Days 26 & 27: The Home Stretch

 

Juliet was impressed with the elephant towel-animals that awaited us in Bangkok

After 13.5 hours on the plane from Bangkok to Vancouver we're all a little tired

We woke up and had a couple hours to pack before we got picked up to head back to Bangkok. It's about a 3.5hr drive from Hua Hin to our hotel in Bangkok so we finished our packing and were downstairs and loaded up in the SUV by 10:45. At 2:30ish we reached the hotel--right near the airport in Bangkok--and checked in. We weren't really too sure how to use our last few hours in Thailand, however, as we had already strategically packed most things, didn't want a bunch of wet bathing suits, and the hotel wasn't walking distance to anything...so we basically just hunkered down and napped, watched some Mr Bean, ordered food through Grab, and DID go in the pool for a few hours.

We had a smaller bungalow at the hotel, like a tiny-house with a loft. It didn't have much for a kitchen but was really nice. We didn't really think about how the noise would travel between units, however, so when I woke up to the neighbours packing up at 4am I didn't get back to sleep as we were getting up at 5am to get to the airport for our 8:30am flight.

Everything went pretty smoothly: wake up, packing, catching the shuttle, security, finding breakfast, currency exchange, and getting to the plane. The kids did well, although I think everyone is at the end of their leash due to being tired, a bit hungry, and not having the stability of a "home base" like we've had in each place we've travelled on this trip. Lindsay is also craving veggies and a salad...something that wasn't easily found for the past month. I have a feeling we'll ALL be living her craving for the next few weeks...

We're presently sitting the Vancouver airport on a 6hr layover...and from the above picture it's pretty clear that we're wiped! It's Friday today and we all have work/school on Monday. I'm hoping that maybe by next weekend each of us can maybe take some time to gather our final thoughts here for the purpose of record-keeping and reflection, but that's a task we'll have undertake when we're more rested and emotionally available!

Day 25: Our Last Day in Hua Hin

It seems as though James like to do anything BUT sit in the songthaew!

 

We spent a few hours wandering the night market on our last night in Hua Hin

Hua Hin has been a great surprise. Greg and Rhea recommended it but we really didn't know what to expect. It is definitely more touristy than Mae Sot and even the part of Chiang Mai we were in (as evidenced by the prices of things and the attractions that exist) but it seems to be a lot more retiree expats here than young party-goers. The beach is beautiful, if you're in the right spot lots of things are within walking distance (and the songthaew is easy to access), and many of the resorts and hotels have both beachfront and a pool...we're glad we came!

Today was a bit of mixed bag of things. We spent some time in the morning cleaning up the condo a bit, starting to organize and get ready for the trip to Bangkok tomorrow, doing journals, and playing I Want Watermelon on our phones with the kids (it is an easy one and a favourite). For lunch we caught a songthaew down the strip to a place called Papahim Burger. It was another really good burger place and definitely worthy of the 4.9-star rating it has. After lunch we did much of the same as this morning, although we did head down to the ocean and the pool for a few hours as we knew it was our last time to enjoy Hua Hin.

We caught the songthaew to the end-of-the-line at the night market for dinner and wandering around. While there we also got an 11x17" caricature drawing done of our family...Lindsay has the idea of getting one down each time we go somewhere for a big trip with the family, but we'll see how that actually plays out :)

Our time here has gone quickly. It's amazing to think that we have been in Thailand for almost a month, but it doesn't really feel like it. We've learned a lot and have been stretched. It's been good.

Day 24: 4 People, 1 Water Park

Lindsay made the 3 of us go down this slide together...the kids were not impressed as it was a "slow baby slide" :)

 

We spent the day at the same water park that James and I went to yesterday

We hummed-and-hawed over what we were going to do today. We looked at options such as going to PAWS Rescue and the super expensive Vana Nava Water Jungle we contemplated yesterday, but we figured the best bang-for-our-buck would be to go back to Black Mountain Water Park.

We did our typical morning routine of iced lattes, breakfast in the condo, and prepping for the day before we called a grab at 11 and got on the road. We weren't too concerned about what time we got there as we knew it would be enough time there...what we WERE concerned about was how we were getting home. To prepare for this, last night we opted to try pre-booking a Grab to pick us up at the water park and bring us home. We haven't tried that before as we didn't really have a need for it, so we gave it a go. We had someone immediately respond and say they would pick us up at 5pm...now we just had to wait to find out!

We got to the park around 11:30 and as we had already put on sun screen we ready to go! The kids immediately took off and I stayed in the shade with Lindsay for the first bit. Lindsay didn't actually put sunscreen on her bum during the snorkeling trip so she was a bit red and didn't want to spend the day re-baking her backside.

