Hua Hin

The grounds of Mrigadayavan Palace in Cha Am, about 15 miles north of Hua Hin

1/28/2009 Today I'm back in Bangkok. I came back 2 days ago for the Chinese New Year before heading to Laos tomorrow. The Chinese New Year in Bangkok was a bit of a dud compared to Hong Kong last year, but then what would you expect? This ain't China..... Hua Hin is a nice little seaside town about 150 miles souh of Bangkok. Went there by train. This is a very nice way to travel in Thailand. I had a second class seat in an old car with wooden interiors. The seats were really comfortable and you lots of room to stretch out. The windows dropped down into the side of the car leaving big open spaces for the breeze to come through the train. The train left early in the evening (around sunset), so there was a nice cool fresh breeze blowing thru the train all the way. As we'd pull into towns you could smell the food cooking at the night markets which are never far from the station. At every stop people get on selling food and drinks, so you don't have to worry about stocking up for the ride. A very pleasant ride, indeed..... Coming back I had a seat in air-conditioned car and it wasn't as nice. The town of Hua Hin is your typical Thai seaside resort town - lots of shops and restaurants, cafes - the usual but not too crazy. Nice place to hang out for a couple of days. Of course the first thing I did was find a motorbike to rent and a map, and off I went exploring. Went to the Mrigadayavan Palace, in Cha Am about 15 miles away. Click Here to read about it. Cham Am is another little seaside town centered around the fishing community, so there are lots of seafood restaurants here. Took a ride out to the Pala-U Waterfall about 50 kilometers west of Hua Hin - not too far from the Burmese border. This was a bunch of little waterfalls about stretched out for about a mile through the jungle. They weren't too spectacular, but the surrounding jungle and atmosphere more than made up for it. It wasn't an easy trek wearing flip-flops (what the hell was I thinking???), going up hills and down hills on a path over roots and rocks and vines, some of it pretty steep - this was serious jungle here. Had me huffing and puffing big time!!  Got to a good sized waterfall about a mile in and the path kept going so I followed it. It started getting steeper and steeper and started heading away from the water. I decided I had enough - I wasn't going any further. As I stood there catching my breath, looking back down the steep incline I had just climbed, I thought about how it would really suck to lose your footing and take a tumble down this hill. Little did I know - I was about to find out! Took 2 steps, caught my flip-flop on a root, which sent me flying down the hill completely out of control. You can NOT imagine! Luckily I managed to stay upright, grabbing on to a vine on the way down, which stopped my fall, but not before slamming the bottom of my foot on a rock which got my attention REAL quick!! Man that hurt!! On top of that, my flip-flop kept going down the hill about 50 feet off the path. Now I had to go down and get it hoping I wouldn't run across any snakes or spiders or scorpions or any other dangerous little critters that might be lurking about. Luckily I was successful and I escaped with my life. George of the Jungle - HAH!! After my little tumble I took a rest next to the stream with my feet in the freezing cold water which felt really good. After about a half hour, I got up and managed to limp my way back through the jungle to my motorbike. I had thought about seeking medical treatment, but I decided to wait and see how I felt the next day. The next day it felt better. Today there is still a little pain, but the throbbing is gone and I'm not limping anymore. So now, I'm back in Bangkok just waiting to move on. Tomrrow evening I'll be taking a train to Laos - about a 12 hour ride. For that I'll be getting a first class sleeper which is supposed to be really nice for about $30. This is a separate compartment for 2 people. I'll probably just pay for the whole compartment, that way I don't have to worry about my stuff. I'll leave Bangkok around 8 PM, arriving at Nong Khai, Thailand - which is across the Mekong River form Vientienne - at 8:30 AM. Form there, I'll take a bus or taxi across the bridge to Vientienne. I've never done his before. This should be interesting...... Some new pictures....... Bangkok - The Erawan Shrine - Click here for photos Click here to read about the Erawan_Shrine Hua Hin - Part One - The First Day - Click Here Part Two - Mrigadayavan Palace - Click here Part Three - Pala-U Waterfall- Click Here Part Four - The Last Day - Click Here                                    Next stop - Laos..........