Events of the Week

Happy End of the Week!  Hope all is well with you and yours.  Here are some of the things that occurred this week:

Bob - I was very touched last night after finding out that Bob is being recognized as a Global Vaccine Champion during CDC's World Immunization Week 2016.  The recognition is for “50 Years of Global Immunization Success at CDC,” and they are recognizing Bob along with 2 other people.  The end of polio is very near, and I wish he was here to enjoy the fruits of his labor!  I posted it on Facebook, but I know there are a few people who read this blog that are not on FB.  Here's the link in case you're interested:
http://www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/immunization/worldimmunization/default.htm


Bike Ride from Wat Huay Mongkhol to Hua Hin Vineyards -  I had previously visited both places, so no new pictures of Wat Huay Mongkhol or the vineyard.  What was I thinking?  Even though I was on a bicycle, in this heat, it still felt like an oven...albeit a very large one.   Luckily, we were able to find some shady spots throughout.  Here are some pictures:

The hills surrounding a Royal Family Project park where we stopped

Bike tour guides (Chris and Naan) at the tunneled vegetable garden

Nice vegetables

 Entrance to the tunneled garden

 We road past the Dole pineapple factory and many other farms and fruit trees.  We saw lovely Golden Shower trees (Thailand's national tree).  This was the bike ride with the most hills so far, but I made it...barely. We did not have wine at the vineyard!

Golden Shower Tree (took this picture in town)

Violence in Hua Hin - I hate to end on a bad note, so I'm sticking this in the middle.  My thinking is just in case someone stumbles upon this, I'd best include it.  Here's the link:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/28/shocking-video-emerges-of-british-family-being-brutally-attacked/

Just like in Atlanta, things like this can happen.  I am not concerned for my safety, and you shouldn't be either. Shocking...but they only just released this information to the public 2 days ago! 

Red Moon - to offset the heat, I continue to go down to the beach each evening around 5:30. The breezes are still magnificent!  One night there was a full red moon.  I took loads of pictures but none really did it justice.  Here's my best attempt (it looks a bit like a painting:-)

Red moon over Hua Hin Beach

Hua Hin Artist Village - I was invited to this village by some recently acquired friends.  The village is on the outskirts of town.  My friends were hoping to find a painting to hang in their living room.  It is a very nice artist village with lots of rooms filled with art by locals.  We became intrigued by some of the metal pieces.  Especially this one:

Metal guard at Hua Hin Artist Village

Here are some other scenes from the Artist Village:

There were 2 best parts of this trip.  When we stopped in the cafe for refreshments, we had a very nice breeze and this view (including duck families):

So calming~

The 2nd best part was having a long leisurely lunch at Nab Thong Restaurant.  The food and beer were fantastic:-)  Diet - what diet?

See ya!

Summertime...and Hua Hin is...

...HOT!  No - hot as blazes*sigh* 

Here is the 7 day forecast:

Today 20/04	Tomorrow 21/04	Friday 22/04	Saturday 23/04	Sunday 24/04	Monday 25/04	Tuesday 26/04
Calm 36 °C 27 °C partly cloudy	Calm 36 °C 24 °C partly cloudy	Calm 36 °C 26 °C partly cloudy	Calm 35 °C 26 °C partly cloudy	Calm 36 °C 26 °C partly cloudy	Calm 36 °C 26 °C partly cloudy	Calm 35 °C 25 °C partly cloudy

 *36C = 96.8F  (humidity is hovering around 62% each day)

People who have lived here a long time say that the forecast above will probably be the same until July.  The only change might be higher temperatures.  It gets even hotter in Bangkok!  I will try to remember never to complain about Atlanta summers ever again!!!

So...you might be wondering these things:

1.  What does it feel like?  It feels like you're in an oven.
2.  How do you get relief?  By sitting under a fan or air conditioner most of the day.  Beer doesn't help...believe me...I've tried that:-) 
3.  Do fans really help?  Surprisingly, yes - they're quite effective.  
4.  What happens when you're not under a fan and/or air-conditioning?  You sweat...buckets.
5.  Does swimming help?  Only while you're in the water, or you catch the breeze as you come out of the water.  Once you put clothes on, it's over~
6. What kind of clothes do you wear in this weather?  As few as you can and still be proper - preferably cotton.  Always remember to be respectful at temples!

