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!
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