Sunshine and happiness

So last Tuesday I arrived safely in Hua Hin.  I was so happy to see my father, his wife Kanya and her daughter Kai-Mook again.  Once I got to the hotel, I immediately unpacked the stuff I smuggled in for them (5kg Nutella, some chocolate, a bottle of Laphroaig and 1kg of chicory).  My back was relieved as my backpack was all of a sudden almost empty.  The hotel I’m staying at (Korawan Garden Resort) is really wonderful, but as images speak more than words, I will not write about it, but show some photos:

In the last few days I’ve been here, I didn’t really do a lot, except from relaxing, tanning, swimming, going out with my local friends, … Oh yeah, and yesterday I cooked!  I made chicory in the oven with ham and cheese sauce and mashed potatoes, a typical Belgian dish.  We had a hard time finding nutmeg, we had to visit 2 stores before we found it and still it was well-hidden in that shop.  Above that I also had a hard time cooking the meal, as my father made some mistakes on what ingredients they had in stock at home, potatoes for example.  But in the end I succeeded in making a well-tasting Belgian dish in Thailand (without the mashed potatoes).

To get to my dad’s place the day before yesterday, I took a local bus, which was almost falling apart as we were driving on the highway.  It was quite an interesting experience, but the fare wasn’t high at all, so I’m not complaining.  The bus driver was very helpful and friendly, though he didn’t really understand where I had to go to.  Maybe I should work on my Thai language a bit more…  In the end he dropped me off at the right place after making 2 stops at wrong places.

I’ve been exploring the surroundings of my hotel too, and discovered a Russian-Orthodox church here, as well as some very poor housing.  Seeing this kind of housing makes you realize Thailand still is a third-world country and it gets your feet back on the ground from all the glitter and glamour in the luxurious hotels and resorts.

Today is my fathers birthday and I arranged with the hotel that we would be eating here and they will be preparing a special menu for us.  I went to a french bakery and bought some delicious-looking eclairs.  I hope their taste is as good as they look.  The next few days I won’t be blogging a lot, as I extended my stay here until the 22nd and I don't want to make you all jealous with my beach and swimming pool stories!  After that I’ll be leaving for Cambodia and Laos, skipping Vietnam as there is really too much to see and visit there, so I decided I’m going to make a dedicated Vietnam trip in the nearby future.

The Hangover: British edition

Yesterday I safely arrived in Bangkok, after two enjoyable, but exhausting flights.  As always the service on Etihad Airways was excellent.  On my Brussels - Abu Dhabi flight I was traveling next to a French guy from Toulouse.  He introduced himself to me as a former police officer of the French police and started talking about himself.  He quit his job because he found it to be too heavy and frustrating and thus he decided to become self-employed.  He also told me quite immediately he had severe sleeping problems due to the things he saw and did in his days as a cop.  As it was a night flight, that wasn’t good news.  The six hours from Brussels to Abu Dhabi he didn’t stop talking about himself, his family and his daughters.  I tried to act as if I was falling asleep, but it didn’t seem to bother him, so he continued rattling on.  When he learned I was single, all of a sudden he started me showing lots and lots of pictures of his daughter.  As the guy was on his way to Phuket, he also asked my advice on… Thai women!  So I made up some story about how to hit on Thai girls and that he has to be careful as the most beautiful Thai women often come with a small package between their legs.  At the end of the flight I felt tired, but it didn’t disturb me that much as I really had a good chat with the guy; I even didn’t have the time to watch a movie on the in-flight entertainment system.

During my 3h50 stopover in Abu Dhabi I bought some tax-free stuff for the folks home and enjoyed the courtesy of the Al Reem Lounge.  As I was really tired, I fell asleep in the lounge and I woke up about 30 minutes before my Abu Dhabi - Bangkok flight was due to depart.  As the lounge was in terminal 2 and my flight was departing from terminal 3, I got a bit stressed.  Luckily there was no queue at security and the terminal transfer went quite fast.  When I got to my gate, there wasn’t anyone queueing anymore, which made me think the gate was already closed.  But when I got to the counter, I saw that the gate was still opened and that boarding was still going on.  When I entered the aircraft, I said to myself that I was definitely not the last one boarding as there were still lots and lots of seats available.  In the end I was the penultimate passenger to board and the aircraft was almost empty, what made that the stewardesses were even friendlier as usual.  I watched Interstellar on the in-flight entertainment system and slept a bit.  I also tested the on-board internet which functions great, though in the end I couldn’t login as I forgot my password (stupid me) and I had to pay a second time.  Luckily T-Hotspot has a great customer service that refunded me my first payment.

