It’s our last day in Hua Hin, and we’re really feeling it. We’ve so loved our stay here, with all the ups, downs, good and bad. Today is mostly packing, reorganizing, making sure that our next steps (transport to Bangkok, accommodation in Bangkok, transport to airport, flight to Vietnam, visas, transport to the hotel and accommodation in Ho Chi Minh City) are all set.
The girls play and the adults stuff suitcases and backpacks and duffels until they burst. Only thing missing now is the laundry that is still drying, and the swimsuits and towels that we’ll use once more and then hang until they have to go in the suitcase tomorrow morning…
Téa and I head out to grab some last minute small ingredients for lunch, as Joe is trying to use up the rest of the noodles in the cupboard before we leave. Téa has a favourite spot at the end of our corridor, where she looks out on our Hua Hin view every morning before heading for the elevators.
Tops Daily is our closest convenience/grocery store, with the sweet manager who seems to work 24/7, and the street dog either sleeping on the steps or being petted/fed by the taxi drivers who patiently wait and ask every foreigner if they need a “taxi taxi!”. Radish was our first restaurant in Hua Hin, right after we arrived, dumped our bags in our condo, and headed across the street. We never did go back, even though the owner (who claimed to be German, but with a strong Slavic accent) was very friendly.
Our initial plan was to go swimming super early so we could wash swimsuits and towels and have them dry before we had to pack them. However, for the first time since we’ve been here, the temperature dropped to 20 overnight, and we don’t feel like swimming just yet. So we first have some pan fried noodles to use up the rest of our fridge and freezer foods, and THEN we go swimming in the afternoon.
The girls and I go down to the pools, and Joe stays upstairs to work. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, is out swimming today, it seems. There are even some people swimming in the south side pools (they are in the shade and FREEZING cold)! Téa has decided to just jump right in without sticking a toe in first today, and because all the north side pools (the ones that are always in the sun and warmer) are so packed with people, she picks the largest of the cold pools to jump right into. I’m standing at the top step of the stairs, and it is COLD. I’m quietly wondering if this will qualify as a polar bear swim? January 1st, freezing cold waters? Surely!
Téa survives her jump into the cold pool, but swims to meet me at the stairs and gets out pretty fast. The packed pool directly across the walkway feels like a hot tub in comparison, and so we find a space in there to play and have fun. I swim and play for a bit, then leave the girls to it while I try to blog from my phone on the side of the pool. It’s their last day swimming in these pools, and so I figure I’ll give them as much time as they want. I usually cap it at an hour in the pool, and today they last a full two hours.
After swimming, it’s showers and laundry and checking if this morning’s laundry is somewhat dry and packable, so we can hang the new load. Thank goodness we also have a wooden rack on the balcony, and a couple of plastic chairs to drape towels across! We hang everything, and call it done for the moment. After all, there’s a last visit to Tamarind waiting for us at 5pm!
We walk over to the night market right after they open, and go for some old favourites, and alllll the desserts:
After dinner, I suggested one last stroll through the Cicada market as well, and was met with a collective groan by my family members… But it’s our last night, if we wanted to take one last look (and see if the music box vendor got our favourites back in stock, as we didn’t buy them when we could have), then tonight is our last chance. Joe and Maylin finally discovered “artist row” at the back, with all the amazing paintings, and Joe suddenly realized there’s a jazz stage there as well. Oh well, now he knows!
Joe and Téa stopped by the mango sticky rice lady for one last order, while Maylin and I walked on to Tops Daily. I was hoping to find a single bag of microwave popcorn, but only found the sleeping Tops dog.
One of the last things I grabbed from Tamarind was this container of what they call “crispy butter”. It’s a paper thin cookie, similar to the addictive coconut crepes from above, but just crunchy. Delicious, but kind of missing … something? I’m sure the locals I see walking around with multiple containers of these have a secret, and that this is just part of their dessert.
We check the laundry one more time, and decide to leave it all hanging overnight. Our ride will be here at 10am tomorrow, so we still have a little bit of time to cram toiletries and worn PJs into the crooks and crevices left over in our suitcases then… And so ends our very last night in Hua Hin!
You managed to fit quite a bit into your last day.
We tried! 😁