The kids rejoined us about 30 minutes later and wanted us to join them. We started to hit-up the waterslides again and did that until about 1pm when we agreed that we could get lunch. Like yesterday, we opted for pizza as we've found that it's a reasonable price to feed 2 people:250-280 baht ($10-11 CAD per pizza). After lunch, once again, James decided he'd rather spend time in the pool playing, so that's what we did.

Thankfully, again like yesterday, there were some local boys there that James and I started to play with. They did not speak English, however, so although we couldn't talk to them, we were able to play games with minimal common verbal language. James ended up spending a few hours with them, which was great for him...buuuutttt left Juliet spending her time with us. We did some more waterslides, the spray park, and swam with her. Around 4pm the boys had to leave so James reunited with us and we used the last 30 minutes to slide again! We did as much as we could in the short time then got cleaned up and ready for our Grab...hopefully it would arrive!

To our joy it did! The fellow that picked us up was great with his English and we talked the whole way back to the condo. It was great to talk with him (Ampol) and learn about his family.

We ordered dinner and had it delivered. The kids had nachos and cheese quesadillas (basically naan with cheese) and Lindsay and I had khao soi and pork and holy basil. Khao soi has become one of my favourites...as long as it isn't too spicy! We took our food down to the beach and ate on the rock wall with our feet in the water. The sun was setting (albeit behind us over the other side of the country so we couldn't see it) but it was nice! ...at least until James got stung on his inner thigh by something and had a little meltdown...it's always something :)

We got back to the condo and cleaned up and watched a few more episodes of The Chosen before going to bed. Only 1 more day in Hua Hin before we leave for Bangkok on Thursday!

1 Day, 2 Stories

 James had fun meeting and playing with some local boys while at the water park

Lindsay and Juliet went for an all-day snorkeling trip to Koh Talu

Lindsay really wanted to go snorkelling...but Hua Hin is not the place to do it! A couple days ago we started looking into things and opted for each of to take 1 of the kids and go do something different. Lindsay took Juliet on an all-day trip to go snorkeling while I took James to a water park. Here are our stories...

James and I got to stay in bed until 8:30 as the water park didn't open until 11. We grabbed breakfast, dropped off a load of laundry, went to the ATM, and sorted out what we'd need for the day. We called a grab at 10am to come get us and take us on the 30 minute drive to Black Mountain Water Park. We had ordered our tickets online last night so when we arrived at 10:45 we were able to walk in, get lockers, load up our card for purchasing food, and get to the slides! At the time of opening there were only a dozen people there so we had the run of the place :)

We quickly hit all the water slides (there are only 9) and checked out the wave pool, lazy river, and scoped out the rest of the grounds. The park is well-kept, but was not busy all day. There is another, newer, waterpark closer to Hua Hin (Vana Nava Water Jungle) but as it was almost 3x the price we didn't want to spend the money. Around 12:30 we grabbed a pizza lunch, and then were back out in the water for the rest of the afternoon.

James seems to enjoy "playing" more than "sliding"...as such, I found myself in the pools tossing around volleyballs, swimming, and floating on mats more than sliding. That worked OK, especially when we met some local boys who spoke some English and James could play with them. He probably spent the last 2 hours of the day playing water polo and "wrestling" with them on the metal climber shown in the video above. I talked with one of their teachers for a while, and just before 5pm we started to pack up.

I hadn't sorted out how we were going to get back to town before we came...that was a mistake. Black Mountain is so far out-of-the-way that we couldn't book a Grab to come get us and there aren't any taxi companies I could find. We asked the front desk if they could help...which one lady did...but it cost us 3x the price as we paid to get there and should be paid, but they had us so we did what we had to do.

We got back to the condo at 5:30, cleaned up, and got ready to meet Lindsay and Juliet at 6:30.

...now the 2nd story (written by Lindsay)...

Juliet and I got up early, 6:00 am, to take a van to Bangsaphan Noi. It was a two hour drive. We slept most of the way. Once we got there we hopped on to a large speed boat that took us out to a large barge-style boat. We originally thought we would go to Koa Talu first so we hadn't changed into our swimsuits or put on sunscreen. Once we got on the barge, our first obstacle was to figure out how we were going to change. There was no bathroom. Jules and I did the best we could to hold up towels around each other so we could change. We felt like we were in a bit of a rush as other people were already snorkeling. Nothing was very clear: three were no instructions or introductions and it was not exactly how we would do things in Canada. After Jules and I changed we put on some sunscreeen and hopped in the water with our life jackets and snorkels. The water was unfortunately not very clear as there was lots of algae or bits of seaweed. As we swam we felt little stings on our skin. Jules thought she'd accidently touched a sea urchin but we found out there were little tiny jellyfish mixed in with all the algae. The stings weren't too bad for me but they really bothered Juliet. She wanted to get out. As with most bites, Juliet's body seems to react more than others. She had quiet a few large red marks:(. I thought our day was hooped. It would've been nice if the "instructors" had given us a heads-up. The Thai's all wear head-to-toe swimsuits so they probably didn't get stung as much. Fortunately, Juliet recovered and still wanted to try again. This time we put her on a floaty and only her face went in the water. This worked well enough that we got to see some fish and coral. Definitely not the best snorkeling experience but memories were made. 

