Last day in Hua Hin.. boo hoo

Tuesday

It's our last day and we are making the most of it, by doing absolutely nothing again.  I finished my book by Kate Mosse, The Winter Ghosts, did some Spanish, listened to some music and generally padded around.

Every day so far, the the morning is was still, by lunchtime an onshore wind starts of blow and by late afternoon it is blowsy before dying down in the evening.  Today the wind got stronger and stronger as the day went on, lovely to sit in keeping you cool, but of course can be deceptive and you can burn very easily.

A Japanese meal in the evening and a relatively earlier night as we have to be up at 6am tomorrow.

There has been a real mix of people staying at the hotel, a smattering of English, German, Norwegian, a few Thais and Japanese, but the majority are Chinese families.  Would love to know whether they are mainland Chinese middle class, or expats, they certainly had largish families and plenty of money to spend. a really good crowd of people.  Everyone was so friendly.

The hotel was laid back, although very quiet.  The main months are January and February, but one of the Thai staff told me that it was more than quiet, a lot of non Thai's being put off with the troubles in Bangkok.

We did have a good effect on Thailand, they are stopping the state of emergency in Bangkok from Wednesday, so let's hope the tourists come flooding back in.

Lying around doing nothing is so exhausting

Sunday and Monday 16/17th March

More of the same, huddling under umbrellas during the day with the occasional swim in the fabulous pool.  A beer late afternoon looking over the sea, a walk around the gardens.

On Sunday night they did an Indian buffet in the NAzia, the food was wonderful, but Rod had to roll me back to the room.  Last night we we back at Luna Lanai by the sea and I had more Thai food but it wasn't quite so hot!  It is so aromatic and tasty, I would love to cook some at home if I could get the spices right.

Busy Doing Nothing

Friday and Saturday 14th/15th  March

Didn't do anything today, but sit by the pool in the garden, read my Kindle, swim in the pool do a bit of Spanish and listen to my ipod, chat to Rod and a few others and chill. perfect....

The hotel has 4 restaurants, NAzia where we've already eaten, Luna Lanai which is by the sea and does Thai and European foods, Salas an Italian and The Deck.  Tonight we opted for Italian and it was lovely and very Italian which sounds weird.

Got to talk about the breakfasts here.  It is an amazing buffet and of course Rod is enjoying himself immensely.  But they have the most wonderful fruit platter of stuff I've never heard off.  So I start my day with a big plate of  it.

There is the usual banana, different melons, pineapple, lychee, papaya, then the red skinned one is Rose Apple (Chom-Poo), delicate and really crunchy, they have mankey looking green tangerines which are just wonderful, and then one not on her called Sapodilla (L-Moot) which is like eating toffee custard, amazing.  The yellow one we can't find out what it is called, but Rod wants to bring a crate of it home with him.

Another day by the pool, but today was blisteringly hot,  so definitely stayed way in the shade all day.

In the evening we jumped the bus back into town and had another wander around.  Saturday night is locals night and the place was packed.  The night market is lined with food stalls and restaurants selling every kind of seafood cooked directly for you, but tonight we didn't stick around too long as so hot, humid and crowded, you feel exhausted.  We watched Thailand go by for a while before coming back to the hotel.

Went to Luna Lanai for late dinner.  I think they had a different chef on from the other night, I had a green curry that made my curl.  Brilliant but took a while for me to feel my lips again.

We watched fisherman below us wading in the water and casting nets and pulling in we don't know what.

Hua Hin

Thursday 13th March

We are now firmly in the Sheraton, and what a lovely hotel.  We have a standard room, the luxury ones must be amazing.  Actually the only difference I think, unless you have a suite, is that we don't face the pool.  I am quite happy having to walk 100m to get to the pool.

We just relaxed all day today under an umbrella.  It is very hot and humid, and the sun can be blistering, so trying to be really careful.  The hotels has only two storeys and is set among lovely gardens.  There is Jasmine everywhere, and I think they are called Jacaranda.  At night when you are walking anywhere there is the most wonderful perfumed aroma everywhere.

