I "Philip 32 Dutch guy" never heard about Hua Hin until my father was invited (November 2007) by my cousin to come and stay in his new vacation home in Hua Hin. My cousin wanted to have some company for his mother so her sister and brother could come along for the month vacation (January 2008) in Hua Hin. To sent my dad(78 ) informed on vacation i made a little booklet with general info about Thailand and Hua Hin (got some useful info from HHAD), http://www.xs4all.nl/~phillo/fotos/HuaH ... je-web.pdf (sorry it´s all in Dutch). This vacation was special for my father cuz it was his first real vacation in 25 years and to a far destination.
So meanwhile when the old folks were enjoying their time in Thailand and the vacation pictures came in, i think i got the Thailand fever. I did a lot of web searching and work for the info booklet so i think I got hooked and curious by the land, culture and wanted to experience it myself. So instead of going with the car on vacation to Czech, i decided to go to Thailand and bought me in March a plane ticket.
On the 18th of June i arrived in Bangkok, stayed there 2 days in a crappy hotel, visited Siam ocean world and left Bangkok by train to Hua Hin. 2 weeks i stayed in Hua Hin and i guess i also got hooked by HH, because next year i will be coming back.
Instead of staying at my cousins house(somewhere on Soi 88 ) i stayed in a nice hotel down Sa Song road. We don´t see or speak the family that much so it would be too much to ask if i could stay in his house.
Anyway!, my stay in HH was very pleasant, the weather was good, the few rain showers were refreshing and i had some nice walks. To most of the nearby sightseeing attractions i walked, walks of about 15km a day with a relax day in between. It was also nice to stroll down the beach, the back streets and see how people life or just sit at a eating place and see the daily life pass by and watch people. On one of my walks to the elephant village i had some fear because of all the soi dogs that were laying along the road outside the dog pounds. I just kept on walking while the barking strays followed me up the road, luckily nothing happened.
In the evening i sometimes went out for dinner at a restaurant or i got some take out at the Night market or fast food toko. And i guess as a tourist the staff at a restaurant expects that you order the entire menu card or most expensive meals. A soup as appetizer, a plate fried rice with Chinese sausage and one side dish was enough for me, but i always got the question is that all and a question mark face. At one restaurant (Chili Bird on the Night Market street) i felt so sorry i went back another night for a more expensive meal with some tiger prawns
. Another place where I won’t come back is the Mexican take out also at the Night market street. I went there 2 times to get some take out but the taco’s or burrito’s just weren’t tasty and had no real flavor. But most of the times I ate out I had nice tasty meals. But I was also happy when I came back in Holland and could eat a nice Indonesian meal prepared by my aunt. The difference between Thai and Indonesian food and the use of ingredients has some big differences in flavors.And there is a cross over, I’m part Indonesian so I got the Asian looks, and it was funny when walking in a store, restaurant or walking down the markets people always started talking thai to me. My thai is limited to only a few words so than I had to explain (in English
) I came from Holland. My experience with the thai people is that their polite and helpful. On one of my walks up Petch Kasem road I got a (free)ride back to the centre of town from a guy who passed me by before the runway fly over. So I only had good experiences during my vacation in HH and Bangkok.The 2 weeks in Hua Hin were nice and next year I want to come and will be back. The atmosphere in HH is laidback and there is enough to see and enjoy for a relaxing vacation.
For a impression of my stay in Thailand you can view my vacation pictures …. If you have the time
, I shot over 1700 pictures 
http://www.xs4all.nl/~phillo/2008%20vak ... %20small2/
p.s. sorry for the long blabla story
