lovesadventure

So we're not actually to BKK yet. We're in HK in the Cathay lounge waiting for the last leg of our flight.

I think the total travel time is around 25 hours, including layovers.

Cathay Pacific is a terrific airline. I don't know how the stewardesses do it. Greeting us by name throughout the trip (rather than seat number) and even at the end of the grueling 14 hour flight from LAX to HK, they still look gorgeous and are completely poised. A 14 hour day at a desk job and I look like I've been hit by a bus...much less tending to fussy passengers. Last time we did a lengthy trip like this, the NWA stewardess was grumpy 30 minutes into the flight. Given the choice, I'll always choose Cathay again.

Oh, and their lounge here in HK is a real treat. It's mammoth, and there are showers. I feel so much better after washing myself free of the airplane grime.

We should be in BKK in another 5 hours (blink of an eye, relatively speaking), I'll try to fill in as we go.

Some background info: my husband and I are traveling the following itinerary over the next 3 weeks.

Hua Hin-Phuket-Khao Lak-BKK-Taipei-home.

We're in our early 30's and know Hong Kong and Taipei well, but this is our first trip to Thailand.

Thanks to all for the assistance in planning. Hope to be able to return the favor with insight from our jouneys!

Ciao!
L.A.

Gpanda

Sounds like you're off to a wonderful start. Have a great time. Penalty avoided.

dperry

Have a great time! The airport in HK is my all-time favorite, very impressive.

lovesadventure

We're in Hua Hin now. Well, not really in town, but south at Pranburi. We are staying at the Evason Hideaway, and it's a gorgeous property. We arrived late last night and checked into our villa. Each has a private pool and sunken sala. The property gives a wonderful sense of seclusion. Dinner was a BBQ on the deck of our pool. The service is wonderful. I haven't been here long enough to know if it's the hotel or the Thai people, but I get the feeling it's the entire culture. People are so warm and as they say, it is the land of smiles.

Looking forward to spending some time "in town" today. We're off! More to come.

Gpanda

Glad you're happy with the Evason. Hope you have a great time. Check out the Sofitel in town. It''s fun.

JamesA

If you walk along from Evason just on your right past the shop/hut where they do tours etc there is a local restaurant for cheap eats, open area simple but Thai food is nice and a snip compared to Evason.
As Gpanda says if you go into town do see the Sofitel, Afternoon tea !
If you need big shopping the new 'Hua Hin Market Village mall' ( nothing to do with market or village! ) is on the left heading into town before the Marriott ( which is on the right ), heading south towards Pranburi it's on the right.
You are so close to Sam Roi Yot National Park well worth the visit, you can do a longtail boat around to steps leading into a cave which opens to the sky where a small temple built inside, don't know the name but you will see in the brochures for trips, quite amazing.

What's the weather like at the momenyt
? Bob and Karen are heading down there soon !

lovesadventure

James, Bob and Karen,

Weather is gorgeous right now. It's been blue skies for the past 3 days. We saw some lightning in the distance
last night, but didn't get any rain in town. Last night was clear enough to do some star gazing.

We did a river boat cruise yesterday. It was an electric long tail boat (very quiet) which took us passed the moored fishing boats (what color!) and to a National Park that winds through a mangrove forest/jungle. We were also able to walk through the pines to the deserted beach. Beach is nice, but not why people come here, I think. Water is fairly rough although warm.

Also, Hua Hin is a city, not a town. I guess what I pictured was a little smaller. All the same, there is much charm and we've really enjoyed it here. Can certainly imagine retiring here for a few months of the year. Yes, we're only in our 30's so planning WELL ahead.

We spent the afternoon at the Six Senses spa here at the Evason. They've done a wonderful job with the design of the place, but some of the treatments were a bit much for us. It's just too hot to use a steam room.

Today, we'll head out to book a catamaran cruise. The breeze really takes the edge off of the heat. James, we'll be sure to round the corner from the tour area to check out the less resort like amenities. We're over on the Hideaway side, so we haven't even managed to venture to the far side of the resort yet.

The Evason is good for people who don't want to leave the resort. And, the food and amenities are very nice, so you don't really have to leave. However, if you want to spend time in Hua Hin, it's a bit remote. Taxis are expensive compared to Bangkok and the 25 minutes of travel time is a pain. It's been great for us to experience, but next time something different.

