Blahnik Net » Vacation

Vacation in Hua Hin

Andy — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 08:42:33 +0000

For the October Holiday in China, Rica and I decided to take a vacation in Hua Hin. It was Rica’s first time to Hua Hin (2nd to Thailand) and my 2nd time but I haven’t been here in 6 years I think. Hua Hin is located about 3 hours south of Bangkok and you can just take a car to get there. The flight from Hong Kong to Bangkok is cheap and easy to do and then we booked a van to take us and 2 friends down here so overall the transportation is really easy to get there.

Before we got here we booked a cheap hotel online, the Thipurai Beach Hotel, which is a little out of the city but within walking distance to “downtown.” The hotel was about 1000 bah a night ($32) and we booked it for 2 nights so we can have a look around if there is anything better and cheaper. The hotel was nice but unfortunately their wifi was not working and while we are on vacation we still needed to check some emails. We stayed there the first two nights and then moved to the Rahmahyah hotel just up the street which was only 800 bah ($25) a night. Overall the Rahmahyah hotel is much better the the first one, not just because of the wifi, but the hotel staff is much nicer and the food on the menu is awesome. If you are thinking of a trip to Hua Hin (and don’t want to stay in a 5 star hotel) this is the place to stay. Next time we are back we will defiantly stay here again.

Hua Hin is pretty small so we could walk everyone or if we are lazy we could just take a tuk tuk but we decided it’s just easier to rent a motor bike and drive around on that. You can rent a bike for 250 bah a day ($8) and we have filled up twice for a cost of 200 bah ($7) so it’s defiantly the way to go. It let’s us get around to shopping and to eat as well as see some other places around.

While here we have spent time on the beach and also to see the Monkeys and do some elephant riding. The is a lot to do and you can get everywhere other motor bikes. In the evening we go to the night market and eat the great street food they have for very cheap. There is more to do but laying on the beach and napping is what I like to do, and then answer a few emails on my iPad is also ok.

I’ll write some more when back in SZ and not on the beach but so far the vacation has been good and wish this wasn’t the last day here (we leave for Bangkok for a day and night before heading home).

Lazy Sunday, Weather Cooling, and October Holiday

Andy — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 07:27:57 +0000

I don’t blog much so figured I can go ahead and put a quick post up while laying around On Sunday afternoon.

Just been hanging out on a lazy Sunday in Shenzhen before another busy week next week starting with a trip to Hong Kong to work all day on Monday. Will just be a 4 day work week for me as I’m off to Thailand on Friday for 9 days on vacation. In China they have the October holiday from October 1 to 5 so I’m only off a few extra days to lay on the breach.

In Shenzhen this week it’s started to cool down. Nice enough now that I have the window open and No AC for the day.

Anyway, just a quick update and I’ll try and post more when in Thailand.

Vacation in Coron (Philippines)

Andy — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 02:36:53 +0000

I haven’t been posting much as I’ve been busy working but figured now that I’m on vacation I can go ahead and spend some time writing about our travels. Rica and I spent the last few days in relaxing in Coron and are now waiting to leave as I write this.

We arrived 3 days ago and had 2 full days here along with the one to get here and one flying back. We stayed at the Coron Village Lodge right in town, about 40 min by car from the airport. The first day we arrived we spent exploring the town, though after a little you see everything and there isn’t much to do.

The second day was the best part of the trip. The helpful staff at the lodge arranged a boat for us to do island hopping. We went from place to place on our private boat (Rica and I with the captain and helper) swimming and taking some great pictures. I won’t go into details but this made the trip worth it, you can take a look at some of the great pictures we got. Really a great time but exhausting from all the swimming and sun.

The 3rd day was not very good as I got too much sun and heat the day before and felt sick all day! We spent most of the day on out air conditioned room getting some rest. Since we where in the city and there is not much to unless you take a boat it was too late to do anything, but at least we felt rested and better for the trip back.

Overall it was great to see and thanks to Mike for suggesting it and arranging the accommodations. The only bad part is there really isn’t much in the town so you need to be ready to get a boat everyday to enjoy it. We did one set of island hopping but there is more to see if you are here longer. You can also choose to stay at another location or on the island which maybe better.

On the way to the airport now and will post more from Boracay.

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Andy – Posted from WordPress for Android

My Two week US trip

Andy — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 03:34:12 +0000

I have been in the US the last two weeks on vacation after not being here for a long time (almost 2 year). I’m stuck in Detroit (again) writing this but I won’t get into that, just to say that Delta and the Detroit airport is not good. Rica and I both came on the trip and she is staying behind a few more weeks while I get back to Hong Kong to work.

Overall on the trip, we visited many of my friends (thanks for making the time) and I was in a good friends wedding (congrats Jeff and Emily!). We also went up to Louisville, KT area and did part of the bourbon trail. It was great to see everyone and too bad I didn’t get to see everyone; I won’t go into details of the trip here as you can see some picture on facebook but I want to share my view of life differences in the US and Hong Kong (and maybe a little of Shenzhen).

First let me say that the “comparison” is North Carolina and Hong Kong so it would be would different in other parts of the US; and its also in Winston-Salem, NC so it would again be different in a larger city. With that said the first thing I get was the travel time needed. In Hong Kong I can get anywhere within 30 minutes and I can even get to Shenzhen in an hour; however, on a daily bases in Hong Kong I wouldn’t go anywhere that takes more then 20 min. In the US we had to drive to get anything and it was at least 20 minutes if not more. On the same note, you also need to plan what you’ll do when you are out since you don’t want to go to one store and then go home. Again, in Hong Kong the store is 1 min for my house, so if I want a drink I only buy that; in NC I had to plan everything I need on the one trip. One thing in Hong Kong though is the stores are smaller and are more specialized then the huge store with everything we had in NC.

Along with travel and shopping I also needed some time to get use to the “space.” When I’m shopping I only see a few people instead of the crowd in Hong Kong. Walking on the street there aren’t many people and the mall seems a little empty. I also don’t see any sky scrapers and just have a general feeling of having more space in everything.

Another major difference for me was the food. First in Hong Kong there isn’t much “fast food” was there is in the US. Even if you get food thats made fast its still more of a restaurant then a fast food chain. We spent a lot of time going to all the fast food places and trying the different types of foods here. There are some foods that are either expensive and hard to find in Hong Kong, like Mexican and good buffalo wings, that we had to try. Overall, if I really “miss” anything it would be the food, but I also think if I had this food I would be even fatter then I am now.

Thats a quick rundown for you on some “difference” without going into details. I’ll try and write more about specific topics and keep this post short.