In Thailand Every Day is Interesting!

I settled in to a lovely Blue Lagoon Condo in North Hua Hin for 8 weeks.

I felt so fortunate to connect with Jib, my new real estate agent & now good friend. Irina whom I met in a yoga class at the Sheraton introduced us. I am forever grateful that we met.

My location was a 15- 20 minutes rideshare from the Hua Hin Town & Malls & 7 minutes to the Hua Hin Airport, the Makro large grocery store., and the Index/ Villa Market complex. Most expats prefer to be walking distance to town, restaurants & bars, but I preferred the quiet and amenities of where I was, albeit a bit farther out. I went into town often. I booked private Thai language sessions at the Thai Language Center Hua Hin between Soi 63 & Soi 65, upstairs, just behind the Hua Hin Pharmacy. Khun Gorp was my Teacher twice a week for 4 weeks. I made noticeable progress with speaking, learning tones, & letter recognition to read, decoding simple Thai words. On class days, I started at The House of Croissants. It’s just down the street from the main Post Office & Father Ted’s Tavern, same side of the street. The baked goods are amazing and they have lovely food and drinks too. I was always on time for class because I studied there with a yuzo ice coffee coffee & a treat first.

House of Croissants

Download the street is the entrance to the Main Beach at Hua Hin. There is a fun daytime beach market always busy with local and expat families.

Beach Market Hua Hin

Near the school is the best used bookstore in Hua Hin for expats. Baan Nangsue is nearby on Soi 61 but across the main road. They have a large selection of used paperback books in English, French, German, Swedish and I found my beach reads there! The safest way to get there is to walk back down to the traffic light opposite City Hall. Once on the Hua Hin City Hall side of the street, walk back a block to find Baan Nangsue.
After class, I usually took a Tuk Tuk to the Market Village or Blueport Mall. Both provide indoor a/c walking space, window shopping, lots of food choices at any price; local Thai treats and western restaurants restaurants, and there is nightly entertainment and food stalls outside of Market Village all winter. While our malls in the USA are old school, they ARE still quite the Town Centers in Thailand.

I liked to eat at Fuji in Market Village and I discovered an amazing Vegan Restaurant just a block from the Hua Hin Village Market, same side of the main road. I ate Mediterranean, falafel and mezzo platters at Ogen several times and even introduced my Thai friend Jib to this yummy cuisine.
Here a a few food photos.


One evening after a Sound Healing Class with Doriane at the Integral Center in Hua Hin, I discovered the Hua Hin Night Market. I had avoided it as too touristy.

My BAD! It’s a gem!


The vendors are friendly & grateful for our support. I found fresh squeezed pomegranate juice & on and often brought some home. I found tee shirts & water bottle carriers that I love, and then I discovered the grilled on the street seafood restaurants! I liked Bird Chili the best. After discovering what we in the US call Caribbean lobster, but this one is more local, from the Andaman Sea south of Hua Hin, I returned weekly for my $22.00 dinner of 3 grilled lobster tails, a baked potato and lime soda.

Night Market Lobster Dinner

I took a 5 day trip to Chiang Mai in January to see friends that winter there.

I loved spending 4 days with Stefi & Frank who I first met in 2006 in a Lampang Elephant Homestay.

After our elephant sanctuary morning we changed clothes for a special lunch at the Four Seasons Chiang Mai. I had never been, but Stefi & Frank go for special occasions!


I reunited over a lovely dinner with Lena & Brian whom I met in 2009 & have remained in touch with and another dinner with young friends visiting the same time as me!

And I had a brief visit with my Pai friends, Jay, Wat & Joan in Chiang Mai too. I stayed at the Centara Riverside, formerly the Holiday Inn. I was familiar with the location from past trips and I knew I did not want to be in the tourist, old city, or night market neighborhoods. I did of course stroll within the historic city walls and stop by my favorite ancient temple, Wat Mun Chang one afternoon.

I even got a good haircut!

Stefi knits her own designs. She gifted me this beautiful shawl. I treasure it!

To be with friends & especially to have these lovely days of social connections were very special.

Travel Tip: in Winter, Air]Asia flies from the little and convenient Hua Hin Airport non stop to Chiang Mai with round trips 4 days a week. It was easy and affordable. I loved that I did not have to add two days of travel to Bangkok to fly there. We are all hoping that flights to and from Bangkok and other destinations will be added to Hua Hin in future years.

Here are other sights and scenes from my time in Hua Hin. When family visited over Christmas, we enjoyed the Monsoon Winery. It’s in the mountains about 40 minutes west of Hua Hin. We took a Grab and I hired our driver to stay and wait for us for the return trip home. It might be unlikely to get a rideshare driver on demand so far afield. On the way we passed new golf and other developments in Hua Hin, and Thai villages, and Pineapple, Coconut and Papaya Farms. We had a lovely terrace lunch overlooking the impressive for Thailand’s sandy soil vineyards. Totally enjoyable and recommended.


I also visited the Hua Hin artists colony, the Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand https://www.wfft.org/ animal rescue center, and the Cicada Night Market which is south of the Malls. Things have modernized since my first trip here in 2005-2006. The Cicada Night Market is modern with a stage for live music, and best, dedicated, freshly built, clean western restrooms.

The Wildlife Friends Foundation Day Tour was very worthwhile. They provide transportation from your hotel & the tour costs supports their costly rescue work.

The Hua Hin Artists Colony was an interesting mix of local artists, antiques and treasures. It’s not far out, towards Hin Lek Fai. It was only a 15 minute Grab from north Hua Hin & I had no trouble getting a return Grab when done. It is worth a visit!

Hua Hin Artists Colony 10

Hua Hin Artists Colony 3

But we expats still don’t drink the tap water. Jib brings me water weekly so that I have plenty. When I make salad or wash fruits to eat in, I use bottled water. Sometimes we still come across toilets like this:

The streets are still a perplexing tangle of wires that I and others enjoy photographing. Thailand is emerging first world, but not yet emerged lol.

I have so many more photos but I have to stop somewhere! There’s more to explore in South Hua Hin, from Koh Takieb to Pranburi & south to Prachuap Kiri Khan town. But that will have to wait until next year. To me, being in Thailand is both more interesting & more affordable than wintering somewhere warm in the USA. The trick is to stay long enough to make the excruciating long flights worth the trip! I feel grateful and lucky.