Weekend at the beach!

Over the weekend, I went to the famous beach town, Hua Hin. I took a fairly inexpensive air conditioned van from Bangkok to a hotel I had never seen. When I got to the hotel, I was appalled to find that the room I was given was facing out over the busiest and noisiest road in Hua Hin. To top it off, the glass in the windows was less than one centimeter thick. Fortunately after about 45 minutes of discussion, they were able to move me to a quieter and nicer room at the back of the property for one night. I took a stroll on the beach, finally got checked in and went for a tasty and spicy seafood dinner. The next day, I had to move back to the original room or find a new hotel. Fortunately I decided to look for a new hotel. I found a fantastic place a bit off the beaten path in an area just south of Hua Hin called Kao Takiab. It had a wonderful beach and it was very easy to stroll along it, watching the locals, the farangs and the temple dogs running freely. After a swim in the ocean to cool off, I rested for a bit then walked up the beach to visit a giant Buddha. I've put up a couple of pics for your enjoyment. The Temple area was swarming with monkeys. This is the first time I've encountered monkeys in Thailand. They are totally rude and will steal anything they think they can steal. And I DO mean anything. Cameras, food and anything that catches their attention. I held on very tightly to my camera anytime I knew there might be monkeys nearby. On Sunday morning, I woke up to see the sunrise. The sky was cloudy, but instead I went for a swim in the ocean. It was wonderful. I was alone and while I swam, watched the fishing boats nearby. Pretty idyllic! After check out, I headed back north to meet up with a business colleague in Phetburi, which is a fairly old city about an hour north of Hua Hin. We had an excellent seafood lunch then toured a complex which included a temple and one of the King's Palaces. This area too was swarming with monkeys. I watched a monkey steal an ice cream cone from a little girl's hand then later another monkey stole a girl's purse! John and I talked a bit of business and strolled up and down through the complex. I'll post more pics from Phetburi later. After we met I took the slow bus back to Bangkok. From Phetburi to Bangkok it took 4 hours. The bus never went over 40 mph and it seems like it stopped every 200 meters! That was an experience I will NOT forget and will absolutely NOT repeat! At least the bus was air-conditioned. I was the only farang foolish enough to actually attempt the trip. It only cost 80 baht (just over $2) but definitely tried my patience. From the bus "terminal" in Bangkok, the taxi was 100 baht to get back to my hotel! Yet another lesson in patience, and we all know I need all the patience lessons I can get!

Thai Business Tip: everything takes more than twice as long as you think it should! That means for those of us used to doing business in the West, think weeks instead of days!! Even having done business in other Asian countries I am continually surprised. So if your time is limited, it's going to be tough to get anything done here!