Unfortunately we were only staying in Hua Hin one night; it is such a nice little city with the charm anyone could easily call home. We packed our bag and headed out for morning breakfast and to catch our bus. The 'normal' breakfast in Thailand really isn't all that different than their other meals of the day, with the exception of a savoury rice porage with pork and a soft egg. Tim was able to enjoy a meat stick and some rice, I wasn't feeling it this morning.
We made our way to the bus stop and bumped into a Thai Air force Captain. Their uniforms remind us very much of American flight suits and their ranks are definitely the same as the USA. We got his name, but it turned out too hard to remember, but he is a Bell 412 helicopter pilot (similar to the ones Canada has) and he is assigned to the King's Royal Guard. He was in Hua Hin for the weekend as the King has his weekend/summer home there. It was interesting to get a Thai perspective on military service, in ways mandatory, but also similar to ours where you can get an education and incur obligatory service. This gent was 9 years into his 10 year service and had no intention on an extension. He told us military extension are very rare and that he doesn't see himself flying for a living after leaving the military.
We found our bus at the clock tower; we were second to arrive. I got Tim to put our bags under the bus while I secure some great seats, second floor front of the bus. Tones of leg room and a huge window to view the driving show. Lomprayah is an amazing company; not only was their service good, they supplied a light breakfast (a crescent and juice), their buses are a little dated, but very comfortable and their catamaran is first class. The bus took about 3.5 hours through many little town which for some reason all looked very similar.
The scenery became noticeably tropical with increased palm trees and bamboo. Before we knew it, we were in Chumpon, one of the departure points for the islands. Clearly the bus was scheduled well as we were only at the dock for about ten minutes before requested to load the boat; which was much larger than we anticipated. It probably has a capacity of 3-4 hundred, having three levels; we choose the open air, roof top seating area right at the front.
The islands are located about 90 km from the coast, but the boat made the journey only took about an hour and half. A local dive instructor, a nice Australian guy living on Koh Toa, pointed out 'flying fish' skimming along the open water. Interesting little fish that look like they can fly about 20-30 feet just above the surface.
We arrived to Koh Pha Nang at about 4pm and quickly found our little guesthouse (GH). The 4 U GH is above a little French cafe owned by a French expat serving crepes and fancy European drinks. Cute place that supplies board games and free internet to customers. I would suggest that not everyone would like staying at this GH because the techno music was quite loud into the night. Our room is probably the old kitchen, located directly behind the bar, but they have about 5 rooms upstairs as well. It has a shared bathroom, but also very cute common area. For only about 360 Baht ($18) a night on an expensive island, I would say it is very worth it. Our room is super cute and the air conditioning is really cold; the only thing missing would be a fridge.
After checking in, we set out to explore the little town. It only took about 10 minutes to explore the entire market area, but we found an excellent central food market where we quickly decided on soup for me and spicy papaya salad with pickled crab for Tim. I was so worried the food would be super spicy, but I find that it is quite bland until you add the fish sauce, sugar, vinegar and spice. So I didn't overdue the spice, I had Tim dress my soup. His salad was very tasty, but far to spicy for me, even without him adding additional peppers. While he enjoyed it, it was too much food to eat in one sitting and the crab was very salty. I'm very happy we are here for a couple more days; catering to tourist, the food selection at this market is extensive, really delicious and fairly cheap (ranging 40-70 baht, $1.10 – $2.50 per meal).
It was almost immediately apparent the the island thrives on hosting parties for guests to the island. Tonight there is an all-night rave called the waterfall party. We bumped into a bunch of Canadian military guys, an RMS clerk and Supply Tech (two others we didn't talk to) from Halifax looking for their hotel and excited for the nights events. As many do, they had rented scooters and were bombing around town looking for excitement. We declined the rave, but I'm trying to convince Tim to find his inner party animal. I'll be happy to at least experience the full moon party in two days...
