Thailand Holiday 2008 Part 7 Food

Afternoon,

As some of you might know Thai food is my favourite food. The spicier the better. If it aint got chillies it aint worth eating hahahahaha... Hua Hin is a big fishing port and they have the freshest seafood in most of the restaurants. You should see the size of the prawns, I have never seen prawns 20 cm long...

This is a rack of baby squid drying in the sun. As I said before, an aquired taste... A bit chewy and they can be very smelly... Nevertheless they seemed to be a popular snack when the night vendors rolled by with their mobile snack shops...

Picture of two of my brothers, Hans and Jeroen. Hahahaha, only kidding, some restaurant had some pigs heads sitting out the back, dunno what for, never saw them on the menu... I would have tried it. As long as it has got chillies!

This was a snack bought of one of the mobile vendors. The guy was selling grubs, something with eight legs, locusts and ants. The locusts were yummy. Very crunchy and salty because of the soy sauce...

Yum Yum Pigs Bum!!!

Jackie wasn't brave enough to eat the grubs or the locusts but she did eat an ant which even she said were good. I was impressed.... For the rest she just ate the very good fresh fruit that they sold everywhere in town... OK, this is the last Thailand post, I am out of pictures now so that all folks... I am off to Saudi Arabia on monday for a week and after that I have a weekend in Holland and when I get back from that I am off to Malaysia... busy busy busy....

Cheerio,

Alex.

Thailand Holiday 2008 Part 6 Fishing

Afternoon all,

This one of the days we had together with Bob and Annie. Bob suggested to go fishing. Jackie was supposed to go off with Annie to go and get pampered but at the last moment Jackie decided that she had to try this fishing too. The main reason for that was that all the stuff that she hates about fishing gets done for you there. They stick the bait on, you cast the rod, you catch a fish, they net it for you and the land it and unhook it. No slimy hands or anything. Also they serve you drinks all day right at the place where you are fishing and they have a decent restaurant too where they serve great food. The place has its own website, the place is called Hua Hin Fishing Lodge.

They have two lakes at the moment. I believe they are looking at extending the place in the future, it has only been open a year or two...

This is me after catching a small silver carp...

This is Annie, showing off a Pacu that Bob caught. These buggers have really big teeth...

This Jackie landing her first big fish. She had started well. Bob and myself were expecting to catch the most fish, well, jackie spoiled that. When Bob and I finally caught something she already had caught 3 fish....

Dunno what it was but it was a nice size...

This is Bob releasing another Pacu. He caught three of the toothy monsters that day...
Here he is showing off the first one...

Look at the size of the gnashers on that one... They say that it can bite of your fingers but I wasn't man enough to test that statement....


This is me with the biggest fish of the day on the hook. It was some sort of bottom feeder, possible a type of catfish. It weighed about 6 - 7 pounds...

Look at that beauty!

Bob, I caned your arse this time. When I get back there I will give you a chance to come back and beat me! Again many thanks to Bob and Annie for making our stay a very nice one! We owe you one!

Take care,
Alex.

Thailand Holiday 2008 Part 5 Bhuddas

Afternoon all,

As Thailand is a Buddhist country it would be wrong not to show something of the religious side of the place...


This was the little temple at the fishing harbour. It is to protect the fishermen out at sea or something...
This was a stairway up to a big golden Buddha. As it was 389 degrees celsius I couldn't be arsed to walk up the steps...
This is some fat Buddha on a tortoise. Apparently praying and placing offerings at this one guarantees you longevity... (I think laying of the beer and getting fit would do the some thing hahahaha)

This was the side of the peninsula where the big Buddha was. Looks lovely and there was a nice cooling breeze of the sea coming in... The place itself was very calming and had a really relaxed feel to it...

Dunno what this fellow was all about. 'Guy with Sword Sitting On Rat'? Answers on a postcard please... Again, I have been to Thailand 4 times now and everytime it becomes harder to leave the place. It is relaxed, cheap, safe to a degree, what am I doing in England???

Cheerio,
Alex.

Thailand Holiday 2008 Part 4 Monkeys

Afternoon all,

Another update from our excellent Thai holiday... This was at a place called monkey mountain. It has a Thai name but I have forgotten... Basically it is a Thai temple and there are loads of dogs and monkeys ambling about... Maybe it was stupid of me to go back to a monkey place in Thailand... For the people that haven't read this blog if you search back a year or two you will find an entry called 'A Monkey ate my glasses'. This was when I went to the Elephant Village near Hua Hin and a bloody gibbon stole my glasses right of my head, little bastard...

This i a bunch of them swimming around in a muddy pool. They were having a ball, just splashing about and playing like little children...

This was a mummy monkey walking of with a baby monkey strapped to her side...