Then we were dropped off at Koa Talu. Again no instructions were given as to what was next. We walked up the beach found some bathrooms, changed and then walked on to the to resort. Lunch was ready so we ate. It was a mix of Thai food and lots of fruit for dessert. After we ate we weren't sure where to go or what to do. The tour that we booked described an afternoon of kayaking, swimming and seeing some sea turtles. The island was beautiful so we went for a walk and asked someone where we could find the sea turtles. They pointed to a building down the beach so off we went. When we got there we saw pools filled water and sea turtles of varying sizes in each pool. We looked around and again there was no one there. We weren't sure if we could touch them. Later in the day we found someone who spoke some English and we asked if we could touch the sea turtles. They said we could and that we could even pick them up, so we went back to see the turtles again and we got to pick them up. The resort is supposed to be part of a sea turtle protection project. They help protect the baby sea turtles until they are bigger and then release them into the ocean. Juliet loved holding the baby sea turtles so that was a hit! They were hawksbill sea turtles. 

I was extremely hot, above 40 degrees, so kayaking did not seem like a good idea. We sat in the shade and read and waited until 3:00 pm when the boat was to return. 

We boarded the boat and then took the 2 hour van ride back to Hua Hin. The transportation was all very smooth, so that was nice. 

...now we're back together...

Once Juliet and Lindsay got back to us we hopped in a grab and went out for some Indian food. It was really good! It was also the most expensive meal we bought at 1220 Baht ($47 CAD). We came back to the condo and watch some of The Chosen. We started watching it over the trip and we have all really enjoyed it. It has been SOOOO good to watch the stories of people meeting Jesus and following Him during the start of the Church while we have been walking alongside and bearing witness to the Gospel being shared here in Thailand with people who also are meeting Jesus and following Him...it's been powerful!

Day 22: Why does the plural of "Quest" sound awkward?

 

James and Juliet enjoyed riding on the back platform of the songthaew...Lindsay did not enjoy them riding on the back of the songthaew

Juliet and I climbed to the top of Monkey Mountain in Hua Hin

We had a few things we wanted to do today...I just wish the plural of "quest" flowed nicer off the tongue...

It was another sleep in morning. Once we were up and moving we started by picking up iced coffees across the street and grabbing a songthaew to the far south end of Hua Hin so we could walk up Monkey Mountain. It is only 1.5kms from our place, but it's also only a 5 minute ride :)

We heard about Monkey Mountain from Greg and Rhea (who I work with at CNC and have known for 30+ years). Rhea's advice was, "Any time you find a mountain with the word 'monkey' in it, climb it!" When you get to the base of the mountain it is a quick 1-2 minute climb past some little restaurants to a "base" at the bottom of a steep flight of stairs. Juliet said they reminded her of the stairs leading to the Jade Palace in Kung Fu Panda. Right at the bottom and on the stairs there were a half-dozen monkeys. A few of the brave monkeys came right up to us and tried to take the water bottle another man had, and even tried to get into his backpack. They really didn't have much fear of us so that put James and Lindsay and edge and after a few minutes we decided to NOT climb the stairs.

We walked back to the little restaurants and as it was already lunch time...we REALLY slept in...and grabbed a bit of food. The tables at the restaurants were right on the edge of the mountain so they overlooked the ocean and had a great view of the beach. We sat there for about a half-hour-or-so before Juliet and I decided to go back to the stairs and climb them.

The climb wasn't too bad and by the time we got back to it the monkeys had retreated back into the trees and to more of the shaded areas at the top of the mountain. At the top we had a great view! We also saw a bunch of monkeys up at the top, but as it was hot, they stayed in the shade of the buildings and tress and didn't really pay any attention to us.

When we got back to Lindsay and James we were ready to go get smoothies and hop back on the songthaew to go the direction into Hua Hin and try to do some shopping. We stopped at a TOPS supermarket to try to find some spice packages that Rhea wanted but they didn't have much, so 0-for-1.

