This past weekend was a Buddhist Holiday, so the whole country got a 4 day weekend! WOO HOO!! Our town has a candle festival that weekend – they spend the whole month before preparing for it. Unfortunately, for us, we would have to miss out on that. We had decided to use this 4 day holiday as a time to meet up with our fellow teachers from our Phuket course, and spend the long weekend back in civilization.
Friday morning we headed into Bangkok on the earliest flight, and landed in BKK around 10am. After our multiple transfers on the various Thai public transportation services, we run into Claire and Bri! We head to the hotel, chattering up with gossip and stories the whole way. Once at the hotel – it is POOL TIME! We order food via room service, and have some cocktails. Then Brooke joins us, and we have to keep to Claire’s tight schedule – so we head into the Siam area to go shopping. Tim and I needed to go to a branch of our bank, and the girls wanted to do some shopping for the evening festivities. Tim and I were also meeting an old friend (Brian) of mine from high school, and his fiancé. After we caught up with Brian for a minute – and realizing we weren’t able to sit down for a drink anywhere (thanks Buddha for your no-drinking on a holiday rule) we had to separate to start our part of the evening.
Brooke had purchased tickets to see the last Harry Potter movie in 3D for Bri and Claire for their birthdays, and Timmy and I were invited to join then. So we met the girls at the theatre, and enjoyed the movie thoroughly. 3D was DEF the way to see it (granted, I have only seen the first 2 HP movies anyways.
After the movie, it was time to head back to the hotel to get ready for dinner! Bri had found a GREAT Italian restaurant in the NANA area of Sukhumvit, and made reservation for 10 of us. So after a few drinks at the hotel, showers, and etc. we were off! Once at the restaurant, the ladies served us the wine they had brought for the occasion, and we caught up with our fellow teachers who had joined us. We hadn’t seen some of the group since Phuket, so it was GREAT to have a chance to see how everyone was liking their jobs and areas. After a DELICIOUS dinner of pasta, wine, cake, etc it was time for the next stop on the birthday train…
KARAOKE! We headed over to a Karaoke bar that Claire had found and reserved a room for. By reserve a room, I mean – there are about 20 private rooms, all with different themes that you rent out to have your own personal karaoke party. We were in the “Dream Girls” room, and it was full of sparkle, glitter, and comfy lounge chairs. It also came with a stage, and a balcony. Since it was a Buddhist holiday, we weren’t supposed to be able to order alcohol – but since it was obvious we were Farangs, and it was a double birthday, they made an exception for us. So for the next few hours we all took turns karaoke-ing for each other and catching up. We even got a “Harry Potter” drink – which consisted of 4 martinis – all turned into a waterfall with fire and sparkles – completely full of Harry Potter magic. The best part? They tasted like marshmallows from a campfire!
Some of the other room themes were “Jailhouse” and had old fashioned ball and chains, and a fake jail cell; “The Shower Room” with a shower curtain around the stage; “Campfire” which had a fake fire pit in the middle of the room; and so on.
After we got our fill of karaoke songs, it was time for the after party! Some of the ladies headed back to their hotel – while the rest of us headed over to the house of a friend of the birthday girls – his name is Adam. He lived about 2 blocks from the karaoke bar. Once at his place we tried to play rock band but it didn’t work – so instead Timmy ended up finding a guitar and putting on a mini concert for the ladies. Once we were pretty sure we drank all of Adam’s alcohol, it was time to head back to our hotel and hit the hay – it was only the first night!!
The next morning we all got up and headed over to Victory Monument, where we were meeting our air conditioned van to take us to Hua Hin. We load into the van (there are about 6 of us – Bri, Claire, Brooke, Timmy, Nick, Me) and arrive in Hua Hin (a beach town) a few hours later.
Once in Hua Hin, we take motorcycle taxis to the hotel – at which we all stayed in a PARTY HOUSE!! It was a 2 story suite – so we all had a bed! We hit up the pool which was RIGHT ON THE BEACH. Yes, a beachside pool. The luxury of a pool, with the ambiance of the beach. So we all ordered food poolside, and some drinks. After we figured the nights plans out we headed back to the hotel to get ready. We decided to keep it a low key night and just party in the house. We had a small pizza party for us, then invited the rest of our teacher friends (who stayed at a different hotel) over for drinks and fun. We played drinking games, hung out, and even took a trip to the pool. The night was full of pool pix, beach pix, and good times. Once the group dispersed to their respective hotels, Timmy, Brooke, Oli, and I stayed up until about 3am talking. Oli lives in Bangkok with Adam (from Karaoke on Friday) and they both had come to Hua Hin during the pizza party.
Sunday it was a FULL POOL DAY! Everyone woke up and was at the pool by 1030am. We spent all day sunning, reading, swimming, playing Frisbee, and some of the group even went exploring. Nick, Sean, and Kate joined us later in the afternoon (just in time for buy one get one free wine happy hour) and we all played even more. Timmy and I went horseback riding on the beach at sunset (super cheesy romantic, of course) and the group had a whole photo shoot on the beach. After the others headed back to their hotel, the rest of us got ready and headed to the night market. This was the most gorgeous market I have ever seen. Paved paths, green grass, white fences all around. There was even a food court area with sushi, sticky rice, Korean BBQ, kabobs, ice cream, etc. Of course I got the Kabobs! After eating, we all walked around checking out the shops, the break dancers, and eventually stopped at the outdoor bar. We all had a drink, then started the quick walk back to the hotel. Once back at the hotel, it was another night of just relaxing with some cocktails until we all eventually passed out.
Monday morning we all woke up knowing we had to head back to our respective towns. Noone was all too happy about that. But we spent about an hour or so at the pool for one last time, then packed up and headed back to Bangkok. Once in Bangkok, Tim and I finally satisfied our Mexican food craving at Sunrise Tacos. They had a salsa bar, and we tried almost each of the 10 different kinds of salsa. Then we finally said our goodbyes and we started our trek back to Phibun Mangsahan….MRT to the airport express, airport express to airport, plane to Ubon Ratchatani, then a car ride from Ubon to Phibun Mangsahan.
Needless to say, after a great LONG weekend my body drifted to sleep pretty much as soon as my head hit the pillow.
Sawasdee Kha!
Apes
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