Hi Gram,
Today was the last day in Hua Hin! I got up early and went for my morning walk, although I took a bit to get going so it was a shorter walk. For the past couple of months, I’ve been enjoying some awesome street art along my walks around town. I don’t know if it’s the same artist or just a common theme, but it brightens up the walls and buildings, even when it’s in an otherwise rundown or dirty place. I made sure to get some pics over the last couple of days so I wouldn’t forget the beauty all around us. 

Despite the beauty, or maybe just separate from it, I’m definitely feeling some senioritis, knowing that I’m leaving. Back at the room, we had polished off the yogurt yesterday, so we had a protein shake and some lunch meat for breakfast. Once I had breakfast and some brain exercises done, I headed over to the gym for my last mobility class. I chatted with my classmates for a bit before class and offered them my shirts and towels that I’d bought when I arrived with the intention of leaving them behind. Class went well. We did the shoulder rotation that I’m really good at, followed by some hip openers. It was pretty much the perfect end to my time here!

After class and some more chatting and saying goodbye, I headed to the room to finish packing my bags. I’m leaving one suitcase in Bangkok while we fly around, then I’ll collect it before I head back to America. I’m trying to put as much as I can in there so I can fly with light baggage. It’s tough, though, because almost everything that I brought I still have an affinity for. The airline wants the carry-on bag and personal item to both be less than 7kg, about 15 lbs, a real challenge. Once we had everything packed up, we worked on Nattiya’s tourist visa application for a bit then headed downstairs to settle up with the hotel.

Our driver was waiting for us and loaded the bags in his trunk while I closed out with the front desk, so we were on our way in no time. The drive up was uneventful and a little uncomfortable. He had an older sedan with a bench seat in back that had been worn in and misshapen over the years. The two of us must have looked like we had ants in our pants with as much squirming and shifting around we did. A few hours later, he pulled up to the hotel. It’s a simple affair close to the airport and cheap. I regretted that I didn’t do a little more review and research when I saw it, but knowing we’ll only be there for a night meant that I didn’t stress over it. We checked in and were shown to our simple room, then decided to go look for some dinner. Google maps showed a pizza place not far away, so we set ourselves in motion.

Back in Hua Hin, everything was walkable. Even if the sidewalk got narrow or they had planted a tree or signpost in the middle, we could step into the road for a moment, then back to the sidewalk. Cars and motorbikes stayed away from the curb and we felt relatively safe. Bangkok is not Hua Hin. We left the hotel and followed Google’s directions to the right, only to find no sidewalk. Bushes or trees lined the street, with a dirt ditch running alongside the road. We walked in the street mostly, edging away onto a dirt path or parking lot when we could, cars and motorbikes zooming past nearby. We were relieved when it had us take a right turn down a road, but this didn’t feel like we were going from a busy road to a less busy commercial road. It felt like we were turning from a main thoroughfare into a residential neighborhood. Houses lined both sides, but the map told us we weren’t there yet, so I guessed that this was just a shortcut over to a different thoroughfare. A couple blocks later, we came to a security guard who informed us that past him was a private community. There was a pizza place there, but it had no seating and we would have had to order ahead of time.

Discouraged, we wandered a bit without finding anywhere with seating then retreated to the hotel. We found a nice hydroponics farm-to-table restaurant that claimed to be only 3/4 of a mile away. I hadn’t learned my lesson from our first foray into public, so I thought we’ll just walk there – it’s not that far, right? I have learned, although I didn’t remember it at this point, that Google maps is full of bullcrap when it comes to distance. A crow may have only needed to fly 3/4 of a mile, but as pedestrians, it was much farther. It was much farther along narrow busy streets with no sidewalks, very loud traffic, and a set of demons and monsters in my head taunting me with hunger and language barriers. We stopped at a couple of places along the way that seemed to have seating, but either had no food that sounded appetizing, a seating area right next to the road that would be too loud, or in most cases both. Nattiya put up with my grumpiness and irritation while I flip-flopped about each restaurant, grumbled about the noise, and cursed in words that she didn’t know but a tone that was universal.

Eventually, we saw a sign announcing that we’d arrived. We walked past that sign, mounted on a concrete wall, and into the property that hosted the restaurant. What a difference a concrete wall and a few hundred feet of open space can make. They escorted us inside to a nicely air conditioned seating area with pleasant music and no traffic sounds. Presented with the menus, we each found something that sounded appetizing to each of our palates and dug in. The wait staff was pleasant and helpful, and we soon found ourselves satiated and happy once more. Well, she was happy the whole time. She is always happy, always finding the positive, always seeing the sunshine through the rain.

I’ve gotten much better at seeing the good and positive. Every now and then, though, when I feel out of control, confused by the language, disappointed by the conditions and quality surrounding me, hungry and irritable because of it, I get grumpy and inconsolable. When I’m like this, she tells me “people get irritated sometimes, but I know it will pass.” At first, I thought that this was a zen observation on life, but then I remembered that she calls me “people” instead of “you” sometimes, probably a quirk of the translator app. It’s still a calm zen observation, but a little more personal. I appreciate that she tolerates this part of me, and I work to make sure it doesn’t surface as often.

Anyway, after dinner we sure as heck called a car to take us back to the hotel. We stood at the street watching traffic go by while we traced his zig zag route in the app. When he turned right when we thought he should have turned left, we told him only to get a “I’ve been driving for twenty years and know how to get there!” I watched our path on the map to make sure he wasn’t abducting us, but he just took an inefficient route that got us back to the hotel probably a few minutes later than it could have. Since it was a flat rate, we didn’t care and just enjoyed the ride. Back at the hotel, we got our stuff ready for departing the next day, then climbed into bed to let a little slumber put distance between the traffic aggravations and our happiness.