Week 10 – Sunday 22nd February – Saturday 28th February 2026
We are now going into week 10 with 2 weeks or so left before home. It’s time for Thailand, having done Malaysia to the south and Vietnam to the east. Our time so far down here in South East Asia has been fantastic; we have seen and done a lot. This week we are just chilling and relaxing in Hua Hin, as in the map above, then the last few days in Bangkok, before setting off for home via Dubai…
Sunday 22nd February
It’s a grey day today here in the capital city, Hanoi, Vietnam, with some light drizzle, so after breakfast, we finish off the week 9 blog, and Del does a bit of homework, after which we visit the gym. It’s still raining when we finish, so we take our chance to have a last salted coffee and egg coffee.
Egg coffee was invented in Hanoi during the First Indochina War in the 1940s when milk was scarce. It was invented by a bartender in Hanoi’s Metropole Hotel as an alternative creamer. It’s very nice and smooth with a slightly eggy aftertaste. We squat down on the usual Vietnamese small stools and enjoy morning coffee, people watching.
Tonight we are going to the famous water puppet theatre here in town. We have been before, but it always makes us grin… As it’s still raining, and it’s the Tet holiday weekend, the traffic in town is just gridlocked. We need a cab to get us to the theatre, but no chance, the waiting time will make us late for the show. Del has a bright idea: book 2 mopeds instead. H is a bit nervous about this, having seen how the traffic and the driving is here today, but really, we have no choice, we will never make it in time, so we book one each, and we are soon whisked off, squeezing between the cars and the people… to arrive on time. This is the second time we have been on a Grab bike. It was fun, though. Big grin for that one.
Water puppetry is a Vietnamese folk art dating back to the 11th century. Puppets act on a water stage operated by half-submerged puppeteers behind wooden blinds. It’s very good and quite comical in parts; there’s an English translation, but we prefer to just watch it in Vietnamese as the story is quite easy to follow. There are scenes of rice growing, dragon dancing and phoenixes bringing up their young, all accompanied by live traditional music and vocals.
It’s a fabulous show, and we leave with a grin on our faces.
The area near the theatre is just chaotic with tourists. Since we were last here 8 years ago, some parts of Vietnam have just taken off tourist-wise, so we walk towards the hotel in search of the calmer, quieter part. We walk until we realise we are at train street, again. We might as well get a beer while we are here and find a restaurant that’s nearby on Google Maps.
Our timing is immaculate, as just as we sit down, a train comes past. This one is extra wide and makes us a bit nervous as it’s the closest to us yet!
We walk to a nearby restaurant and have our last Vietnamese dinner, which is made up of summer rolls, lemongrass chicken and a Vietnamese pancake, all of which are very nice.
As it’s our last night in Vietnam, we even decide to visit our expensive hotel rooftop bar for a goodbye cocktail, which in the end is quite reasonable after all.
Again, we are the only ones there again. Odd for such a lovely place.
Tomorrow we say goodbye to Vietnam and hello Thailand…!!
Monday 23rd February
We wake this morning to 2 emails from Vietjet, Vietnam’s, or rather the world’s, worst airline for time keeping, who are again moving our flight to Bangkok back twice. Great.
We head to the airport anyway, as we don’t trust them and with good reason. At the bag drop, we are told that we haven’t paid for our bags!! Which is nonsense, of course. We show our booking with proof, but the woman just refuses us and sends us to the information desk, where we have the same experience. It’s a real case of ‘computer says no’. Of course, H is on the internet chatting with the booking agent, but it’s taking too long, it’s too complicated, and life is too short, so we pay the extra 33 dollars for the bags. We get receipts, and we will just have to sort them out when we have time. The agent has agreed to look into it, so we shall see. As a bonus, though, they have moved the flight back again for the third time… great.
We booked with Vietjet because they had a good flight time, but now we will be 4 hours late into Bangkok. We will never use Vietjet again.
It’s a bit of a bumpy flight; the landing is fun too, as the pilot slams us down onto the runway in Bangkok. The poor plane’s wheels felt like they should have snapped off.
We are heading to a place called Hua Hin, which has no useful airport to speak of and is a 4-hour drive by car. We have pre-booked a nice car to take us in some comfort to our destination. We get stuck in roadworks and various accident tailbacks. The journey eventually takes 4.5 hours. It’s a comfy, luxurious car, but we can’t wait to get out at the other end. We’ve spent 12 hours travelling today.
We are a bit numb and a bit peckish and in need of a glass of wine. Most places are closing up as it’s getting near 10 pm, but one nice place agrees to cook for us. H has a delicious pad Thai, and Del has a club sandwich. It’s been a long day, but we are finally here at our next place. The hotel is fabulous, the Hotel G Hua Hin, our home for the next 7 nights.
Tuesday 24th February
It was a late arrival last night, so we get up just in time to have a very nice breakfast and then set about exploring the hotel. It’s a very nice place, made even better as our room has a private pool/jacuzzi.
The heat here is the hottest of the trip so far, and we will definitely need our pool to cool off.