When I got to Bangkok Airport everything went really smooth: I passed immigration really quick, my luggage was on the belt when I got at the carroussel and there was an immediate train departure to the city centre.  Thus from the airplane to my hotel in Silom, it took me just over an hour.  I dropped off my luggage at the hotel and went for my first cocktails and first foot massage for this trip.  As always, I went to the Balcony bar.  The waiters were again very happy to see me there.  The first cocktail I had was a cosmopolitan, followed by a mai tai and for dessert I had a margarita.

Whilst drinking my cocktails on the terrace I met 2 crazy girls, Karen and Karen.  Karen 1 was from London in the UK and Karen 2 was from Hasselt in Belgium.  They were ‘celebrating’ Karen 2’s last day on holiday, which was a quite painful fact as she had been traveling for 1 year and a half.  At some point Karen 1 made some drunk vomiting scene.  But everybody in Europe knows that it’s just standard British travel behavior, so we weren’t really surprised by it.  In fact, I had the very social gesture to be a good drinking partner and kept her hair out of the vomit.  In the end Karen 2 had to finish all the alcohol, as Karen 1 couldn’t stand it anymore.  No really, they were 2 really nice girls and as we were blabbing about everything and nothing, another Belgian guy from Brussels joined us.  His name was Koen and he was on his first Thailand trip, which he got from his friends for his birthday.  We had so much fun at the bar that I didn’t go for that foot massage.

Around 2 am I got back at my hotel, after making sure the girls found their way back to their apartment.  This morning I woke up quite early, but I felt really rested, awake and most importantly, I had no hangover!  I got out of bed, made my backpack and went out to find some fresh fruit for breakfast.  I enjoyed the pineapple I bought, together with a cup of tea.  I then took the train back to the airport to catch the 13.30 bus to Hua Hin.  I miscalculated the transfer time from the city to the airport a bit and got to the airport two hours early, so I took the time to eat Tom Yam Kung (sour & spicy prawn soup) there.  I still had more then an hour left after my lunch, so I took a foot massage, as I originally planned to do yesterday evening.  After the foot massage I went to my luxury first class bus and we left for Hua Hin.  I’m currently on that bus and it is packed with old people.  Thanks to me the average passenger age went down with 10 years.  Anyhow, I’m looking forward on seeing my dad, his wife Kanya and her daughter Kai-Mook in a few hours.

The journey has begun

As I am waiting to board my airplane at the Brussels Airlines Lounge at Brussels Airport, I was thinking that it might be a good time to start planning my trip a bit for the upcoming 7 weeks.  For the time being I haven’t made any definite plans except for my first week.

I’ll be arriving around 8pm in Bangkok tomorrow evening, so there will be no more buses running to Hua Hin.  Therefor I will stay in Bangkok for 1 night.  I saw on Facebook that a befriended colleague of mine is there too, so I’ll try to meet her for cocktails in the evening.  The next day around noon I will be taking a bus from the airport to Hua Hin, arriving there around 5pm.

In Hua Hun I found this fantastic hotel called Korawan Garden Resort.  It is in fact not really a hotel, as the rooms are bamboo huts built around the swimming pool.  My father lives nearby, so that is ideal to celebrate his birthday and in the mean time get used to the scorching sun again.  I’ll be staying there for one week, so that’ll be one week of sun, beach, fun, family and food.

So far for the already planned part of the journey.  In great lines I will be traveling onwards to Cambodia to visit Angkor Wat and stay a few days in the capital of Phnom Penh (mainly to apply for a Vietnamese visa).  If I get the visa, I’ll be continuing to Saigon (or Ho Chi Minh City), Hoi An and Hanoi.  From there I’ll be going to Laos to visit its capital Vientiane and the beautiful city of Luang Prabang.

Around the 13th of April, which is the beginning of Song Kran or Thai New Year, I want to be back in Thailand, in Chiang Mai in the north to be precise.  I’ll be staying there for a few days and then go somewhere else in the south for another 2 weeks of sea, beach and sun, this might be Phuket, Hua Hin or somewhere else.  The 27th, finally, I should be back in Bangkok, as my flight homebound is leaving that night.  That in great lines is what I’ll be blogging about during the next 2 months.