Getting to know our hoods

Huay Yang is a small fisherman village that had no tourism for 10 years ago. During the last decade around ten vacation home areas have been built mainly for retired Swedes who appreciate the warm weather, calm surroundings and cheap living. Therefore the leisure time offerings aren't that great (golf driving range,  area for boule, fishing and hanging by the beach). Here are definitely no night clubs nor banana boat rides. Heaven for a lot of people and especially for us who travel with small children. But even though the beach and pool cover a lot of our family's need for recreation and play, every now and then the change of scenery is welcome. During the past few days we have been active in getting to know the surroundings and sights in and around Huay Yang.

Wat Tang Sai is a beautiful Buddhist temple near the fisherman village Ban Krut about 50km south of Huay Yang. This white and golden temple is situated on the top of Thongchai mountain and a large golden Buddha is sitting just below it facing into the Gulf of Thailand. It greets the sunrise every morning with tranquility and golden shine. 

We visited the place by a (taxi) car  with a private driver since the cost of taxi ride here is about the same whether the driver stays with you the whole day or if you book two one way transports. The day was very sunny and warm so the last 500 metres that visitors have to climb up from the parking lot to the temple were hot and heavy. Luckily we managed to bribe

"Are we there yet?"

(threat?) Max into walking himself instead of carrying him.

He had actually a bit of too much energy because inside the temple he did anything but listen to us and started to run, squeal and jump merrily all over the place. And we really mean ALL OVER. Since the place is holy and a place for rendez vous with God, it wasn't such a good idea to have a happy toddler running around... We managed to immortalize the breathtaking view from the balcony down to the Ban Krut beach before carrying the angry Max away, he just couldn't understand why he has to be quiet, stop running and do as we told him while finally got in such a great indoor playground.

A view from the Wat Tang Sai temple down to Ban Krut beach

After the hot, sweaty and angry visit to the temple we drove down to Ban Krut village and randomly asked the driver to stop by a restaurant that looked good. It was a mere jackpot because in the house next to the restaurant live a thai-australians family with two boys (5 and 2 years) and they had  LOADS of toys and a children tv channel. After a very quick lunch Max checked in to his new friends house and amused himself over three hours with trucks, trains, bikes, tv and other stuff.

Meanwhile we others enjoyed longer lunch, the beach, Saga and äiti had a nice long walk along the beach and Saga fell asleep offering a great reading session for the parents. What a bliss!

During the beach walk Satu had spotted a nice looking café that probably would make Magnus a very satisfied so before it was time to head back to Huay Yang, we went to Coffee@Greenview for lattes and pineapple shakes for the small ones. You can take a look at this picture and tell whether our family's coffee connoisseur was content or not. 

Finally well-prepared, good tasting coffee in Thailand!

Our other day trip took us to Hua Hin, Thailand's oldest beach resort since the days of king Rama VI in the 1920's. It's is nicely situated about 200km south of Bangkok and about 120km from Huay Yang. It has a lot of nice cafés, shopping centers, aqua park, beach activities and heaps of Finnish and Swedish short and long-term tourists. We started our day at the shopping mall and felt like cousins from the country site when we saw all the stylish people, queues in front of the cafés and a stand for ice cream imported from the States :) Of course Max wanted and got a scoop of that American chocolate dream and it costed almost as much as two dinner in Huay Yang (which is still nothing compared to ice cream or dinner prices back home).

After the shopping mall we wanted to see the Hua Hin´s railway station that is supposed to be the most beautiful in whole Thailand and voted for the Top 10 sights in Thailand by Chinese tourists in 2014. It was very well kept, charming station with a fancy pavilion for the royal family, but harshly among the Top 10 sights. 

It started to be 2pm and the day was very hot so what would suit better than an Afternoon Tea at the oldest and finest hotel of Hua Hin, Sofitel Centara Grand Beach Resort (formerly know as Railway Hotel)? It was a very special feeling to leave the noisy and sizzling city behind and enter the lavish garden that surrounds the Centara hotel. The air felt cooler and cleaner, you could hear the birds singing while admiring the sculptures that the gardeners have made of the bushes. 

Veranda for the afternoon tea

Their afternoon tea is a tradition since the swinging 1920´s when the royal and jet set of the Thailand spent their pastime in Hua Hin. Because this is our honeymoon trip we splurged it and ordered two cooled glasses of champagne to make company to scones, triangle sandwiches, tiramisus, cookies and other tasteful delights that was delivered to the table. Saga fell asleep, Max found a book about old cars and we two honeymooners could propose a toast to #honeyquarter and #nohurry. These are rare and therefore for so highly appreciated moments during this trip with lively kids ;)

After the peaceful two-long pitch stop at the Sofitel we had some troubles of contacting our driver who was waiting for us at the railway station. Luckily Thai people are service-minded and helpful pso after some phone calls between the hotel personnel, taxi company owner and the driver he found his way to us and our lovely day in lovely Hua Hin was turning to its end.