Good things about the heat:

• It seems to have run most of the mosquitoes away.  Hopefully they were the dengue carrying ones!
• Keeps the city from being bombarded with tourists (although this was not the case during Songkran).
• The breezes on the beach in the evening are magnificent!  Not sure that has anything to do with the heat:-)

Bad things about the heat:

• You lose the desire to go outside.
• When you do go out, you're constantly searching for where the fans are at restaurants, so you can sit right under them.  I think I mentioned before that most restaurants in Hua Hin do not have air conditioning.  When you find an air-conditioned place, you make a bee-line for it.  Price is no object!
• You have to be sure to finish exercising before 8 a.m.

I thought this was cute (not sure how helpful...but cute):

Anyway - I'm surviving...albeit barely.  I have a bike ride scheduled for tomorrow.  Hopefully it will be mostly downhill and breezy.  I'll let you know~

Happy New Year!

As we approach the Thai New Year or Songkran Holiday, I hope that you and yours are in good health and good spirits.

Songkran 2016 in Hua Hin is officially on April 13th.  This is the day that Thais and visitors to Thailand receive water "blessings" all day long.  People won't be able to go outside without getting soaked.  Although many Thais like to celebrate with water for 3 days, Hua Hin officials are asking that people only celebrate one day in order to conserve water during this drought.  Nonetheless, Thais have been celebrating without water for the past two weeks.  We have watched as the population of our quiet little beach town has doubled (or possibly even tripled) with holiday-makers.  Hotels are full, there are traffic jams, the beach is crowded, and every store has water soaker guns and Hawaiian shirts.  Here's a link about how Songkran is celebrated around Thailand:

http://www.asiantraveltips.com/blog/songkran-2016-thai-new-year/

A YouTube video of Songkran 2015 activities in Hua Hin (the car drives right past my Soi):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox5hcYXJSqk&nohtml5=False

This one is more about how to survive Songkran:
http://songkranday.com/songkran-water-festival-in-thailand-2016-tips-for-visitors/

A Bangkok Post link about water conservation during Songkran:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/897356/city-to-limit-songkran-water-splashing

Here on Soi 96/1, we are planning to avoid as much wetness as possible by staying at or near home most of the day.  Nonetheless, I'm sure we will all receive our blessings when we venture out for our daily sundown beach meeting around 5 p.m.  To make things easier, I think I'll just wear a bathing suit all day long.  Should be fun!

Have a great week:-)

Planes, Boats and Automobiles

Hello There!

What a wonderful week!  I hope that your week was wonderful too:-)

I flew to Manila, Philippines last Wednesday to hang out with my friend, Michelle, who was on Spring Break from International School Manila.  As I stated in a previous post, Michelle and I worked together in London.

Wiki link about the Philippines:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippines

Here's the CIA version:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rp.html

Michelle's school:
http://www.ismanila.org/

Although Manila was interesting, the highlight of this trip was a 2-day stay at a resort on Coron Island, which is in northern Palawan province.  This Huffington Post link about the place includes some wonderful images (possibly even better than mine:-/.
 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/24/coron-palawan-philippines_n_6193058.html

Here's a quick run-down of my time in the Philippines:

Day 1 - 6 a.m. bus to Bangkok and flight to Manila took all day.  Arrived late...had dinner...talked to Michelle...went to bed.  Michelle lives on the 37th floor of a very nice apartment complex in Bonifacio (a very swank area of Manila).  More info here: http://edition.cnn.com/2015/05/17/asia/bonifacio-global-city/

View of Manila from Michelle's balcony

Day 2 - Michelle treated me to breakfast at Chelsea Market and Cafe (http://www.marketmanila.com/archives/chelsea-market-cafe), then we went to her school.  The school was very impressive - especially the size of her classroom and the pool.  After school, we went for a walk to Market Market mall then back to the High Street.  After resting for a bit, we went to eat at Orale - very tasty Mexican food.  https://www.facebook.com/oraletaqueria/

Day 3 - Adventure day!  We had to take a seaplane to get to Coron Island.  To get to the seaplane dock, we used Uber (yes - Manila has Uber! So does Bangkok apparently:-).  It was an interesting ride to find the plane.  First, the traffic was pretty bad, which made us late.  Even though Michelle told the driver that the plane was in a certain area, he refused to listen to her (a woman, a foreigner, etc.), so we rode around and around.  We finally arrived very late to find that the pilot, John, had not arrived yet either, however the co-pilot was there.  Michelle and I were the only passengers.  John finally arrived about 10 minutes after us.  A jovial fellow - he told us lots of jokes.  He gave us the safety briefing while sitting outside the Air Juan (http://www.airjuan.com/index.php) office.  We knew it would be a memorable flight...and it was!