It is right on the beach, but there is little beach to speak of and the tide is in a lot.  Earlier I heard someone say they had seen a couple of man'o'war jelly fish just off the beach.  We did go for a swim earlier today, but think we might give it a miss in future!

I didn't quite know what to expect but thought Hua Hin would be a small seaside town, but wrong, it's an enormous resort. It isn't the sweeping beach with azure seas, there seems to be a permanent heat haze, although the beach is shallow, there is a constant wind that gets stronger in the afternoon and the surf is quite rough.  Not that we mind, it is lovely sitting in the gardens.

We are about 10kms from the resort centre, but the hotel has a minibus that drives in an back every hour, and today we caught the 4pm bus in.  Probably a bit early as it was still hot and sticky. I was amazed at the size of the place.  We wandered around for about half and hour, and then the thirst for beer set in.

One thing I forgot to mention yesterday is the Thai driving.  How they manage not to kill themselves when they move around is amazing.  They weave in and out of each other, moped circle around the cars.  The moped usually have the mum, dad, three kids and the dog all clinging to them.  I sucked my breath in a number of times on the journey down here.  But nobody seems to get uptight or road ragey about it, it is obviously just how is done over here

There are lots of little streets with bars and we opted for one and sat down. Rod told me he felt a bit strange, as it was soon apparent that after dark, this was the red light area, but the bar and the girls were really friendly. He thought he might be dragged off in a back room and have to pay lots of money.  An English couple from Worcester say down with us, Rod nicknamed him the major, as he looked just like one, but they were great fun.  They travelled every year out to Thailand, and then added Cambodia or Vietnam or Laos.  They were seasoned travellers, and after talking to them about Thailand, Rod felt a bit better.  I thought the place was amazing.

All looked a bit seedy and full of aging western men walking about..... umm

We only had about 40 minutes before the bus back, but the place was vibrant, and we will go in another time and I will take some pictures.

Exhausted with the heat we came back to the hotel and had dinner.  The hotel has a number of restaurants and chose Azia tonight who do Thai, Indian and Chinese food.  We opted for a Thai Platter between us and I thought I was going to explode by the end.  The food was just wonderful, hotel but aromatic.  It was a great way to try a variety of new dishes, and we loved them all.

Bangkok

Tuesday 11th and Wednesday 12th March

Lovely flight, I even managed to sleep a little.  Watched Thor I and Thor II, ended up cross eyed but totally in lust with Thor!  don't tell Rod, and I should know better at my age.

We arrived at Bangkok airport at 9pm and we were in the Novotel by 9.30 that's not bad going. The bed was the size of the camper van, thought I might sleep width ways for a change..... wonderful. Unfortunately we were wide away at 5.30 am.. goggle eyed.

The hotel had a lovely garden on the terrace and we went out and sat in the relative quiet with running water everywhere, until it was time to leave

The taxi arrived promptly at 10am and we had a 2.5 hour journey down to Hua Hin.  It was a fabulous journey.  Firstly we had to go through Bangkok, and then the road continued without a break in buildings all the way down to Hua Hin.  I presume that they build everything next to the road, but it's unending.

There is just commerce everywhere, it's fascinating.  You would have a huge battered looking factory,  then a high rise glass office, then a smartish villa, and then wooden houses, which looked like nailed together packing cases, all next to each other.  I don't know if there are 'nice' areas and less rich areas, but it seemed they were all jumbled together.  When a building falls out of use, it is just left to fall down.

Over Bangkok, thankfully there is a main arterial bypass and you can look down onto the city. Again there is so much building, huge great office blocks and apartments and then if you looked down, little wooden shacks hanging onto the overpass.