The beach is very close to the hotel, just across the main road, so we set out for a walk. It’s a lovely sandy beach, with a nice aqua sea, which is probably full of deadly jellyfish! It’s also a very popular beach with many flats and hotels backing onto it. It’s so so hot though, and people are just walking about like it’s no big deal, how they do it we don’t know. We like it, though, despite the heat.
Time to see what’s here in the area. This week is a week where we will just stop and chill out. We tried it in the last hotel in Phu Quoc, which didn’t go as well as we hoped, but this time we’re in a very nice hotel where it’s very comfortable.
We head off for the comfort of some good AC and find a mall. There are numerous interesting shops here, and a large supermarket is located in the basement. Malls are a big deal in Southeast Asia. We are struck by the number of Westerners here, lots of them. If they all left this place, it would be empty. Many of them are single men in their 60s.
Time to stock up on some water and some beer. We find a very large and comprehensive sushi fridge in the supermarket, pick a few things out for lunch, and hurry back to our pool at the hotel. It’s fab with a big daybed to lounge on. We dine on our sushi, relax and spend the afternoon reading and dipping in and out of the pool.
For dinner, we catch a tuk-tuk to the local night market. These are always popular places, and this one is no different. It’s packed! Lots of stalls cooking fish, meats, and all manner of things on sticks.
It’s also hot and humid; we are heating up fast. Finally, we settle on somewhere for dinner, but there’s no AC, just fans on the wall! To make things a little hotter, we both have different Thai curries. Del has a Massaman curry, and H has a Panang curry. They are delicious, of course, Thai food is one of the tastiest in the world.
Have we ever been this hot at night? We have forgotten how hot Thailand can get compared to Vietnam. After our hot and tasty dinner, it’s back out onto the hectic street in search of a dessert. We find one – khanom krok, which is a coconut rice pastry with a rich coconut filling cooked in round moulds.
They are cooked in front of you, so there is a bit of a wait before you can safely eat them! They don’t disappoint; they are the most ‘coconutty’ thing we have ever had. Fantastic.
Wednesday 25th February
After breakfast, it’s off to the gym! Yes, it has to be done!! Today we are going to shop… Something we don’t normally do as a habit, but we feel we need some new, fresh clothes! So we get on a songthaew to another large shopping mall. A songthoew is basically a converted pick-up truck with 2 parallel benches in the back and a roof. You flag them down and jump on, they will stop anywhere you want on their route, and then you pay the flat rate of 15 baht (35p). It’s a very common form of transport in Thailand, and multiple routes run here.
2 months in Asia, sweating into and wearing the same set of clothes, and using local laundries will really take it out of your clothes, so it’s time for a refresh. We go a bit mad, shopping like this feels a bit odd for us. Normally, we just go out on our own and get what we need when we need it; it’s never done as an occasion or an event, but today we are armed with some cash and a card, and we are going to shop!
Nothing too exciting, just some t-shirts each. Told you, shopping is not our thing.
Dinner tonight is Japanese. There is a very nice place in a mall called Fuji Restaurant. It’s part of a small chain, but it looks very nice inside with an excellent menu. Before that, though, we can’t help ourselves and do more shopping, we have the bug! H gets some shoes, Del gets a lightweight, trendy jacket. We are shopping till we drop here, folks, we are going mad…!
The Japanese dinner is fantastic. We had a traditional Okonomiyaki, a salmon salad, squid, dumplings and sashimi. This was all helped along with three small carafes of cold sake…! Well, when in Rome and all that…
Once we have found the connection back to our legs, full of fish and sake, we slowly and carefully leave the restaurant and head for home. On the way, we find a wine shop selling French fizz. We’ve been looking for this for ages… We will chill this and save it for a night in the pool. We have a few things to toast…
Thursday 26th February
Here’s something different to start your day… We have booked a ‘floating breakfast’ this morning. We saw it advertised and couldn’t resist – how often do you get to do that? It’s only available for the rooms with the private pools.
At 9:15am, 2 staff members gingerly enter the room and delicately place the large white basket-like tray into our pool. After checking for buoyancy, they leave us to it. They probably think we tourists are very strange. There’s a cooked breakfast each, pastries, toast, cereal, yoghurt and fruit and a pot of coffee. We sit in the pool with the tray in front of us, cutting up our bacon as the tray tries its best to float away.
It’s very funny, and we enjoy the novelty, but it’s not the most practical way to have breakfast. We’re glad we tried it, though; it’s got to be one of the most unusual breakfasts we’ve had. It’s 30 degrees (with a real feel of 37) even at this time of the morning.
We have a bit of a quiet, relaxed day and sit by the pool reading. Del gets on with some homework. The year ahead is looking pretty good in the lighting world, so he’s a bit of a digital nomad at the moment.
There’s a little pizza place next to the hotel, and Del does love his pizza. H isn’t that hungry, having felt a bit off all day, probably due to the breakfast. They do small pizzas here too, so she goes for one of them while Del goes full strength, of course and confidently proclaims it as “the best pizza” he’s ever had (again).
We grab a taxi to Walking Street, the place where all the late-night bars and pickup places are. Some of them look very shady, and that’s just the people… There are lots of local girls here and quite a few single men roaming around.
