Tiz was paying the price for last nights chilli laden meal.
We came across two bus loads of soldiers disembarking into the local barracks,
which look a lot like a nice hotel.
They seemed very friendly as we walked past them and said hello.
I'm thinking that they're here for the Songkran festival, to give the local police a hand,
as the crowds will flood in and the potential for a ruckus increases
And I thought that concrete balustrades were exclusively an Italian thing!.
Not so. In fact, the Thai have a lot of really woggy like tastes 😆
Police can ride luxo scooters like this .....
.... and they can ride pocket rockets like these.
Both versions are very subtle in their police exclusive features.
I've started to notice a lot of faux anodised titanium type finishes on seemingly useless accessories,
like the round bar you see above the number plate and below the tailgate.
And here's another colourful example of a round bar that doesn't seem to serve any useful function.
Here are a couple of examples of elaborate stainless steel cage work on the back of utes.
It shows off the skills of the fabricators as well as making the passenger look like they are being protected by something pretty rather than just a scungy cage.
When we got home Tiz had cooked up this really nice marinated chicken and mushroom dish.
Really tasty. Have I mentioned that chicken here is less than AUD 3/kg?
And the quality is to die for.
A salad, some sauce and a beer completes it!
At night we went down to the Village Restaurant and Bar for dinner.
It got the nod because Tiz saw that it had rave reviews on its pad thai dish.
It didn't disappoint. This is mine with pork. Tiz had hers with prawns.
Lee had pork and cashew nut, which she said was light on the cashews but very nice.
The bill was not overly cheap but it reflected the cleanliness, the decor, the friendliness,
the service and the quality. If you look at the bill you will see "banana fritters".
I was simply hanging out for sweets, so much so I forgot to take a pic, but they were utterly delicious and made from Thai Lady Fingers, which are super tasty and super sweet.
Definitely worth returning to.
It cost us ~AUD 16 per head and ~AUD 25 for the taxi round trip.
I forgot to mention just how entrepreneurial this crew are.
This place is a restaurant and a bar but they also provide massages, money exchange, taxi service, tours, scooter rentals ..... and probably a lot of other things I didn't see advertised.
All served up with smiles that entice you to spend more.
As you can see it's quite close to the Novotel complex, but in a quiet little village away from the hustle and bustle of both Cha Am and Hua Hin
This is it from the outside
This scene made me laugh.
It's three "chunky" farangs on a 125cc Scoopy scooter heading on down the road after dinner.
Three Thai are often seen on these low powered scooters, and they manage, but with ~200+ kgs on it you could hear it groan and grind.
As the shops are either closed or on restricted hours over Songkran
we popped in to Makro for supplies.
Our biggest buy yet - AUD 77 - but the beer and gin, both being absolute necessities,
was the bulk of it.
The day is over and it's time to rest.
Tune in tomorrow for a report on Songkran!
