I fully expected a dull muggy day after the previous night's storm, we ventured out from Jings courtyard and the full force of the sun hit us - another hot day in paradise.
Breakfast was taken at the Coffee Club. We walked along to the public beach for another day doing very little except enjoying the warm sea and hot sun; simple pleasures, we felt we'd done our fair share of sightseeing over the past three months.
We came off the beach early in order to shower and change, there was an event on the TV that required my attention - Super Soccer Sunday. Yes, it was the day that Leicester City could have made the Premier League crown theirs, I had plenty of options as to where I could catch it, every bar in town was showing it.
Close to our hotel, in fact on the same street was an Irish Pub called El Murphys. I'm normally not overly enamored with these sort of pubs in the UK, but I gave it a go seeing as the staff had been attempting to thrust flyers for the place into my hand all weekend.
We ate from their menu, the kitchen could be seen from the bar, it was clean and the food coming out looking good - typical pub food. I watched Liverpool get hammered by Swansea City at 6pm before the main event at 8pm, there being a six hour time difference. The draw against Man Utd meant it all depended on the Chelsea v Spurs game the next day. Unfortunately, that six hour difference schedules those night games for two in the morning, wouldn't be watching that one.
The remainder of the week was spent at the beach or chilling at the hotel. We discovered many new places to eat (see next blog post), read books or in my case the Times Online, and generally reflected on what had, for us, been a great voyage of discovery.
One particular day we acted on a tip from my friend Steve and went in search of a hotel to the south of Hua Hin that offers a day pass to utilize its facilities. Our plan this particular day was to recce the place to see what was the form regarding getting in etc. We set off along the beach noting a relative quietness about the place. We later learned that many places use Wednesday as a day off.
Our goal was the Anantasila Villa Hotel on Khao Takiab beach. On the way we passed the Marriott, Intercontinental and the Hyatt Regency, all very posh and palatial but not the one we were looking for: we continued. Eventually the call of nature was greater than the need to find the Anantasila, a place loomed up to our right, we scrambled up the washed away concrete steps to find the entrance.
Madame Green's Seafood restaurant juts out towards the beach from a neighborhood of small chalet B&B's, mainly looking at the clientele, Thais. We ordered fresh fruit smoothies, but the food looked excellent, all of it fresh and all on display before it was cooked. I made a mental note of this place for future visits.
We walked back to our hotel via the main road and eventually back onto the beach, the mileage chart on my health checker (on the phone) told us we'd walked over ten miles, a beer was required, Mai Thai was the nearest for a cold one.
So, we didn't find what we were looking for. This prompted me to drop the hotel an email and their reply provided us with all the info we needed to arrive a couple of days later all knowledgeable and not looking like prize prats when we got there.
Two days later, after a short Tuk Tuk ride we did visit the Anantasila. The deal is you pay 500 Baht, about a tenner and you get the use of a beach or poolside bed with a towel. Unfortunately, due to government regulations, sun beds are not permitted on the beach in low season. We selected a bed by the pool which, after twenty minutes was deserted except for us.
It was actually a pretty peaceful and relaxing day. No sand up the posterior, or anywhere else, a quiet pool and waiter service. The money you pay for the towel actually becomes a credit against any food and beverage purchased at the bar; we had a lovely mid afternoon meal in their poolside restaurant.
Owing to an accident on the main road back into town and the Friday Night getaway from Bangkok to the coast, our transport back was delayed. Once on the road it was slow going, our driver made a detour, taking us through areas we'd never seen before, a good way of checking out the rest of the town.
Another tiring day, another early night - four more days to go.
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