It’s quite sedate and well-behaved, really, compared to Saigon or Bangkok, which are loud, lively, bright and brash. Good though.
We go back to the hotel and have a sensible early night.
Friday 27th February
We had a good sleep last night. A couple of days ago, we noticed a classic car museum in one of the malls, so we thought that we would take a look. We are a bit surprised as it’s more impressive than we first thought. It’s a large space with about 30 or so cars in it, ranging from the 1950s sports cars, sedans and luxury cars right up to the present day.
There are some lovely models here, our favourites being a gorgeous blue Mercedes SL55 4Matic +, the cheeky Mazda MX5 and the very impressive BMW i8 (why can’t all electric cars look this good?).
We spend over an hour admiring the cars, which are so shiny and well presented. We are the only ones in; for something like this, we expected many more people. There’s also a small art gallery with some strange local art, which is a bit random, as it seems to be just tacked on at the end.
Time is getting on, so we have a late lunch. Del’s not too impressed with his rather spicy curry. The Thais love spice, and if you request a medium spice level when you order, you will receive a curry that will blow your head off. H likes it, though, being a bit hardier in the matters of Thai curries! On our way out from lunch, we find a Michelin-rated restaurant who specialise in the delicious Thai dessert, Mango Sticky Rice, which is just amazing…
Back at the hotel, we decide that the time is right to have a glass of fizz in our pool and discuss how quickly the time is flying by, which it is.
Del has not failed to mention it every day! He is right, our 7-night stay is just zooming by. This time next week, we will be in Dubai on our way home.
There are two large food markets here that open at weekends. Cicada Market is an arts and crafts market with food stalls and live music from traditional Thai instruments to an 8-piece jazz/funk band on a nice big stage. The whole market is purpose-built and very neat and tidy; it’s a bit of a contrast after Vietnam’s chaos.
We’re not very hungry having had lunch late, but we manage to share a pad Thai and some satay chicken. Next door is another market, which is just food. The Tamarind Market is a bit more rustic and also has music on. Del prefers this one, and mentions it several times… We have coconut ice cream served in a coconut shell, very nice and coconut pastry balls known as khanom krok. We tried them earlier this week.
They are very special… We sit and watch the acoustic band as they struggle with a dodgy cable that produces lots of hums, bangs and cracks. They get it sorted and turn out to be very good.
It has been a rather exhausting day today, so we take a traditional tuk-tuk back to the hotel.
Saturday 28th February
Today is H’s rabies jab number 4. We pre-registered on Tuesday, filled in all the forms, agreed on a price and were told to return today, so we set off for the hospital soon after breakfast.
We turn up at reception. They are a tad confused and seem to know nothing about the appointment. Good start.
We are directed to A&E, where we wait for an hour and have to explain to the doctor what happened, how it happened and where and how to inject the vaccine. We guess he is just being careful. With rabies injections, you can’t mix intramuscular and dermo. You can’t mix protocols, i.e., 5 jabs or 4. (That’s your Essen v Zagreb protocols for those interested in how rabies vaccinations work…! Here is your very own cut-out and keep run-down of the rabies vaccination.) Once you start the course of injections, you must stick to it until the last one. Rabies is 100% fatal, so don’t mess about..!
We are reading in the news that Israel has started bombing Iran; it doesn’t come as a surprise. It’s been on the cards for a while. We will keep an eye on that one and see how it develops.
Eventually, H gets the injection and is whisked off to the payment area. To top it all, it’s double the quoted price, which we have to pay. The most expensive of all of the jabs so far at £45.00. Hospitals can charge whatever they want to. The vaccine itself is under a quid. They know that you have to have it, so they stick a finger in the air and make up a price. Bad. Very bad.
We go back to the hotel for H to recover. The reactions to the jab are getting stronger with each one, and it completely wipes out H, who feels dizzy and nauseous. (Hasn’t stopped her talking though…!)
The rest of the day is spent by our pool. We share a pizza, and Del tries a Matcha Tea and decides that it’s not for him, despite trying it some time ago on a trip to Japan!
It turns out that the bombing in Iran by Israel was and is with US backing, and that the situation there is escalating. We are where we are; all we can do is keep an eye on it. We finish off the fizz in the pool. Del toasts a successful and pleasant winter trip in Asia. Probably a bit premature, as we have a week still to go, and the Middle East has become a trigger-happy place
We are going to a local food market tonight, which has live bands on. The perimeter of the place is just covered in food vendors selling anything and everything that is edible. It’s a lively and busy place. We have a walk around but decide it’s not for us tonight, we have done two food markets here already. Seen one, you’ve seen them all!
So for dinner, we head for a local place called “Thai Kitchen at 94“, A small family-run place that is fabulous.
Del has a Panang curry, and H has a Tom Yum Soup, both of which are delicious. For dessert, we shared a Mango Sticky Rice.
Back at the hotel, we check the latest on the Middle East, which has escalated so much that flights are now being cancelled in Dubai. We are booked with Emirates to fly into Dubai and spend two nights there on our way home. It seems that the situation in the Middle East is getting worse.
Tomorrow, we probably need to look at a ‘Plan B‘.
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