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!