Monday, December 30, 2013
We got a good taste of the Northern end of the East coast of Southern Thailand, and a place called Hua Hin. Well, we got stuck in traffic and took about an hour to dislodge ourselves. Hua Hin is a sprawling, over populated beach resort town with lots of condos, hotels, apartment blocks and construction as far as the eye can see creating more beds for tourists. We also stopped at the Hua Hin Floating Markets, and instead of seeing aging thai women selling freshly picked vegetables or flowers from their equally old boats, we found truck loads of tourists with tourist style retail and not a floating boat to be seen. Avoid Hua Hin.
Imagine our surprise once we hit delightful Phetchaburi. This little town is jammed packed with temples, caves and the occasional palace. We had the good luck to arrive on Monday and could enjoy the Monday night markets. And the prices of all sorts of things are becoming cheaper, probably because there are hardly any foreigners here. In fact, dinner of chicken, pork and rice for 2 people with a bottle of coke to share was a massive 70Baht (or $2.20 USD).
We have also cracked the code on how to get the prefect latte in Thailand. Order a latte with no sugar which comes hot and strong and then add your own milk. This cools it down and turns it into an actual latte. Yihaaaaa!
Tuesday, December 31, 2013 (New Year’s Eve)
A day of temples and caves. Every corner there is a temple, and working temples at that. We drove a little out of town to visit some of the more popular ones. First up was Tham Khao Luang a cave filled with shrines and void of monkeys. Next was Wat Kampang Lang, and our first temple in the Khmer or Cambodian style. Of course now it functions as a home to a Buddha shrine and neighbours a regular temple. Small but nice. Then up the hill to Khao Bandai It for more monkeys, another cave, a temple and views over the city. Caroline was very excited to find Manneke Pis was also on vacation in Thailand.
New Year’s Eve
We joined in the festivities hosted by our hotel. The fun started at 6pm and just lasted through to midnight. Being some of the few foreigners around, we got invited up to the stage to help ring in the New Year. And there was a band playing some great 60’s and 70’s music, mainly in English which was a bonus. We had no idea we would be in Phetchaburi for the New Year!
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Happy New Year 2014!!!!!!
A quick drive around town to see a few more temples from the comfort of Sterlin before picking up a latte and heading north.
