Khao Takiap, Hua Hin, Thailand

One early morning we took a taxi to Khao Takiap with Eva to see a temple and some evil monkies, the temple is even referred to sometimes as Monkey Mountain. When we arrived, Eva was carrying a plastic bag, as she was walking a monkey jumped off the back of a truck and grabbed on to the bag and started knawing at it!

Khao Takiab can be written several ways in English: Khao Takiab, Kao Takiab, Khao Takiap, Kao Takiap, Takiep, Takieb etc. The name actually means "Chopstick Hill."



They remind me of the evil monkey on Family Guy.

As you look through the pictures, see how many monkies you can spot!













A great view from the top of the temple. That is looking towards Hua Hin.



Krista striking a pose.



A local fishing village. All of the fisherman fish at night, so the boats are in the harbor during the day, and at night the Gulf of Thailand is littered with fishing boats! The boats are really colorful, they all have the flag of Thailand, the flag for the King and their own family flag!



Here is a map of Hua Hin that shows the Baan Resort and Khao Takiap southeast.



Here is a great area map of Hua Hin from this website.



For a great selection of places to stay with discount prices visit Hua Hin Hotels for more information.

Baan Hua Hin Resort, Thailand

It was a long and hot 4 hour bus ride from Bangkok to Hua Hin. We paid 140baht each - $4.30. When we had originally looked at the map, we thought Cha-Am was south of Hua Hin and that the bus ride was suppose to be 3 hours. So imagine our suriprise when the 3 hour mark hits and signs for Cha-Am come up and we think we have somehow missed our stop! This bus was not a direct charter, it stopped along the way many times to pick people up on the side of the road at so called bus stops, which is what made the ride so long. Finally, now approaching the 4 hour mark, we realize Cha-Am is north and we are arriving in Hua Hin.

After we make it to the so called Bus Depot, we walked around for a little while then took a taxi to the Baan Hua Hin Resort (next time we will take a 12 passenger mini bus which was 180baht each - $6.50 and only 2.5hrs). We were so happy when we arrived! The hotel looked just like it did in the pictures on the website, a real step up from the place we stayed in Bangkok.

What was the first thing we did after checking in? Changed in to our swimsuits, bought some Singha beer and went in to the pool!

Here are a few night pictures of the hotel.

What made this hotel resort even better? For an 8 night stay, including a few days worth of breakfast and coffee, we paid 5800baht - $185 cha-ching!

Just like in Mexico, there are little geckos crawling around.

When we sent an email to make a reservation, we received an email back from a lady named Eva. The email had a familiar feel to it as if she had met us before. As it turns out, she thought were were a Jon and Krista from California that had stayed there last year. Although we were a different couple, we assured her that we were very excited to meet and stay at the Baan.

While we were in the pool, we met Eva, who turned out to be a very nice lady from Norway that stays in Hua Hin the majority of the months each year. Over the week she introduced us to many different people and showed us a nice semi private spot on the beach. By the end of the week, we had our picture up on the bulletin board with other guests that had stayed at the Baan over the years.

Look! On the right side, it's us! And right above us, is a couple also from Canada who went to school with a friend of ours that we met in Sanbon, South Korea.. small world! We love travelling!

One Night in Bangkok

We arrived in Bangkok at 11:00pm on December 22, 2007. The Suvarnabhumi Airport was so busy with fraangs (foreigners) from all over the world, carrying designer suitcases in suits to backpackers like us! After about an hour, we took a cab to Kho San Road where our guesthouse was. We expected to find Kho San Road a backpackers haven and a wild and crazy party, and what we wanted, a cold beer, what we found was even worse!

There were elections going on in Thailand, so the day before the election and the day of the election till midnight, there was prohibition! No beer!!!! We wandered around a bit, getting hassled by tuk tuk drivers who were very anxious to take us to an all night disco. Needless to say, we were less than interested!

We stayed here at the Siam Oriental , in a purple room with ac that was mostly just an exaggerated fan, and we slept on the sheet that Krista brought, we didn't want to risk the bed bugs, we were sure would bite us!

Here is the restaurant in the lobby area, looking out at Kho San Road

Looking into the building

The nicely ac computer room the signs on the pc's say that you shouldn't put coins into the floppy drive for more minutes......duh?

Krista, ready to go?!

Outdoor mini markets, food was cooked at many of these, and the dishes were washed right there on the street in buckets of water!

For the King's 80th Birthday the city was decorated with lights.

There were pictures of the king everywhere, it was really neat seeing all of the pictures, he is very loved!

The scooters were relentless, they swerved in and out of cars sometimes with up to 4 people on them! At least this couple was both wearing helmets!

In Bangkok, we took a tuk tuk to the south departing bus terminal to get an ac bus to Hua Hin. The bus trip was horible, 4 hours of stopping and starting in the middle of nowhere to pick up people, and the ac didn't work! We reached Hua Hin and from there the real vacation started!

Stay tuned..!