the schedule. Téa starts with French on the balcony with Joe, while Maylin and I work on Norwegian at the table inside. Once Maylin’s Norwegian is done, the girls switch. There’s also Duolingo to be done on the phones, which is the most fun task of all on language day. It feels like a game, after all!
Joe had found a local market we wanted to check out, so after school work we got into a Grab taxi which took us into Hua Hin proper. I realize that all we’ve seen so far is the strip of road with hotels on both sides, and restaurants full of tourists. There’s a “real” Hua Hin as well!
The market is a proper fish, meat, lunch dishes, fruits and vegetables market. It’s busier in the morning, and by the time we arrive at 1pm, most vendors are either packed up or eating their own lunches. We walk through without really stopping anywhere, then circle the block to end up back where we started at a tiny local café. Their menu is very simple, and we all find something we’d like for lunch.
After we finished lunch and a lovely chat with the owner of the café (and bought some of her baked goods, pineapple jam cookies and miniature baked cakes), we took another stroll through the market, thinking we were just hungry last time around. It was still a quick stroll, as there was even less activity now, with it only getting later in the day. I think this market is best explored in the morning!
With little to see and less to do, we decided to walk over towards the pier and the beach area, as we have not been this far north along the strip either. Crossing the streets in Thailand are always interesting, and sometimes an extreme sport, even in cities. Down throughout the tourist areas, there are more pedestrian crossing signals. Here, there are none.
Walking through the new-to-us streets, we find lots of European restaurants! There’s a Norwegian/Scandinavian restaurant in this area as well, but we did not pass it today.
We walked towards the pier, which also has a market, but it was not open when we were there, and it was also really hard to find the entry point! Lots of fences and no signage meant we had to skip this.
Then Maylin pipes up: “I think I need to go home”. Unspecified stomach ache. We contemplate splitting up and me taking her home while the others keep exploring, but we all end up taking a Grab taxi home. It just so happens that we have ended up waiting for it to arrive outside this beautiful house shrine:
Once safely at home in the nice cool air conditioning (with the all important clean and reliable washroom readily available), Téa and I leave Maylin and Joe to hang out, while we hop on a tuktuk bus to Market Village.
Téa and I arrive at Market Village and browse for a bit. We’re not really shopping for anything in particular, except for one product Joe learned of from the café owner this morning. Once that’s done, we decide we need a snack, and we head back to Swensen’s. Can’t go wrong with an ice cream café!
After our calm afternoon of snack fortification, we make one last stop at the grocery store before heading home. We did not purchase this:
At one point we contemplate meeting Joe and Maylin at Tamarind for dinner, but then we also have groceries in our shopping bag, so we decide to go home first, then walk over to the market together. (Also, we’re a teeny bit sad that we didn’t get to go swimming today, our second day in Thailand with no swimming!)
Tamarind market is bustling! We’re early, as usual, and easily find our usual table, but it’s busier and seems to be more families arriving for the holidays.
After dinner, I needed to go pick up my sandals over at the Cicada market. On our way out of Tamarind, we stop at a dress vendor Téa has been wanting to visit. She ends up getting a new dress for her birthday! On our way to the sandal vendor’s corner at Cicada, I spy a t-shirt just perfect for Maylin, and she agrees. New t-shirt for Maylin! And finally, we arrive at the sandal vendor. I placed my order last weekend, but he hasn’t notified us that they’re ready for pickup, I’m just hoping they’re ready for me. The vendor is just starting to set up, with it being 6.30pm, and the market opened at 4pm. But he has my sandals, and I walk away happy! All the girls got something new they wanted today, and Joe’s just happy we’re happy. I think?
Our walk back takes us through Tamarind (it’s easier to navigate a packed food market than walk on the streets with scooters, pedestrians and cars all competing for space). By now, every table is packed, and there are lines at practically all vendor booths.
At home, someone’s waiting for us inside the apartment:
Joe wants the gecko out. He tasks me (I’m not afraid!) with capturing the gecko and releasing it outside, but as soon as I come at it with the container, he runs off, straight down the wall. We assume that, if he hasn’t already escaped the same way he entered, he’s still back there, somewhere behind the refrigerator…
I suppose geckos have a difference name in Thailand but they’re just as beneficial to have around.
These are the ones we’re seeing here, I think: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_house_gecko