This is one of the earlier swimmers drying off in the sun...

This little one had nicked a handful of nuts and stuffed them all in his gob so that the others couldn't steal them, funny....

These are some Buddhist statues with a load of monkeys eating the edible gifts that the monks leave... This was a cool place but I still had my eyes on my wallet, my camera, jackie's handbag, the thieving little buggers...

Cheerio,
Alex.

Thailand Holiday 2008 Part 3 The Party

Party time!

One of Jackie's best friends, Frances, who she has known for over 30 years has got a brother who lives out in Hua Hin. So of course we had to visit them. When we called Bob and Annie they asked us if we would like to see a proper Thai party. Well, does a bear shit in the woods? Is the pope a catholic? Of course we would like to go. So in the evening Bob came around on his moped and Jackie and myself hopped in a tuk tuk and told the driver to follow Bob. Before we got to the place we stopped and stocked up on essentials, beer, whiskey and vodka.

When we got there, the party was already in full swing. There were a few other expats there but mostly thai people. I believe it was somebodies birthday but I never really got to the bottom of that. As soon as we came in some thai people dragged us over to the food area and gave us heaped plates of prawns, rice, pork ribs, chilly sauce, all sorts. After we munched our way through the lovely grub the drinking started... My wife, Bob and Annie worked themselves through a bottle and a half of Vodka and yours truly necked a shitload of Singha beer.

This is Jackie my best friend and wife, Bob and the ever so glamorous Annie...

During the party suddenly two guys showed up with two baby elephants. Jackie of course had to go and investigate. I stayed my distance. On my last holiday to Hua Hin at the elephant village some little elephant lobbed a car tire at me... once bitten twice shy....

Basically these guys bring the elephants around, you buy them some food and give it to them and hoppa, you are blessed!

This is Bob and my wife trying their hand at Karaoke. They were rubbish. Granted, the song they were supposed to sing they didn't know but I think their vocal cords were loosened by a load of vodka and what sounded good to them didn't necesarily sound good to the listeners. Even the thai people, normally very reserved, booed them off hahahahahaha!!!
All in all we had a whale of a time and have to thank the people that organised the party and Bob and Annie for inviting us! Thailand rocks!

Cheerio,
Alex.

Thailand Holiday 2008 Part 2 The Beach

Afternoon!

This is myself walking down the beach at the northern end of Hua Hin. It was boiling that day and it was possibly not the most clever thing to do, go walking in blinding heat at midday...

I must have sweated of at least a gallon during that hour on the beach...

There were a few jellyfish on the beach but not enough to deter me from swimming there. During the whole two weeks I never saw anybody being stung by them...

This mutt spent the whole day on the beach just lazing about and dipping into the sea once in a while when it got to hot... Of course the missus wanted to adopt it....

This is an example of a beach massage. You just lay in the bed and some woman pummels, pulls, yanks and tears at your muscles, bloody excellent. Half asleep, waves lapping the beach and someone knocking your muscles in shape, what hardship....

Some of the more active people (not me...) did a bit of horse riding. That wasn't for me. The only horse I trust is one that is sliced in my sandwich. Remember I am from holland and we eat the buggers....

This was just outside the fishing port of Hua Hin. The boats were all moored up ready to go out at night fall... Made for a nice piccie methinks....

This is a rack of tiny squid drying in the sun. I have eaten them before and they are not really my taste, quite tough and leathery... Still, a nice picture...

This is the northern beach of Hua Hin looking towards Cha'am. Anyone looking for a relaxing holiday on the beach without hassle try Hua Hin...

Taraaaa,

Alex.

Thailand Holiday 2008 Part 1

Wheyhey, it is holiday time again!

This year we went back to Hua Hin in the Gulf of Thailand 200km south of BangKok. We had been there before two years ago and as we really enjoyed it we just had to go back.

This is Jackie lounging in Business Class abusing the free champagne to the hilt....

We also stayed in the same hotel where we stayed last time. Last time it was called the Hua Hin Suites but now since it has been taken over it is called the Hua Hin White Sands. We like the place, its relatively cheap, 200 yds from the beach and 200 yds from the bars, wheyhey!!!

This little sign in the rooms was typical. They said that it was just as cheap to drink from the mini bar then to buy it outside the hotel. We checked and it was true. Save me having to hoik drinks from the shop to the room hahahaha!!!!

This was the beach on the first day we arrived. It was boiling hot so we had to slap on the sun factor 50 creme and even then I managed to get burned while I stayed under an umbrella....

This is the entry to the White Sands hotel. All the rooms have telly, airco, bathroom with bath and shower and a massive double bed. If you are looking for a good quality hotel for reasonable money this is the place. They have a restaurant out the front as well but I didn't try that.

Cheerio,
Alex.