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South of Bangkok is a resort town called Hua Hin, like Plett in South Africa or similar to Lyme Regis. Here was a place that was once a small fishing village with long white sandy beaches stretching off in each direction. In the early 20th century, the reigning monarch decided that here was a very nice little place to have his holiday palace. And since then, it has grown in size to what it is now. The old town on the waterfront is cosy and in amongst the shops and cafes and tailors are some of the old buildings renovated back to life as guesthouses or restaurants.
Here was a place that we could disconnect from the world and get on with doing those "admin" chores…..like updating the blog! Now you know why there has been a surge in updates! So much to tell, so little time to do it!
But it was getting here that we had our little adventure. Between Bangkok and here, it is reputed, is a little very local town called Samut Songkramn where a floating market is supposedly found. Since the introduction of more and more roads linking towns and cities with the rural areas, canoes and boats have started becoming a much less viable way of getting farm produce to market than a motor vehicle. But here was a place that still had its own floating market and we were keen to check it out.
To get there you had to catch a very small location train in a very local part of Bangkok. The train is a single track affair that stops at a multitude of stations. What is surprising is the number of people that live, literally, within arm's length of the train as it goes by. Stops, stalls and backrooms and garages are all laid out facing the tracks. Nobody even noticed the train as it tickekty-tacked by.
An hour and a half later we rumbled into the end station which seemed to double up as a market too. And we felt as if we had arrived from another universe. Here there were no helpful signs to direct us on our way. All we had to guide us was a vague article from a Wanderlust magazine from last year extolling the virtues of this market. What it didn't say was how to actually get there!
Being intrepid explorers we decided to head out and see what we could. Maybe there was a sign of some kind that would point us in the right direction. The only signs that e recognized where some international food brands in the local shopping mall as we walked by. Hmm….we may need to re-think this one. There is nothing like an alien with a confused face and a map to generate some helpful advice from passing locals.
International sign language usually gets you anywhere and through anything. Here it seemed a little limited. But our message eventually seemed to get through. They didn't have a clue what we were on about; nor did we have a clue what they were on about! But it was friendly nonetheless.
With no markets nearby, it is a Sunday afternoon and we have no reliable information about have to proceed, it was time for Plan B. Abandon the markets and head to Hua Hin. Except we had no idea how far it really was from where we were to where we wanted to get too.
In sign language - "Where can we get a bus to Hua Hin or Cha-am or Petchanburi?"
In sign language - "Hua Hin? Ah, go up this road, take a right. At the junction turn left and signal one of the buses that comes down the road. It shouldn't be a problem. There is really no other option to get further south. You could take a taxi though."
See? Easy. But there were no buses that we saw, but plenty of taxis. Could this be a solution to our problems? We managed to negotiate our taxi driver down from 2000bhat to 1200bht (about £20 - ouch!) for what we thought was, at the most, a 30km drive. Little did we know that 150km we would be in Hua Hin! We would have thought that the taxi driver would have said no way to anything like a 300km round trip. But not Mr Bientoop!
If you ever find yourself in this little town, head down to the old part near the seafront and have a meal at Bill's (various guidebooks have it with various names), but you can't miss it. And if you are fortunate enough to meet Bill and Lorraine (the owners), then you have been spoilt. They are two lovely people who gave us a real insight in living abroad, setting up a business and raising a family in foreign places. It was with a little sadness that we left the resto that night because it had been a real pleasure!
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