Ben's Visit To Thailand Part III

So, we return from Hua Hin to find a smelly flat, dust everywhere and broken aircon. Boo. But, to compensate and while they clean mine we are put up in the Chatrium Hotel. Very nice! We were a bit worried about the see-through shower but luckily it had a blind. The view of the river was great and we spent Saturday having a lazy morning with a room service breakfast.

Ben caught in the shower!

View of the posh Chatrium pool from the hotel room

View up the river from Chatrium

We then were treated to a Thai meal of titanic proportions at June and Adul's. Thank you very much it was delicious! Chicken satay, yellow curry, stir fried vegetables, Tom Yum Goong and mango and sticky rice for dessert! What a treat!

In the following days Ben made the most of the pool, visited Wat Po, went to Chatuchak market and had a look around Patpong!

Ben in the pool

On our way somewhere...

Chatrium in the distance

Flowers at Chatuchak

Doll's house cakes at Chatuchak

More flowers at Chatuchak

Sunset by the river

Another boat trip...

On Tuesday night we went to Iron Fairies. Working iron mongers by day, amazing burger restaurant by night! It was very dark, but had amazing decorations and atmosphere. And the burgers...oh good lord!

Fairy dust in jars on the shelves

Secret scribblings

Old sewing machine

Incredible wedges

Burger of dreams!

On Ben's last night we went to Harmonique for some more Thai food, where we had the sesame chicken - definitely a favourite now! 

I had a lovely time with my guest and I hope he did too! In just 10 days he squeezed in...the Grand Palace, dinner by the river (twice), Wat Po, lots of Thai food, a rusty dream, a long train journey, the beach, Chinatown, MBK, Paragon, the cinema complete with Thai National Anthem, amazing duck salad, night markets, a visit to the Amatas, boat trips, skytrain trips, more mexican than is healthy in one sitting, taxis, tuk tuks, Patpong, the view from the State Tower, shopping for sausages in tops, pizza, room service, swimming, Lie to Me, Chatuchak market, 2 hotels, more Thai food and lots more. Not bad eh?! Come back any time!

Ben's Visit to Thailand Part II

On Wednesday morning Ben and I got up early and made our way to Hualampong Train Station in Bangkok to begin our journey to Hua Hin. The train ticket there cost 44 baht each. That's about 90p for a 3 1/2 hour journey. Not bad, we thought! Although it was 3rd class which meant no aircon, but the windows were open all the way and we had a lovely breeze blowing in and some great views. 

Train station

Train similar to ours!

Pretty lamp post on the way out of Bangkok

Ben enjoying the breeze!

Small Thai building (maybe a temple?) we passed on the
way

Lonely old carriage 

Loooooong train

Beautiful blue skies and tall trees

Hua Hin Train Station

Boats in harbour

Once we had arrived, we dumped our bags at the hotel and had a wander around and lunch on the beach which was nice. Hua Hin's beaches are pretty, although quite touristy where we were. Which suited us - it was far to hot to stay on the beach without umbrellas! In the evening we looked around for somewhere nice for dinner and found a little gem called Orchids - Ben and I agreed this was the best restaurant meal out we had while he was here. We only had starters of spicy duck salad, spring rolls and satay, but they were incredible. We then decided to get dessert at the night market...

Ben waiting for his rotee

Lady cooking Ben's rotee

Ready for the condensed milk...!

Yum

Mum's favourite Kanom Kroc

We had a bag of these too...and another type of Thai
dessert as well - we were on holiday after all!

I got very excited when I saw this - until the missing letter
was revealed by the lamp post!

On the second day we spent the morning on the beach reading and taking photos before going for lunch at a lovely place called Cool Breeze Cafe - amazing tzatziki!

The view from our sun beds

We spent our evenings eating some more and wandering around the different night markets. This one was nice as it had lots of murals and some pretty art gallery/houses to go in.

Ben embraces the posing 

Pretty shell art work in the houses

Pretty shell decorations in the houses

The few days we spent in Hua Hin were lovely and relaxing. I'd definitely go back again! Especially for 44B! The train home was a little more expensive (382B) but we had aircon, which by then we were glad of!

Ben's Visit To Thailand Part I

Ben arrived after 2 long flights. It was lovely to see him and not just because he brought me so many treats from the UK. The plan for the first few days was to sight see in Bangkok before our trip to Hua Hin. The following are some photos from Sunday to Tuesday. 

UK treats from the Harwoods and the Kells :) 

Bangkok skyline on Ben's first night

Even though it was incredibly hot (almost 40 degrees!) we took a trip to the Grand Palace for Ben to see a bit of culture.

View of Wat Arun from the tourist boat back from the
Grand Palace

We also made sure we did a bit of shopping (MBK and Paragon!), ate some great food and saw more of the Bangkok skyline. We went to Dine in the Dark, which was a great experience again, if not slightly scary. Then we went up to the State Tower for a drink and so Ben could see how small Chatrium looked compared to the other high rise buildings.

Ben with a duck curry and rice

Ben up at Bar 36