Had dinner at Let's Sea and in one of the restaurants (Thai) at the Hyatt. Both were outstanding. Let's Sea just opened it's hotel the day we were there. Not much action, but the lobby is impressive. Kind of the Euro chic/boutique motif. Tall (14'?) doors, a "floating" concrete staircase and great lighting. The bathrooms at the restaurants are also very cool, all stalls sharing a view onto a pond. Couldn't do that in the US.

The Hyatt, as I understand, is also new. Gorgeous grounds, right on the beach. More traditional hotel set up than Let's Sea.

We also got a round of golf in at the Royal Hua Hin, Thailand's first golf course. Beautifully maintained and very scenic. Caddies are compulsary, and there are packs of undomesticated dogs lounging around. Definitely a unique experience! Oh, and golf is really affordable here.

Okay, I'm off to work on perfecting this vacation thing.

JamesA

You are doing very well and I am sure Gpanda will give you some bonus points!

Boat on the Pranburi river, seen the jungle, down to deserted beach, dinner at let's Sea, round of golf, spa, you are packing in plenty and glad you are enjoying.

The restrooms at Let's Sea, amazing isn't it! have not see the resort yet they were building when we were there last.
Remember if you want to snorkel 'Bang Saphan / Koh Talu' day trip, it's about 2 hrs by road south from you and you take speedboat to small offhore Koh Talu and snorkel from boats in the area.
The town of 'Prachuap Khiri Khan' is about 40 -50 minutes south, now this is just a provincial town but the Bay is amazing, looks like a mini Rio, not worth a separate trip but if you were going to snorkel then worth asking driver to pass along the seafront road at Prachuap simply for the lovely view of the bay.
South of view are some lux boutique places like Praseban, Aleenta, interesting to stop for a drink, perhaps check their menus if you wanted dinner outside opf Evason but did not want to go into Hua hin, they are all along the beach road south of Evason, not far 5 - 6 mins something like that.

lovesadventure

James, thank you for your continued excellent advice! We did not make the snorkel trip, but since we are headed to Phuket thought we would be able to make up for it.

We had our last day (Saturday) at the Evason. Just decided to do nothing or at least not much. Catamaran was not available because of tides. So we lounged by the hotel pool, our villa pool and got out to do some archery. A first for us, but it was fun and took less than an hour.

We did venture past the tour desk to have lunch. Little place called Thai House. Food was okay, but at least we did not pay resort prices for it.

Took a taxi up back up to Bangkok, 3.5 hours from Evason, and flew 1-2-Go to Phuket. Arrived yesterday evening.

1-2-Go is definitely a budget airline. My seat was broken (sloped and leaning to one side) and the seats leave about 8 inches for leg room. The spacial limitations I could deal with for the hour, but the really uncomfortable thing was the air. They did not get the plane running until everyone was loaded on. It was hot, disgusting and smelly air. We unfortunately were one of the first to board, so it was a good 40 minutes in the stifling confines of the plane.

We are staying at the Kata Palm at Kata Beach. I think it is a very nice facility, our firend whom we met here from the states is really impressed, however, I think we are ruined by the Evason. Kata Palm is not as clean, the towels are tiny and grubby and the staff are not as engaged in greeting you etc. The service and facilities are likely standard for our price point, but the Evason has thrown that all off. For reference, the Evason book rate is about 5x that of the Kata Palm. Our Hua Hin leg was shared with my parents who require a higher standard of luxury than we do...although apparently we can very much enjoy it also!

Grabbed a quick bite to eat, did not get lunch, and headed to the open air market at Phuket Town. The Thai call it the open market, not the night market. The place is huge. Not catered to tourists as much (many many tiny sized clothing with tiny sized prices) and although I am sure it does not compare to the Bangkoks weekend market, we were quickly disoriented.

Tried my first street or market vendor food. Sugar cane juice and a banana pancake with chocolate syrup.

We also experienced our first tropical shower. As we boarded the taxi to Phuket town, the rain started to come down. It rains hard here. But 5 minutes later it was over.

Today I wander while the boys play golf at Blue Canyon. Then Moms Tri Kitchen for dinner.

Ciao!

JamesA

Enjoy Mom Tri's, Gpanda is in Karon now at the Old Phuket having just left Le Meridien so same as you going from lux to 'reasonable'. If you go into Patong on 2nd Road ( Rat-U-Thit ) in front of the high rise Royal Paradise on the main road they have street market stalls most nights and tends to be more interesting than the shops and stalls along the main beach road.

