Hua Hin

3-5 June
What better way to spend the weekend than relaxing in Hua Hin with Tash? I hopped in a van Friday after school and got to Hua Hin about 9:30 at night. Tash greeted me with some awesome street food- sticky rice and "sawdust shaved pork" wrapped in banana leaf. It was finger lickin good. (hint, hint, Bangkok street food vendors.)

Tash and I got up Saturday morning and headed to the beach. Tash rents a motorbike (Hua Hin is much quieter than Bangkok) so she took me for a ride.

We stopped at an outdoor massage booth overlooking the ocean. It was hands down the best massage I've had yet in Thailand! It only cost me 300 baht, which included a bottle of water and pineapple. Talk about a relaxing start to the day! We then headed to the beach; we had it almost exclusively to ourselves as it's rainy season in Thailand so there are very few tourists. Even though we weren't staying at the local resort, the staff was happy to let us lounge in their chairs and snuggle up with their comfy towels. The tide was low but the sun was hot so we took a dip in the ocean. Tash and I were able to walk out for what felt like miles and miles with the water still at our waistlines. A few hours later, the tide came in and the rain started. The beach was flooded so we couldn't get back to Tash's moto without wading through water above our knees- there was no sand to see anywhere.

Once the rain stopped Tash and I decided to head to PlearnWan, a small section of streets in Hua Hin that is supposedly fashioned after "old Thailand". The popular thing to do here is take pictures in front of the PlearnWan sign, so Tash and I lined up with the locals for our very own thai photo shoot. While in PlearnWan, I tried mochi ice cream, which is ice cream inside a frozen doughy, chewy, ball. I enjoyed the ice cream, but could've done without the outer covering. 

After exploring the ins and outs of the old thai streets, we decided to head to the newer side of Hua Hin to experience a thai stuffed fish dish that is apparently out of this world. Walking 20 minutes in the wrong direction made the idea of this fish dinner even more appetizing :)  The fish came with lettuce leaves and steamed rice, so even though the stuffing was a bit spicy, I was able to make fish tacos that were really delicious!

After filling up on fish we decided to check out the local bar scene. We didn't have to walk very far, because right in our path was a light up cyclist with a cart of hard liquor for sale-- pass the Sang Som please! We chose to stop for a photo instead of a drink and continued on our journey toward a sports bar with import beers.

After indulging in a few good beers, we decided to hit up the open air, blaring music backpacker bars that line the main drag of Hua Hin. We settled for a quieter one, and hit the jackpot when we encountered a young thai bride to be with her older, farang fiance. She used his credit card to buy not one, not two, but three rounds of free drinks for the bar. Cheers to getting hitched tomorrow, sweetie! Tash and I sipped on mojitos and margaritas while chatting with the bar staff (who were not forgotten when it came to the free drinks from the farang) Once closing time came, the staff invited Tash and I to accompany them to a local thai bar. Tash and I walked in to find we were the only farang there. People were actually staring at us! There was even a thai band playing who was actually singing in thai (this is incredibly uncommon; in most bars, the local bands sing songs in english) But the point we knew we were really, truly in a thai establishment wasn't when we didn't see any farang, or hear the thai music- it was when we entered the bathroom. There weren't any western toilets, only squatties! It was really fun to experience the thai nightlife scene, squatties and all!

The best thing about Hua Hin though is the transport. In Bangkok, motorbike taxis would never dream of transporting two people. In Hua Hin, Tash and I were able to get a ride home together from a wonderful moto driver!