Right behind TOPS there was a Thai housewares warehouse that the owner of Burger Murderer told us about. We wanted to go there because the kids (and Lindsay) really liked the hammocks she had at the restaurant and that was where she bought them...unfortunately...they didn't have them anymore, so 0-for-2. By this time, James was not a happy camper! He didn't like the monkey, he didn't have his hammock, and I was proposing we walk another 5 minutes to a lesser-known supermarket to look for spices one final time...it was not a fun walk for anyone at this point!

Thankfully, this other supermarket DID have the spice packets! We bought a bunch of those--and some lollipops and chips--and started back to the condo. We had to walk quite a while to be able to cross the really busy street via a pedestrian overpass, but thankfully once we did, a songthaew arrived to pick us up. We got back to the condo, had some electrolytes and chips, and went down to the pool.

After our very first day we noticed that Juliet's swimsuit had turned browny-orange. We weren't sure why but thought it was because of some of the sediments that exist on the beach (you can see slightly different streaks of discolouration in the sand). However, we noticed very quickly that both my swim shorts and Lindsay's white elastic bands on her swimsuit were also turning orange! I also checked my shirt I had been wearing to protect my sunburn in the water and it had stains! We guessed it was the pool and not the beach as Lindsay hadn't been in the ocean with that swimsuit, so after some guessing, we decided it must be rust spots from the iron in the dark stone tiles they use in the pool - ugh!

We got back to the condo and did a bit of reading and I found some suggestions for removing rust stains using salt, dish soap, and lemon juice. We put in a Grab order for some of those groceries (and tacos for dinner!) and had the kids work on their journals again while we waited. Once our food arrived we ate and Lindsay and I started trying to clean the clothes. The first test on Lindsay's swimsuit looks good, so hopefully we've figured it out and can get things cleaned - thank you Jesus :)

Tomorrow, Lindsay and Juliet are doing a long day trip to go snorkeling at Koh Talu and James and I are going to some waterslides - we'll let you know how it all goes!

Day 21: Some REALLY good burgers!

 

Our lunchtime burgers were really good! The kids opted for nuggets and fries :(

There must be a Stofer picture like this somewhere...Lindsay was keen to recreate something ")

We slept in a bit as we were really tired from yesterday, but also super excited to get out to the beach and pool with the new floaties we bought! Lindsay and I passed on our morning coffees to expedite the process and by 10:30 we were on our way!

Floaties are always a hit with our kids - it gives them that "thing" they can play with when they are by themselves, and when they are together, they come up with all sorts of games! We hope that sense of "play" stays with them for many years yet.

The water and sun are still hot at 10:30 in the morning, but it's not nearly as hot as mid-day. With my newly acquired sunburn I kept my shirt on in the water, but as the water is so warm, it's not exactly the same level of "refreshing" that we experience when we hop in a river or cold lake. It's awesome...just different.

Juliet floated the whole time, playing in the surf. James switched it up after a while and instead opted to start making sandcastles (he loves a good sandcastle!) Lindsay tried to read her book, and mixed it up between playing with each of the kids and just floating in the water myself. Around 11:30 we went up to the pool where there is a BIT more shade, and at 12:30 we packed it up to get ready for lunch.

We read about Burger Murderer on Google so picked up iced lattes on the way and walked to it. It did not disappoint! The brioche buns are made fresh each morning and the spice in the burgers was really different and nice. It was quite savoury. The kids decided on nuggets and fries...again...what did we do wrong as parents?!?!

After lunch we went back to the condo and made the kids do some journal entries before we started to get ready for the evening. James was the only one who wanted to go back into the water so while he played in the sand and surf the rest of us sat and watched and soaked in the evening sunset.

Around 6:30 we started our walk down the beach towards the markets. We grabbed some dinner (Juliet and I had carbonara and Lindsay and James had fried rice), did some walking around and light shopping at some of the stalls, and then started the short walk back to the condo.

Days 19 & 20: A long day of travel followed by sun, sun, sun!

 

This is the condo we are staying in! It has a massive pool and is right on the beach. Click on the photo to see the full size panorama!

James loves building anything in the sand...me...not so much but I do it :)

Thursday was a loooootttttttttt of driving! Wichian had one of his drivers come pick us up from the hotel at 8:30am and we didn't get to our condo in Hua Hin until 7:30pm! Louise came with us as far as Bangkok so we had lots of time to chat with her, debrief our experience, talk about ministry and missions work, and continue to build our connection. We REALLY love and appreciate her and Dave: they are unashamedly excited about sharing the love and message of Jesus, caring for people's physical needs, incredibly upbeat and uplifting, and great encouragers. Part of what we hoped to experience on our trip was what missionary work in their context looks like and if it is something we can see ourselves doing, or at least in what capacity. We don't have any answers or clear direction at this point, which means we need to continue to pray about it and seek the wise Godly counsel of those who know us. Please join us in prayer and discussion about this!

