3 Days in Hua Hin (Head of Stone)

     How much would it cost to hire someone to drive you for three hours, drop you off, drive three hours back home, then pick you up three days later and drive you the three hours back to your house?  Could you get someone to do it for $160?  This is why we don't own a car.
     Our latest adventure was a three day trip to Hua Hin, a long white sandy beach with a huge stone rock that apparently looks like a head at the end of the beach.  We stayed at the Marriot.  It was fabulous.  We splurged, spending about $150 a night.  The rooms were well appointed with two queen sized beds.  The hotel workers were very courteous and the free breakfast was more like something you would find at Anthony's on a mothers day morning.  I ate so much each morning that I didn't need to eat lunch either day.  Even the girls went back for seconds and thirds. 
     Our first day there we had lunch while the room was readied, then had beers in a bucket of ice by the pool while we read and swam with the kids.  We finished with a lavish meal at a restaurant on the beach. 
     The next day we had a driver take us to Pa Lu A falls and then to the giant Buddha.  We hiked up to the forth of five levels and went for a swim in the river.  The coldest thing I've experienced yet in Thailand but nothing like the rivers in Washington.  The river was loaded with fish.  If you look carefully at the picture of me and the girls standing next to the falls, you'll see a carp trying to jump up the falls like a salmon.  Nice timing Kristy!  We finished that day with dinner, drinks and shopping at the Hua Hin night market.  No beer gardens here.  Just walk around with any drink or beer as you please.  The hustle and bustle, along with seeing how low you could get a vendor to go on a cd, jewelry, fake designer hand bags etc. was a blast.
     The last day we finished with another huge breakfast and more hanging around the pool. 
     Over the course of the three days, Kristy and I did manage to get in plenty of exercise.  I twice rode bike and lifted in the workout room along with a mile swim in the ocean.  While Kristy and Ahnika got in a yoga class and a run on the beach. There was a family of 4 girls there from ISB that hung out at the pool a lot, so Micki was pretty much swim, swim, swim.