School holidays snuck up on us again but we were lucky enough to duck off to Thailand for a week. We did not really feel like catching multiple planes so headed to Bangkok for a few nights then opted for a drive down to the beach town of Hua Hin which is about 2.5hrs out of BKK by car.
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| Not often we get a shot with the 4 of us in it! This one was taken at the airport. It was nice to catch a plane at a "normal" time for a change instead of the dreaded overnight flight. |
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| Our first 2 nights were spent at Centara Grand Hotel in BKK. It is centrally located and attached to one of the biggest shopping centres in the world so it checked most of our boxes. The room was spacious and we threw in an extra cot for Christopher. Scarlett shared with me. We have been to Bangkok before so the pressure was off and there was nothing that we "had" to visit. |
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| Our first night had us looking for a Thai Green Curry. We were not to be disappointed. Just around the corner from the hotel we found a restaurant called Baan Ying Signature. Although appearing fancy with iPads with pictures for the menu, it was reasonably priced and delish! |
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| Yep, tasted as good as it looked. |
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| The next morning the very clever Easter Bunny managed to find us in the hotel. The kids hunted the room for eggs and had hit a sugar high by 0800. |
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| Breakfast was included and it was very nice. Quite extensive with everything your average buffet holds including of course an asian section with dumplings and dim sum. |
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| Nick took the kids to the Aquarium at Siam Paragon whilst I hit the shops for a few hours. To be honest, I did not buy much. Living in HCMC sees me grabbing bargains almost daily but it was nice to have a look around. |
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| The kids enjoyed scooting around in the Bemo's, even though Quiddys face tells another story! |
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| After 2 nights we hopped in our hired van with driver for the trip to Hua Hin. (About $115 each way). I had found an apartment via Airbnb. We use this service quite a bit. It is similar to VRBO (Vacation Rental By Owner). I find it much better than hotels particularly when it comes to families as they are usually apartments. This one cost us $140 a night for a 2 bedroom place and it was lovely. Obviously you are taking a slight risk as you need to take the owner or reviewers word for it but we have used them successfully both in Asia and Europe. |
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| It appeared brand new. |
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| Everything we needed including a 7/11 next door and a Tesco's down the road. We also travel with an external hard drive full of movies and TV shows. Quite often the TV stations can be hit and miss and this way we always have something to chill out with in the evening. |
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| As we arrived on a Monday and left on a Saturday we literally had the whole place to ourselves. No kidding, we did not see one other sole in the pool! |
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| The apartment was located just opposite the Bangkok hospital on a really nice stretch of the beach. Very popular with the wind surfers. |
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| Yup, it was HOT! |
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| Our first night saw us catching up with some old friends for some drinks first, followed by.... |
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| ...an amazing seafood dinner at this place. Not too fancy but my was it good! Can highly recommend. They even had some reasonable wine on the menu and were very obliging with the Manchester United updates. |
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| Choosing dinner. |
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| We do like the beach but find the pool much easier! We spent hours and hours just playing. |
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| We did spend some time on the beach. The water was so warm it was like having a bath. |
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| One night we headed to the Night Market for dinner. We got there quite early at about 5.30 and had a lovely seafood dinner for under $30 including drinks. |
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| Seafood curry. |
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| BBQ Squid |
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| Fish and chips for the kids. |
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| The next day we hired a taxi for 600 baht to take us to Black Mountain Water park. It is about 30 mins out of town and we had the BEST day. |
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| 600 Baht for the grown ups and 300 Baht for the kids and again, we felt like we had the place to ourselves. It was pretty big but there were only about 70 people there. We did not have to queue for a ride all day. Lunch was cheap and tasty and there were plenty of chairs and shade to be found. |
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| The wave pool was a particular hit. |
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| This was more my pace........... |
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| One last night in Bangkok before heading home. I was dreading getting back because the next day (Monday) I was getting all 4 of my wisdom teeth removed and all of my old fillings replaced. Hence, I currently look like this......... |
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| Yup, thats a bra full of icepacks. Necessity is the mother of invention. It is now Thursday and I am feeling slightly better but still feel like I have been hit by a truck. In case you were interested I used Dr Andrew at WestCoast Dental and he was AMAZING! Chinese/Canadian guy. Didn't even laugh when I walked in and promptly burst into tears. Did I mention I HATE the dentist? |
