Monday 22nd April 2019 - Easter Monday, for us, or, if you're Thai, just another day

Yesterday, and the few days preceding it,  must have taken a toll as I slept in 'til 9 this morning.
For our morning walk we went to the Fresh Food Market and then home from there the long way around. It's a 5.5km walk, which for us is only a stroll these days.

 The yellow line shows our path and the far left is where the Fresh Food Market is, and which we crisscrossed until we had traveled every aisle.

Enough variety and quantity of chilli to keep anyone happy.

Our friend Duncan would be particularly happy with this stall. 

Thai staples - shallots, chilli and lemongrass

Dried seafood, of every variety

....and more dried seafood

Instead of walking back home via Narathip Road, which is normal for us, we took the back road which runs parallel and to the north of it. 

As you can see it's very quiet. 

This is about halfway between its start, at the highway, and its end, at the beach road.

We saw this really nice condo block, called Thai Paradise South, with a house for rent.

It's only one block from the beach, with very nice grounds and may well be worth remembering for the possibility of renting in the future.

The beach road, looking south, was all but desserted

Looking north was no different

The busiest intersection in Cha Am, see above, during holiday periods 

was again manned by the police this morning, see below

Looking west towards the highway from the beach road

Tiz (left) and Lee (right) spent part of the afternoon getting manicured and pedicured

It cost them less than AUD 18 for the manicure and a pedicure, each

Tiz is a whiz. 

With a bit of lettuce, a carrot, half an onion, a bag of gyoza, a few steamed pork buns, a few tablespoons of Kewpie sesame sauce, some sriracha sauce and a squirt of soy sauce she made an awesome meal. Chang beer made it even better.

👌😀👍 

  

After dinner I spoke to Angus and chocolate was mentioned.

It's not right that we should go through an entire Easter without at least some chocolate, even if it is a little hard to find in Thailand. But, we live next to a Makro so off I went to get some.

Well, the bloody place has almost everything EXCEPT chocolate.

Whilst I scoured the aisles for the fourth time I thought I would take a picture of 

the original Red Bull.

It sells for 39 cents, Australian, for a 150ml bottle, which I am led to believe is much more potent than the brew that is sold to and used by westerners. 

I tried it, ~30 years ago, and it was like amphetamines, 

or least what I believe amphetamines to be like.  

I never tried it again.

I hope you all had a safe and peaceful Easter and that the short work week ahead treats you well.

Cheerio, Marino & Tiz

Sunday 21st April 2019 - A very Happy Easter to you all!

Being Easter we decided that we would celebrate the day by doing something a little special.

Upon reflection, every day is special and even more so given the fact that we are able to enjoy places like Cha Am and Hua Hin.

Lee and Tiz had a good look through the interwebz, including asking the punters on "Stalkbook", at the choices available and decided on the Beach Cafe and Restaurant in Hua Hin

It's off the beaten track and down some very narrow sois but it right on the beach 

The views from our table, on the cliff top

Some of what we had for lunch follows.

I say "some of" because once the food arrives I often forget to grab the camera to take a pic.

Mojito. Strong and full of flavour.

Crab cake with mango salsa

Prawn cocktail

Shrimp mousse on toast

Prawns with tamarind sauce

Deep fried sea bass

We were 10 minutes walk away from one of Hua Hin's biggest malls so we decided to go for a look.

Unsurprisingly it was yet another big mall. Nice, but just like most malls that cater for cashed up tourists and the few rich locals alike. 

It had all the usual brand stores like H&M, Esprit, Ecco, Starbucks and hundreds more including Next Optical, a fashion prescription spectacles store, that quoted me AUD 3100 for a replacement set of glasses for me. The $3100 consisted of $300 for a pair of Ray Ban frames and $2800 for the lenses. I didn't pickup on it at first, "it" being the $3100, as I'm sure my brain saw it as $310.

After all, this is Thailand and everything is supposed to be cheap, or at least cheaper.

Then Lee piped up and I simply apologised for my confusion, as I had said I would return tomorrow with a deposit, and explained that I could buy the same in Australia for 1/5th of their price.

They protested that they were providing a premium product and it was well worth it.

As our Queenslander countryfolk would say "Yeah, but nah!"      

On the way out of Hua Hin we came across, and went under, another structure dedicated to the King.

It has a bunch of panels with pics of him and his family.

And that was our Easter.

We hope yours was as peaceful and enjoyable as our and that we see you again here soon.