Hua Hin, Thailand

A colleague and I had the opportunity to stay the weekend in Thailand after a business meeting.  Convenient for us, the meeting was in Hua Hin, a beach resort town about 3 ours from Bangkok.  My weekend there reinforced how much I love the beach (and Thailand)!  We are planning our Christmas Holiday there (different cities) and so this gave me a very small idea of how great it can be to spend some leisure time in the Kingdom of Siam.

This is a view from one of the pier restaurants.

Zoomed in on the fishing boat from the above shot.  I may be mistaken, but I think these are the boats that they take out at night, light lanterns and then pick off the fish and squid attracted by the lights.

Lunch, an awesome array of fresh seafood.  I should have waited on taking the picture because more kept coming!

Picture from the beach at the Dusit hotel.  A storm was rolling in late in the afternoon.

A long tail boat.  Note that the propeller is at the end of the shaft, in the water.  That's the motor on top of the shaft.

Night market time!

A typical scene of the market vendors, a lot clothing and accessories as well as souvenirs.

Frying up some street food.

The pancake / crepe served here was delicious!

Street food 101:  Step 1. select fresh seafood.

Step 2.  Enjoy a beer and MC Hammer's "You can't touch this" playing in the background while the gentlemen grill it up for you.

Step 3.  Enjoy and realize that MC Hammer is never wrong.  Well, maybe when he agreed to do the Surreal Life.  That and when he spent all of his money, but only those times.

This was kind of like a tapioca based dough ball dessert.  I loved it.

Saturday was golf.  Here is Hwan lining things up.

My (much) less than perfect form.  But I swing as hard as possible, so that makes up for a lot of form problems.

Me and Hwan.  Yes, I picked up some tattoo sleeves.  Hey, things happen in Thailand.

This was the only disappointing part.  A note to future visitors:  stay away from the Hua Hin "floating" markets.  They were brand new and nothing was actually floating.

I saw this photo later and cried a little as I realized this was what I was hoping to see earlier, but all in color.  Maybe over Christmas.

Goat transport.

Doesn't matter where I am, there's just something about beach towns that feels right to me.

This was a new one for me.  Under the pier was the feral dog burrow.

Pony ride on the beach?  By the way: yes, they were very diligent with the poo pick up.

All set up for the crowd.  Pop open an umbrella, have a seat and enjoy your 6th meal of the day and a frosty beverage.  Not bad, not bad at all.