I know that Thailand is a major manufacturer to the world but it was endless.Then you would get a huge row of business selling wooden objects, or life size brightly painted animals, or wooden shrines, or funerial shrines.  Every so often in the middle of all the buildings you would see the recognisable colours of gold, red and green temples poking up.  Occasionally there was a huge golden Budda or brightly tiled mosque.

I was completely goggled eyed from taking it all in, so much to see and understand.

At last we reached the Sheraton at Hua Hin.  Gorgeous, right next to the see, huge bed, huge bath, swimming pools everywhere.   aaaaaahhhhh!  will tell you more as we go on.

On to Thailand

Tuesday 11th March

I am sitting at the airport in Auckland writing up my blog.  There is so much to tell you about our trip here, our observations of New Zealand,  the wonderful scenery we have seen.  It doesn't seem possible that 7 weeks has passed already, but we both feel that if we never come back, we have done NZ proud.  We have been top to toe in both North and South Island and across the middle a number of times.

It's nice to leave feeling that we still have places to visit here, walking to do and more adventures to have. We've learned a lot about travelling and what we like and what we would do differently, and what a great place to learn in.

The weather has been kind to us, and that we chose a great time to get away from the UK, and feel for all our friends who have suffered a bloody awful winter.  Let's hope we can bring some warmth and sunshine back with us.

We are looking forward to Thailand and we are thinking about the troubles they are having there and hope nobody is hurt in their troubles.  With any luck we will be well away from the demonstrations.

And lastly I have to admit to looking forward to a large sprung bed which we don't have to make up each night and where we don't have to walk across a field to have a shower or go to the loo.

We loved the camper and wouldn't have done it any differently, but that doesn't mean I won't enjoy a week or luxury!!!

Hopefully I will have wifi in the hotel and can continue the conversation.

One day to go

Monday 10^th March

Well our last whole day and we hadn't got a clue what to do today, really we just wanted to be on our way to our next adventure, but we didn't want to waste it.  There was nothing particularly interesting marked on the map,  so we drove up the river peninsular to Port Waikato.  Again a lovely drive, to nothing much at the end and so we came back, but worth the effort.  Had lunch in Tuakau and drove straight to our last night camp, about 30 kms from the airport.

So spent the afternoon doing our chores, washing, especially the swimming togs that ponged of sulpher, cleared out the van and chucked out the rubbish, tidied the cupboards, wifely chores are never done.

A few random pictures:

An observation: Really weird in a country that prides itself on being ego in about everything.  Going into the supermarket and finding displays for 'caged chicken eggs'.  Surely they could do free range really easily. Stopped us for buying and eating any.

Last but One

Sunday 9^th March

It's all drawing to a close and we are leaving the Coromandel today and heading back to Auckand and the airport. So what more could we do.  We decided in the end to have a day driving more of the Coromandel, with lovely scenery, beach after beach, Cooks beach especially. Up to Cathedral Cove and down to Hot Water Beach. Literally at low tide you can dig a hole in the sand and it fills up with hot thermal water, a bit pooey, but good fun.

From there we went through the towns Thames and Tairua and back on the highway to Miranda Hot Springs.  

The camp site was right next to the hot springs, and we found out that the camp had its had it own hot springs and we had our own pool. Wonderful to smell rotten eggs again, but great to sit in the Springs and bubble away.

Whitianga

Saturday 8^th March

We were out of Coromandel today and headed up and over the top of the Peninsular to a place called Whitianga. On the way we drove a small road up to Whangapoua, where you could walk to one of the 10 most beautiful beaches in the world... it said. Unfortunately the tide was coming in and we had to make do with a beach walk on a less stunning one, but have to say that was quite stunning enough for me!

The beach next tot the best beach - just glorious!

We trundled around to Whitianga, a small, but slightly livlier seaside town on Mercury Bay. We were going to stay for two nights here, but again everything closed at 5pm. So a rethink was called for. What were we going to do for the last 2 days of our trip. Looking at the map there wasn't really any where we specifically wanted to go. Rod wanted us to be nearish to the airport on the last night, but what about tomorrow. We are both feeling a big jaded and travelled out, so in reality it didn't matter where we went.

