Sunday, January 27, 2008

Hua Hin Train Station / Pier

The Hua Hin railway station is one of oldest railway station in Thailand. Its most striking feature is the unique Royal Waiting Room in Thai architectural style. The Royal Waiting Room was built in the reign of King Rama VI in order to welcome the King and his entourage. The outstanding feature of the station is the pavilion constructed in the reign of King Rama VI; it was originally named as "Plub Pla Sanamchan", and it was initially situated at Sanamchan Palace in Nakorn Pathom Province.

The Royal Waiting Room, the original building built in the same architectural style as Maruekkhathayawan Palace, stands adjacent to the station,and is a favourite spot for taking pictures for both Thai and foreign tourists. (info from Hua Hin Tourist Site)









The royal waiting rooms



Why did the nun cross the road?



To get to the Hua Hin Train Station!



While we were cruising around on the scooter we decided to check out the pier. There are many fishermen lounging on the decks of their boats while docked, one of them yelled to Krista "I love you!"

We also came across this navy ship with automatic weapons on it.





No uniforms... they don't really look like they belong on a ship with an automatic weapon.



Elegance Boutique & Thai Silk - Hua Hin, Thailand

While in Hua Hin, we decided to take advantage of the cheap prices of tailor made suits and dresses. Eva, whom we met at our hotel, has known Dave at Elegance for over 10yrs and recommended him. We started off with pants, jacket, 2 shirts and a dress and managed to finish the week off with: 1 pin striped cashmere suit, 7 dress shirts, 1 sport coat, 1 dress, 1 skirt and 1 dress shirt for Krista. We can't quite remember, but we think it was about 20,000baht (~$600) for everything.

During the first fitting, we picked out our material, style and were measured. The second fitting we were measured again for sleeves / shoulder pads.

Second fitting



Second fitting for the sport coat



Final fitting for the suit and skirt



Dave and Krista



Dave, Krista, Jon, Eva and Corbert

These pictures were taken back in Korea, the lighting was terrible so the colours are off, the pink is a nice pink shirt, not light pink. The pics do not do justice..

The shirt on the right is actually a pastel green

Pin striped suit with red inner lining

Sport coat / blazer



Scooter Rental & Hua Hin Market

It would normally cost 100 baht ($3) to get a tuk tuk ride from our hotel to downtown. As you can see, this would add up fairly quickly so we decided to rent our own scooter for the week instead, this way we were able to go when we wanted and stop anywhere along the way.
The first bike we rented was a manual, I didn't like it that much, it was a pain to drive in the crazy rush hour traffic on the 'wrong' side of the road. However, we had it for one day and managed.

The next day we traded it for an automatic, it was sooo much more fun to drive! I started weaving in out and of traffic with everyone else.. why wait for the big cars to slowing make their way ahead when you can drive between cars! I can already tell I'm going to be more of an agressive driver when I go back to North America ;)

Anyway, we paid about 900 baht for the week rental and then a little more for as - it was a great investment.

We both road with helmets and sat properly on the scooter, but you would see many people in Thailand without helmets and riding side sadle as well. You could also see 3+ people on one scooter, not to mention people riding with infants on their laps without helmets either!


The manual, in red!



The automatic, in blue! Let the fun begin!



Hua Hin Market











Video of a drive on the scooter




Video in the market - a Thai grilling up fresh seafood!



Wat Khao Klailat - Temple in Hua Hin, Thailand

While in Hua Hin, we had a chance to cruise around on the scooter we rented and see the area. One afternoon, on our way to the beach we came across this temple - Wat Khao Klailat. There were a lot of monks walking on the grounds doing some odd jobs such as sweeping, raking rocks around trees and tending to the gardens.

Not much to say, but the temple designs were quite nice!









A fancy window shutter.





Treasure!



The temples has a few large paintings such as this one inside.



This was a railing leading up to another temple (which was closed off at the time).





King crab!



Turtles!



Saturday, January 12, 2008

Days at the Beach - Hua Hin

After going to "Monkey Mountain" we went on to the otherside of the mountain to a nice quiet beach area to enjoy water and bake in the sun.

Here is jon and Eva walking towards the beach.





A little drink shop, not quite open yet.. I guess it was too early, although that didn't stop us from drinking the beer we brought!



Do you like the "prise" list, "thang you"


Up the hill were a few little shops selling tourists goods, a small temple, massage shop and a buddha standing 19m tall.



At this beach you could rent sunbeds all day for 50baht ($1.60).

















The pictures below were taken at a beach on the south side of the mountain, this beach was a lot busier but it was nice to people watch (until the 50+ yr old woman with dyed red hair like she fell into a jug of red kool-aid was sunbathing without a top on but wearing what looked like to us, her husbands speedo).






Here is a Thai woman carrying corn, a steamer and a stool to sit on. She was selling steamed corn to tourists along the beach. Passing her by, was another Thai who was selling clothing along the beach as well.



Beautiful isn't it? This depicts our time spent in Hua Hin - sand, water, sun, shade and Chang beer. You could a can of chang for 25baht at most local places off the beach, at 7-11 you could buy two for 44baht! On the beach a bottle went for about 40-50baht each, we usually brought about two cans each and then purchased one more from the local vendor.