Michelle and me about to board the seaplane.

Inside the plane with Captain John

We had beautiful views from the plane

The landing was interesting - we sort of hit the water and bounced up and down a bit before finally settling down.  My first flight on a seaplane!!!!!

Preparing to land

The Two Seasons Resort (http://www.twoseasonsresorts.com/coron/) was a totally worthwhile splurge.  What a lovely place!  The staff met us at the plane with umbrellas, and walked with us into reception.  Filipinos love their umbrellas, because they shield them from the sun.  Our welcome drink came with churros and chocolate, and we had a very nice chat with John, who didn't seem to want to leave.  After being shown to our room, we changed into swimwear and headed for the water.  It was hot, so we actually ended up having drinks and real food out in one of the beach bungalows.   Later that evening, we had a massage (included in our package), then went to dinner.  Great way to start the trip!

Michelle poses much better than me!

Day 4 - Swimming and norkeling day!  We booked Tour A - Coron Island Adventure Tour.  Our wonderful tour guide was Arnold.
 

Arnold

We went in what I call a spider boat, but they call it an outrigger.  I forgot to take a picture of our outrigger, but here's a link if you're interested in how it looks:

https://www.google.co.th/search?q=outrigger+boats+philippines&tbm=isch&imgil=we0E8im-vdFQcM%253A%253BabbaaRM41Ch1zM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.donteverlookback.com%25252Fphoto-friday-34-filipino-fishing-banka%25252F&source=iu&pf=m&fir=we0E8im-vdFQcM%253A%252CabbaaRM41Ch1zM%252C_&usg=__TCO5rtuJV6YmxXY_FYRWTGsbrHQ%3D&biw=1366&bih=657&ved=0ahUKEwjf0r2lvfnLAhUCm5QKHfD7BFIQyjcIJA&ei=ULkEV9_qKYK20gTw95OQBQ#imgrc=mYbNcX_dUm94RM%3A

Outrigger driver

 This tour included stops at:

Kayagan Lake

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/philippines/palawan/coron/sights/lakes-rivers-waterfalls/lake-kayangan

Me at the top of the hill before going to Kayagan Lake

Kayagan Lake - visibility for snorkeling was not good, but it was great for swimming!

Twin Lagoon

Twin Lagoon

Twin Lagoon - ready to swim at a moment's notice

Skeleton Wreck

We did not dive but snorkeled instead.  Taking advantage of another person's dive photos - this is what it looked like:

http://www.divesitedirectory.co.uk/dive_site_philippines_palawan_coron_wreck_skeleton_wreck.html 

Banol Beach 

http://www.ilink.ph/banol-beach 

This is where we had lunch...prepped very nicely by Arnold.

View from the beach

What an absolutely thrilling day!  We ended the day with a lovely surprise - our very own table right on the beach:-)   

Dining on the beach on Coron Island

Day 5 - Seaplane departure time changed from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.  Then everything changed.  Instead of taking a seaplane right from the hotel, we had to take a speedboat to Coron City (smelled of gasoline the whole way - we thought we'd pass out), transfer to a tour bus for the trip to the airport, then fly from Coron City to Manila on Air Juan's 12-seater Cessna.  At the airport, they couldn't tell us what time the plane would leave. I thought that was odd, but Michelle said, "This is the Philippines!"...with a snarky smile:-)  We finally departed with a female pilot and a male co-pilot.  They both appeared extremely focused - no jokes on this flight! We arrived in Manila one hour or so later.  We had a lovely dinner in Aura Mall at Todd English Food Hall (https://www.facebook.com/Todd-English-Food-Hall-Manila-446633605469010/).  I had the best burger ever!  In preparation for my 6:30 (to avoid traffic issues) Uber ride to the airport, we went to bed early.

Female pilot

Plane she flew

Day 6 - I flew from Manila to Bangkok, then took a bus to Hua Hin.  Arrived in time to meet my Sundown group at the beach. 

When we lived in Thailand before, I had a work trip to Manila and Bataan.  So...I wasn't originally considering a trip to the Philippines again, but I am so glad I went!  Despite our sometimes challenging transportation issues, this was definitely one of the best experiences I've had since I've been in SE Asia!

Until next week...may the force be with you!