What a road

Coromandel

Friday 7^th March

We stayed put in Coromandel town for another night and had a relaxed day, the sun was shining and the sky blue. Today we drove further up the coast to a place called Colville where the road suddenly ended and the civilised world stops.

All there is in Coleville is a good cafe, a small shop, a few houses and a Buddist Temple! But have to admit it is a lovely peaceful place for it on a bay, a tranquil place to retreat too.

Another fishy theme for dinner, this time some lovely smoked Kingfish and scallops, with fresh bread and olives. Perfect.

Coromandel Pub - it hasn't change much

Up and over Auckland

Thursday 6^th March

To get anywhere in North Island means crossing through Auckland. We were on our way to The Coromandel, the last area in NZ that we had not touched. Luckily Auckland has a freeway that runs right over the city, so you don't have to drive through the city. A bit hair razing, as NZ drivers always drive 6 inches from the back of each other.

At last we were through and out the other end of the city into the country again.... phew!  We are coming to the point when it is time to leave, I don't know whether it is just that we have done and seen so much, or a need for a change, or a mental switch that we know we are leaving soon. What I didn't expect was to be completely wowed again in this lovely country. Parts of the Coramandel are just stunning, and go more so the further we went.

We stopped for coffee at a really bizarre little cafe, with cut out pictures of Diana and the boys, and William and Kate everywhere, very strange..... non of Charlie boy though, so we know where their alligence lies.

We decided to stay in Coromandel town which looked about the biggest place around, and found a little campsite walkable into town centre. I thought as it was the weekend, that maybe it might be a bit more alive than most places we've been, but again, when we walked into at 7pm it was closed.

On our way into town Rod spotted a Fresh Oysters sign and the van just took itself right there. The whole area is reknown for its fish, well everywhere here is really, so we bagged up a dozen oysters, and a tub of fish chowder and headed for home. We bought some nice bread and that was our dinner, fabulous.

A Pootle Around

Wednesday 5th March

Left lovely Waipu Cove and headed down the coast road, past Magawhai Heads where we stayed earlier in the week, and through to Wellsford where we tuned left and headed back down to the coast again.

Unfortunately Rach and family have the Tutmosis trots, so we decided to give them a wide berth, real shame, but we don't want to leave the country in that stay.

It was hellish hard driving today and I was exhausted by the time we got to the coast, but worth it and so lovely when we finally arrived. That's the thing about NZ, you look at the map and think, that's not far, and two hours later you are still driving round wiggley roads.

Our first stop was Bayleys Beach, but couldn't go far out as really rough today. Three cars were lined up on the beach with surf dudes! looking wistfully at the waves..... No surfing today for them. We drove on to Goat Island, didn't see any,  I should add, then Cape Rodney and down to Omaha Bay, and then back to Warkworth, very picturesque.

Every road you travel in NZ you will see road works I would say every 20kms. Me and Rod have decided that they are really a NZ job creation scheme. Every set has at least 10 people, even for the smallest of them, and they all have two go/stop people at each end.

Our camp ground that night was going to be Waiwera.... 'a quiet spot, but picturesque camp ground near the hot springs' so says the Hema Guide. Well we arrived at this place at four, a crinkly old lady came out and showed us around. The impression I got was of Psycho's Bates Motel, campground style. The old woman should really have sat on the veranda in a rocking chair, with a dark figure peering through the window at us, with a knife, screeching at us.

I made my excuses and backed away quickly. The place should have been condemned years ago, and I can easily say it was the worse place we have come across so far.

So we trundled on down the coast to Owera and found us a nice stopping place, complete with lovely beach to walk up and down. Just outside North Auckland and you could see it was all holiday homes, for those escaping the city at weekends. I thought it looked a good place for a weekend from Auckland.