Bangkok and Hua Hin

Myself and Kay arrived in Bangkok about 3pm and took a train into the city where we got a metered taxi to our accommodation. The accommodation is just wonderful, they have the place totally set up for backpackers. Clean, modern, laundry facilities, free breakfast, wifi and drinking water.  What more could you ask for.  Our accommodation is about a ten minute walk from the lively koh San road which is far enough away for it to be quiet but close enough if we want to go drinking. By the time we showered and got ourselves sorted it was time for dinner so we headed in the direction of Koh San road to see what there was on offer. We passed a place on the way which seemed to be busy with locals which is always a good sign so we decided just to eat there.  After being veggie in India for 5 weeks it was a bit of a shock for the menu to consist of mostly meat and fish.  After, we decided to take a walk down to koh San road to see what all the fuss is about. It's very lively and  full of bars offering 'buckets' so we made the decision then to treat ourselves to a night out the following night since we have been almost teetotal since leaving Scotland. We headed back to our accommodation as we were both tired from travelling and had a lot to accomplish in Bangkok in the two days we were there.

On our only full day in Bangkok we decided to do some sightseeing. We walked about 30 minutes from the accommodation to Wat Pho which was very impressive. It was a huge collection of temples and Buddhas but the show stopper was the 46 meter long, gold plated, reclining Buddha. It was so big that you couldn't get a picture of the whole thing. We walked back to our accommodation (getting a bit lost on the way) to enquire about getting the train to Hua Hin the following day.  We were told that it was cheaper to go to a travel agent and pay them a small commission to book our trains rather than paying for a taxi to the train station and back, so this is what we did.  Trains here are very cheap, it cost us around £2.50 for a three hour journey, including the commission.  After sorting our trains we got ready for our night out. A few cocktails and numerous buckets later we went to bed having survived our first night out in Thailand! 

As we were feeling a bit worse for wear we had a relaxing morning and afternoon just walking around the area and having some lunch and a few ice-creams. After trying for a long time, and getting quoted ridiculous prices, we eventually managed to get a tuk tuk to the train station where we would meet Andy (Kay's Boyfriend) and head to Hua Hin.  The train down was quite quiet and thankfully uneventful.  Myself and Kay had been to the 7-11 to buy some dinner for the train journey during the day.  We bought some sandwiches, ham and cheese, tuna, and some pulled pork ones.  The ham and cheese went down a treat, no one was brave enough to eat the warm tuna ones and the pulled pork had a minuscule bit of pulled pork in it and the rest was just bread and butter.  Well, they say you get what you pay for and I think in this case it's certainly true.  At around 30p each we couldn't really complain at the amount of filling. We arrived in Hua Hin almost on time and negotiated a tuk tuk to our accommodation. The bungalow we had booked for the three days in Hua Hin was lovely, 2 massive beds, a fridge and we would get breakfast in the morning on the table outside.  Happy faces all round.  

We woke up on Christmas day and exchanged gifts. When I say exchanged gifts, what I mean is, Andy gave us presents and Kay gave him some tat she'd bought in India.  After breakfast we walked the very short walk to the beach to spend our Christmas doing some sunbathing.  It was an unusual feeling being at the beach on Christmas day but it's definitely an experience I would repeat. We had a few cold beers, did some sunbathing, swimming and ate some lovely pancakes, this was our alternative Christmas.  We went into Hua Hin centre for a lovely dinner followed by one too many drinks. We all had a brilliant night out and met some lovely Aussies, a Manc running an Irish bar and a dog in a dress. 

Our last day in Hua Hin was uneventful, for me at least.  We went to the beach after breakfast but it was so hot, and I was so hungover that I had to make my way back to the bungalow for a lie down for the majority of the day.  We made plans to go to Koh Tao by train and ferry, had some dinner and had an early night.  Hangover aside, I very much enjoyed my Christmas in Hua Hin by the beach.