The drive was long but at least we were in a larger transport van with reclining chairs and AC. Having Louise with us was also nice as she bought a few different Thai foods on the journey to share with us and we have found a few more things we like, such as the rice cakes, dried bananas, pomelo, and the green mangos. We arrived in Bangkok around 3:30 and dropped Louise off at her hotel before continuing the last leg of the trip to Hua Hin.

We arrived around 7:30 and more-or-less dropped our bags off in the room so we could get out to the Thursday night Tamarind Market. It was nice to have the kids along...annnndddd if we didn't we may have enjoyed it a wee-bit more ;). It is very touristy: a beautiful setting with white garden lights, lots of boutique vendors, good food, live indie music, and just the right thing for us. We stayed until about 10pm and then came back to the condo and went to sleep.

In the morning we went across the street to grab iced coffees, drop our laundry off at a laundry service, and wander up the street a bit. We got back to the condo around 11am and then took the kids to the pool and the beach. The tide was on its way out, and the sun was HOT! The water was also quite warm which made it less "refreshing" than you'd maybe like, but it was beautiful and a lot of fun. The kids used an old boogie board from the condo to ride the waves and we picked up a few small buckets in the morning to use. Lindsay and I played with the kids and just enjoyed the water :)

Around 1pm we went to the pool and munched on a few dry snacks we packed while we hopped in and out. The pool is only about 3.5-4' deep and has a dark tile base so it was even warmer than the ocean! Thankfully a few of the trees around the pool provided some shade and there was a bit of a breeze. The time went fast, however, so 2pm came and we packed up to go get some lunch.

We stopped a restaurant just down the street from our condo but what we've found is that we are in a more touristy area so prices are the highest we've seen in Thailand so it's a bit pick-and-choose when you want to splurge...and as we wanted to go get massages after we restrained ourselves a bit! I opted for a foot massage and Lindsay a foot scrub/massage, which was 650 baht or about $25 for 1 hour. We told the kids that if they did NOT get a massage they could have some money to spend at the market, which they opted for! They just played some games on our phones which made them happy.

After the massages we came back to the hotel and went down to the ocean again for a couple hours. By that time, however, it became apparent that my sunscreen must have come off in the morning and I was a bit sunburned - ouch! Lindsay and I opted to stay covered up and not go in the water while the kids played and kept themselves busy again. The tide was much lower so we had a large beach area and as the sun was lower it was a cooler temperature and there were a lot more people on the beach. We stayed down until about 6pm and then decided it was time to head to the condo to get ready to head to the market and go for dinner!

...and that's when Juliet knocked a glass onto her foot - ouch! She's got a good bruise on the top of it and it's quite sore. Because of the state she was in, Lindsay stayed back at the condo with her and James and I went out. We were on a mission for 3 things: 1) floaties for the kids to use in the pool, 2) food to bring back, and 3) a stop at the market to use that money we told the kids they could have for forgoing the massages. It sounded like a doable plan...

but the opening of the 2nd market--Cicada Market--meant that I wanted to look at that one, and made things more complicated as James was VERY torn between using his money at Tamarind Market or at Cicada...and since he didn't have enough money for what he really wanted to buy (a little metal sword) he was scheming of ways he could earn money. I also realized that we should probably buy our pool toys first and the food second, so we started a trek to one of the malls. Our plan was to take a songthaew to get to the mall, but no matter how hard we tried, they didn't stop for us! That meant that James and I walked the 2.5kms to the mall, and he was not happy! He was hungry AND I was delaying the spending of his money - yikes! We eventually made it to the mall, bought our floaties, and decided to take a songthaew back to the market so we could get food.

When we got to the market, however, we realized the Cicada Market wasn't as good for "takeaway" food, so we then walked to the Tamarind Market to get food...but we were very tired (it was now 9:30), hungry, and our feet were sore. We did our best to get a bunch of food we could bring back, but we still had another almost 1km to walk back to the condo, so when we arrived back at 10pm we were done. James had the slinky he wanted, but it was twisted and needed my help, but I was too hungry and tired of being so patient for so long (haha!), and Lindsay and Juliet still hadn't eaten. What was supposed to be a very relaxing and fun night out wasn't exactly as planned. It was still OK in the end and no one got overly mad or frustrated at each other, but we look forward to trying again tomorrow!