Day 7 Hua Hin

Day 7 Hua Hin – Wed 29th April

Day after Andy’s Birthday……. Woke up early for breakfast as we had planned our day out for today but it turned into a magical mystery tour as we couldn’t understand a word the guy was telling us. Never mind we set off to see what he had in store for us, maybe he was just going to take us into some desolate place and mug us but there was only one way to find out. We set off just after 8am and turned up at some Buddhist statue so we could take pics and pray, I was now beginning to have thoughts that being mugged might have been a better option as to being converted to Buddhism. There was nobody there but a few hundred monkeys wandering about, they obviously had the same thoughts as me as they were crapping all over the Buddha and making a real mess of the place. I turned around to look for Angie but at this point she was back down the hill on the phone to Abermed in Aberdeen to see if her rabies shot was up to date. We decided to leave there before there were any incidents that would ruin the holiday and went to see what was next on the agenda for the day.
Next place we rolled up to was the elephant trekking centre. It was still only about 9am and we were the first ones there. Before we knew it, we were sitting on top of a 2000kg elephant called Sengal. Away we went trekking through the scrub. We had travelled for about 10mins before this thing came to an abrupt stop, a few kicks and pokes in the ear then a few words from the trainer but nothing, time for something a little more persuasive. Wondering what he was going to do now as it was getting quite comical watching him persuading this thing to move. He then jumped off and tried to push it while shouting something, not sure what it was but I’m sure if it was in the garage at Tarves I could find the same words. That’s when he did the strangest thing that made me worry even more, He actually got Angie to drive the bloody thing while being strapped in I just had to sit there and there was nothing I could do about it. Anyway I don’t know what he did but away we went. No probs as I’m sure he would just jump on and put Angie back in the correct seat and we would get on with enjoying things again. Don’t trust the Thais as he never did get back on, we didn’t crash but I’m sure you know how it feels when you’re not in control of the car so no need to say anymore. Eventually he did come to his senses and decided to throw Angie in the back to my relief things were going to be back as they should be. NO !!! It was now my turn but as I’m a bloke this should be a piece of piss. Off we set and within 5 mins I had made my mind up that I was lucky being brought up in the UK and could use vehicles rather than having to take an elephant to school every day.
Next was the elephant show. We bought a bunch of bananas to reward them after their antics (bicycle riding, basket ball, flower painting, darts). Angie tried to share the bananas out fairly and squarely but one greedy bu*ger decided to wrench the whole lot out of her hands. Angie tried her best to wrestle with it and get her bananas back but it was a losing battle – elephant Vs Angie. No contest but she tried.
Next was the snake show. No idea what happened at the beginning as being from the UK nothing can be done before first having a cup of tea, we didin’t miss much, a bit of tail pulling, head slapping then kissing a cobra. Bla bla bla im not going to bore you with it all, Angie didn’t miss a second of the show on cam corder as if anything went wrong this was going to be the greatest You Tube moment ever. The show went without a hitch so we deleted the video then sat down waiting for the crocodile show, maybe this could be our moment, no way we were not going to miss this. First he poked his finger in it’s mouth, bit boring - it came out whole, Next was going to be his whole arm, I was beginning to wonder if I could keep filming if anything went wrong but this also went without a hitch, OK all we had left was him putting his head in the crocs mouth, I already knew I would be sick if this went wrong but decided to keep the camera rolling as it could help with the police enquiries. Things were tense but all went well so that was that. No dramas.
Next stop nice beach for lunch. Two lunches & 4 beers – 250 baht (5 quid). How happy were we. Off we trundled to the next magical mystery stop.
Bloody Buddhist Temple, Jesus !!! why are they always up a hill, if this Buddha guy built these things himself he wouldn’t be half the size he was, not wanting to offend the guy we decided to oblige and go for a look, I was standing outside when he noticed Angie was in the floor praying, I don’t know but think he was asking me what she was praying for, I told him that she was praying that ever day of her holiday would be as good as this one. He just smiled and walked away thinking about where he would take us next. Angie finally finished and came out, she then admitted that she was praying that he would just take us for a beer and no more temples.
Maybe the big lad’s not that bad (Mr Buddha) as that is where he took us next, couple of beers on another beach then back to the hotel. By the time we got back we were giving it big Zzzzzz’s in the back of the pick-up and he had to wake us up. Hope we didn’t offend him but he seemed happy enough when we handed over the hard cash for his efforts. Enough wildlife, temples & beaches for one day. Tomorrow’s our last day so will be lying horizontal on the beach or by the pool to re-charge our batteries for our trip to Vietnam. Nobody said it was going to be easy.