Elephant Village - Hua Hin, Thailand

While in Hua Hin we checked out the Elephant Village that was about a 15-20 minute drive from our hotel. We paid 800 baht each which included a 40 minute elephant ride and a coconut and pineapple snack afterwards.



After we sat on top of the elephant (His name was Peter!) we had the driver take a picture of us.



This statue appears to be some sort of guard for the village, the statue is looking in all directions and there are smaller guard statues at the bottom.



A few more statues, only one side of their chest seems to be covered.





A baby elephant! I think he said this one was about 4 years old..





Jon was nervous that the elephant was going to run!



Krista was fine, and liked to pet Peter's ears!



Looking towards Cha-Am the neighboring town



The elephant took us through water that was about 4 feet deep.





This was our driver.





Hollowed out coconut filled water and a side of pineapple.







You could buy bananas to feed to the elephants, or you could watch them eat the left over coconut for free anyway!



This elephant did a few tricks such as twist a hoolahoop and play the harmonica.






Short clip of the elephant going through water and eating a coconut.



Short clip of the elephant with a harmonica and hoolahoop.

Hua Hin Train Station / Pier

The Hua Hin railway station is one of oldest railway station in Thailand. Its most striking feature is the unique Royal Waiting Room in Thai architectural style. The Royal Waiting Room was built in the reign of King Rama VI in order to welcome the King and his entourage. The outstanding feature of the station is the pavilion constructed in the reign of King Rama VI; it was originally named as "Plub Pla Sanamchan", and it was initially situated at Sanamchan Palace in Nakorn Pathom Province.

The Royal Waiting Room, the original building built in the same architectural style as Maruekkhathayawan Palace, stands adjacent to the station,and is a favourite spot for taking pictures for both Thai and foreign tourists. (info from Hua Hin Tourist Site)









The royal waiting rooms



Why did the nun cross the road?



To get to the Hua Hin Train Station!



While we were cruising around on the scooter we decided to check out the pier. There are many fishermen lounging on the decks of their boats while docked, one of them yelled to Krista "I love you!"

We also came across this navy ship with automatic weapons on it.





No uniforms... they don't really look like they belong on a ship with an automatic weapon.

Elegance Boutique & Thai Silk - Hua Hin, Thailand

While in Hua Hin, we decided to take advantage of the cheap prices of tailor made suits and dresses. Eva, whom we met at our hotel, has known Dave at Elegance for over 10yrs and recommended him. We started off with pants, jacket, 2 shirts and a dress and managed to finish the week off with: 1 pin striped cashmere suit, 7 dress shirts, 1 sport coat, 1 dress, 1 skirt and 1 dress shirt for Krista. We can't quite remember, but we think it was about 20,000baht (~$600) for everything.

During the first fitting, we picked out our material, style and were measured. The second fitting we were measured again for sleeves / shoulder pads.

Second fitting



Second fitting for the sport coat



Final fitting for the suit and skirt



Dave and Krista



Dave, Krista, Jon, Eva and Corbert

These pictures were taken back in Korea, the lighting was terrible so the colours are off, the pink is a nice pink shirt, not light pink. The pics do not do justice..

The shirt on the right is actually a pastel green

Pin striped suit with red inner lining

Sport coat / blazer

Scooter Rental & Hua Hin Market

It would normally cost 100 baht ($3) to get a tuk tuk ride from our hotel to downtown. As you can see, this would add up fairly quickly so we decided to rent our own scooter for the week instead, this way we were able to go when we wanted and stop anywhere along the way.
The first bike we rented was a manual, I didn't like it that much, it was a pain to drive in the crazy rush hour traffic on the 'wrong' side of the road. However, we had it for one day and managed.

The next day we traded it for an automatic, it was sooo much more fun to drive! I started weaving in out and of traffic with everyone else.. why wait for the big cars to slowing make their way ahead when you can drive between cars! I can already tell I'm going to be more of an agressive driver when I go back to North America ;)

Anyway, we paid about 900 baht for the week rental and then a little more for as - it was a great investment.

We both road with helmets and sat properly on the scooter, but you would see many people in Thailand without helmets and riding side sadle as well. You could also see 3+ people on one scooter, not to mention people riding with infants on their laps without helmets either!


The manual, in red!



The automatic, in blue! Let the fun begin!



Hua Hin Market











Video of a drive on the scooter



Video in the market - a Thai grilling up fresh seafood!

Wat Khao Klailat - Temple in Hua Hin, Thailand

While in Hua Hin, we had a chance to cruise around on the scooter we rented and see the area. One afternoon, on our way to the beach we came across this temple - Wat Khao Klailat. There were a lot of monks walking on the grounds doing some odd jobs such as sweeping, raking rocks around trees and tending to the gardens.

Not much to say, but the temple designs were quite nice!









A fancy window shutter.





Treasure!



The temples has a few large paintings such as this one inside.



This was a railing leading up to another temple (which was closed off at the time).





King crab!



Turtles!