If you walk along that road running behind Club med heading north there are some bars ( beach Club ) which can be fun for drinks in the evening.

Phuket Simon Show ( just before getting in to Patong ) is a good fun show and good value for about USD 15 a ticket.

I really shouldn't say this now but for anyone else...from the Evason at Pranburi to Phuket is about 7 to 7.5 hrs by road so total Evason to Kata beach about 8 hrs with a couple of stops, it's about 600 km ( 400 miles ) would cost about B 6,000 ( about USD 165 )

lovesadventure

James, again Thanks! I thought about the "by land" route to Phuket, but I get carsick and saw all those winding roads on the map...

Well we spent yesterday at the hospital with food poisoning. KIDDING! No problems with the street food.

Mom Tri's (pronounced Mom Tree--the taxi drivers had a heck of a time with my Mom Try directions) was a disappointment. We ate at the kitchen. Ambiance was okay, although it was pitch black and we heard rather than saw the proximity to the ocean. Service was wonderful, we were getting warm because the air was pretty stagnant where we were, the staff quickly brought us eucalyptus cold towels and a electric fan to cool the area of 4 tables down.

Food was okay--not spectacular. But perhaps we ordered poorly or my expectations were too high. Had crab souffle and coconut soup for appetizers. Both were too rich. Good and tasty, but I could only have bites of each otherwise I would have had to skip the entree. Entrees we had a curry sea bass and a peppercorn (from the Thai side of the menu) duck. Duck was overcooked and sauce was not balanced. Fish was better, but still not highly memorable. We skipped dessert, and we rarely skip dessert. We were not offered either of the tasting menus listed on the website.

Today we did John Grey's sea canoe tour, Hongs by Starlight. A really wonderful day...long but memorable. Met a bunch of people from the Trip Advisor's forum who happened to be on the same trip. I defintely recommend doing this activity. All abilities and age groups, it was a special experience. Our guide kept us behind in a couple of the hongs so we had them all to ourselves. It's magical in there.

We also booked a Phi Phi day trip for tomorrow, so we'll do some snorkeling.

Tomorrow night, we'll likely try out Patong as you suggest James.

Oh, also had lunch at Mali, the restaurant nearest the Sugar Palm Resort (sign says Mali, receipt says Jasmine). Had an excellent Coconut soup there.

lovesadventure

We've left Phuket, and it wasn't too soon. We stayed in Kata Beach and it was too geared towards tourism for us. Our Phi Phi day trip, while the idea of the place inspired this trip, was fairly forgettable. The tour companies are not ecologically friendly (you can see where the coral is dead when snorkeling) and it's sad that they are destroying this area for the mighty dollar, rather than preserving its beauty for future generations.

We moved up to Khao Lak yesterday. We are staying at the Similana Resort, which has a totally different feel than anything we found in Kata. We have a beachfront tree house that looks over onto the serene and picturesque beach. I believe 3 hotels share this stretch of beach, and you have to look hard to see evidence of the next hotel. The beach is almost deserted, and the entire area has a hushed sensation to it. Crickets, frogs and birds, their voices reign.

Took my first go at driving a scooter. There is far less traffic here than anywhere else we've been, but it's still scary (2 lanes painted, 4 lanes used). I think we'll go to a car (something with a layer between me and the pavement) for our next few days.

Khao Lak is pretty sleepy and very quaint. For us, I think it is exactly what we are looking for right now. Next will be the madness of Bangkok!

maisymoo

Stayed in Khao Lak in October this year. Try the beach restaurants along the beach from Similana go left and head towards Sarijon and you will see three nice beach restaurants. The middle on has the best spring rolls made by the owners wife. Make sure you try the chicken skewers at Similana they are wonderful

lovesadventure

In Bangkok now. It is busy, but was not a shock to us as we've spent time in Taipei and HK which move at a similar rapid pace.

Had an afternoon at the Weekend Market and 2 days with Tong. She's wonderful. Had her husband pick up special pad thai for us as wel as took us to restaurants where we were the only farangs. Coconut Palm near Wat Po was delish!

Those looking for Chotre Chitre, she also knows exactly where this is. Took us for "famous" mango sticky rice after lunch there. Sticky rice is DIVINE!

Program included Grand Palace, Wat Po, Klong Tour, making merit, orphanage, Presart museum and some restaurants. A lot to cram in, so I'm waiting for it to all sink in.

More to come!