Monday morning was relatively cool after the storm we had yesterday. The temperature was in the high 20's and as we set out for our walk the humidity felt low.
There was a pleasant breeze as we walked along the foreshore, which is always welcome and is what keeps you cool. The low humidity didn't last long as, as if turned on by a switch, the soaking perspiration started and, as happens most mornings, we arrived home as if we'd showered in our clothes.
As we walked down the beach road I noticed a few waves ...
... not big ...
... but waves nonetheless
There even seemed to be a VIP section
- that would be the four lounge chairs, instead of deck chairs ...
... and there was even a model available, which gave me the brilliant idea of ...
Surely it would be a huge success.
Or maybe I could just concentrate my efforts in getting a BIG WAVE themed mall built instead
🙃
That Honda Valkyrie was beckoning to be photographed.
Nice bike, but that carbon "egg shell" helmet?
Yeah , but nah.
Even on days when there are barely no people on the shore the TUE's are out there
with their little trays of delicious fried snacks
On Monday we went to Rajabhakti Park,
also known as The Seven Kings of Siam Memorial
It's about 40 minutes away from our place
This is an aerial view of the main part of the park, which is where you go to see the memorial statues
The two pics above show you how large the entire complex is.
It includes the Army Non-commissioned Officer Training Camp and, I think, the
Rajamangala University of Technology
Rattanakosin (RMUTR) Wang Klai Kangwon Campus.
It's hard to tell as information about almost anything in Thailand is sketchy and rubbery.
Entrance to the park from the highway
You can't walk from the car park to the statues, even though it's ~250 metres.
You are driven there in this very cute open air bus.
View of a new building in the visitors area from the bus
This is one area of Thailand that is pristine and extremely well maintained
Although the Thais revere their royalty .... or least most of them, from what I recently discovered ....
they and their devotees are not immune from being embroiled in scandals and controversy
Despite the Thais desire to be seen as always embracing "sabai sabai"
they can be very passionate and spirited when they feel it is needed.
A monument on the top of a tall hill by the highway.
On the way home we stopped off at a place called FN Outlet.
Here are the steps up to the shops from the car park.
Blood red flamingos ..... of course 🙄
This version is for a review on this terrible store I left on a site.
This is the shot for the blog.
There are some things, such as royalty, especially the current King,
you don't want associated with a scathing review.
"Scathing! Why?" you ask?
From the moment we walked in to this overpriced
(as in same prices as in David Jones Melbourne, or higher)
wannabe outlet store we had a staff member follow us around.
We stopped to look at something. She stopped and kept looking at us.
We moved on. She moved with us.
It was very uncomfortable and somewhat absurd.
We also had staff just standing in our way as we walked around,
making no effort to move, let alone offer some service, as we approached.
Staff actually moved to place themselves directly in line of where we were walking.
A most peculiar way to make customers feel welcome!
FN Outlet Hua Hin deserves its own episode of "Failed Malls".
Tuesday turned out to be a great day as we went to see Mrigadayavan Palace,
(use the link as it is very interesting)
which is only 11kms away, but we also discovered the Chan Wang Restaurant
This is the map of the area in which the palace is built.
There are lots more buildings and training camps than are shown
and many of them are for "special" police and military divisions.
As we drive home from Hua Hin in the late afternoons we have often seen
groups of young men exiting the area onto the main highway.
They seem like clones of each other. All are very fit looking with cropped hair and are dressed in pristine white long sleeve shirt, black tie, beige slacks with black belt, polished black shoes and all carry the exact same black brief case.
I am sure they are the Thai version of "Men in Black".
Tiz at the entrance.
This is a rare place in Thailand where everyone, Thais and foreigners,
get charged the same - 30 baht
There is a need for all, in these sorts of places, to cover your shoulders and knees,
as we learnt earlier on in our visit to Thailand.
We carry a couple of lightweight sarongs with us for these occasions.
Plus, I think I look rather good in blue 😉
The following pictures are of the "row house" in which the inner court's attendants lived in
A photo which hung in an otherwise nondescript room.
There was no explanation but it shows a lot of the Thai, in general.
A young king protected by armed soldiers and revered by subjects.
There was so much to see but unfortunately a lot of it was under restoration.
What we did see was great and am glad we went.
As you would have noticed on the map for this area it had "Chan Wang Restaurant" in the title box
This is because, although we went to the palace and had intended to eat at their tea room,
which we couldn't find due the poor signage, we thankfully found this place.
We cannot recommend it highly enough and it's worth going here to see the place and it's reviews
I had to share this pic as it made me laugh so much.
Tiz, who suffers from "brain freeze" had just take her first big slurp of the pineapple smoothie,
and that is Why The Face!
🤣
Homage to Bob Marley, as well as many others, including Elvis, who have eaten there ...
I think
A rack displaying ingredients for many good times
Tiz has been watching a show called "Gentleman Jack" and this reminded me of it
Quite happy listening to Jack Johnson
Equally happy
Probably the best coconut Tiz had in Thailand
Definitely the best Pad Thai Gai she has had, ever
Freshly made. We could see into the kitchen as they made it.
It took a while, as it was seriously spicy BUT still tasty.
All too often the spiciness overwhelms any flavour, but not in this case.
This made me laugh.
Himalayan pink salt packaged for the Italian market and sold and used in Thailand.
🤔
I couldn't understand anything on this bottle other than "HEINZ"
and the single picture of the chilli.
It should have had this on it
This one was a 99/10 on the 0 being water and 10 being harmful scale
Chan Wang advertises "European" food,
Lord only knows why though when their Thai food is so good,
and cleverly has some good olive oil in its condiments' baskets
The offending pineapple smoothie that gave Tiz "brain freeze".
But, it was simply the best fruit smoothie either of us had ever had.
Less than AUD 18.50!
Out the back of the restaurant
A special training facility just over the road from the restaurants car park
There's no doubt that the people that come out of there are very "special"
And if you have a need for any "special" equipment or clothing
there's even a store close at hand that sells surplus from the training facility
... and another that sells army "special" surplus
We have four day left in Thailand.
Today, Wednesday, will be spent having Tiz's crown installed, hopefully for the last time,
and we'll "play it by ear" for our final two days in Cha Am.
It's now 10:30am and we need to get ready to head off to the dentist so I'll sign off.
We hope to see you all again soon
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