On Oct 15th we had a great day  celebrating Max 3rd birthday. According to his wishes the day was filled with swimming, presents, chocolate ice cream and a cake! The day started by opening a first of many presents (we had packed some light presents with us from home) and somehow we had guessed that our boy would appreciate an inflatable Dusty airplane swimming toy :)

A happy birthday boy and a pineapple shake

Along the day more presents were opened and not-so-little-anymore boy was thrilled. The best thrill came in the evening when we headed to our favorite restaurant here, The Jack's Beach Resort, for a birthday dinner. As the personnel is very fond of kids and our especially (because we go there so often and here aren't that many other tourists at the moment) they went all in when hearing that it is Max birthday. After a dinner with ever-so great pineapple shakes, chicken satay sticks and other thai delicates, the whole personnel gathered around a self-made cake (made our of three layers of american pancakes, whipped cream and strawberry jam), turned off the lights, sang Happy Birthday To You as a choir and cheered gladly as Max blowed the three candles. What a treat and a gesture! Max who isn't too fond of being in the centre of that kind of attention was very happy that they make such a great surprise for him. And he liked the  taste of the cake too!

Magnus in La La land

We have been here a little over two weeks now and we can summarize the time so far by saying that the first week went to settling down and during the second week the peace and harmony of being on a honey quarter has hit us. Of course we have our hands full with all kinds extra activities and daily hassle with kids but we have managed to have some (short) moments sitting on a sun bed reading a book and most importantly allowed one and other to go away and take 60min thai massages as often as we can. It is heavenly to slip away from everything, just enjoy the work done by well trained masseuse and, in some of the places, listen to peaceful rhythm of waves as the sea breeze cools you down.  We can easily get addicted to this!

During the third week we plan to continue this harmonious being and also act like guides to Satu's bridesmaid Tiina and her family who will arrive here just in few days to celebrate the autumn holiday and Tiina's husband Daniel's 40th birthday. It will interesting to have to share "our" pool with another family... ;)

Settling in

We figured that due to the multicultural collection of friends we have, that might find interest in this blog, we will continue blogging in english.

The last remaining bits of jetlag have finally relented and the morning toddler-tooted reveille is creeping back to its usual 7AM. Great, this gives us a bit of a natural pause between breakfast and lunch, and some theoretical opportunity to have a morning run before the heat sets in. No such running have yet happened, but any day now... The daily routine usually involves breakfast, morning activity like beach play, lunch, pool play at home and supply shopping if needed. Dinner and some relaxing around the house. Kids to bed and then usually some reading on the porch, TV time or blogging, or, planning the next steps on the trip. This last bit can consume fantastic amounts of time. Luckily, that is something we have in abundance now. Please remind us of this later when we are neck-deep in work and juggle the drop-off/pick-up routine at daycare.

After a few days of close to home routine, we figured it was time to leave the safety of our own pool and head out to the beachfront for a salty dip.

It was in general a lovely day out with good pineapple shakes, curries and crab watching. The beach was virtually deserted but there were still several ramshackle bars/restaurants to choose from, that all offered seating on plastic chairs directly in the sand. And they had a nice little swing that was given a proper test run by our family connoisseur.

Satu and Max hiked (actually ran) by the edge of the water until they were merely small specks in the distance. Saga chose this time to make her ocean debut.

After spending considerable time playing in the sand with some sandpit toys in the form of colorful letters, by some form of sudden inspiration she started setting off  towards the water.

Resembling a turtle hatchling, she used her Nordlund trademark crawl - skidding on one bent leg while working the other leg and arms - and left track marks that would baffle any biologist.

Once she had reached the water she insisted loudly on being allowed into the surf with no undue delay. A quick strip and she was merrily splashing away, excitedly and audibly welcoming each small wave to tickle her belly.



This was close to her big brother's behavior at the same age, although he needed some persuasion at that time before accepting the ocean as safe. Appearance-wise Saga might resemble Magnus a bit more, but she has gotten more than her share of Satu's sisu.

Max also got his fair share of ocean water of course, fascinated by the fact that the water tasted of salt.  He encouraged us all to take a sip which we cordially declined before trying to make him stop gulping it down. So far, all tummies are feeling good. Mostly thanks to dumb luck, probably.

Lasse and Helena went back home to Sweden, so we are utterly alone in the Coconut area for a few days. We start feeling territorial about the place and talk some about how it will feel when the strangers who are bound to arrive soon are jumping into OUR POOL! Alas, the problems we have to endure here! #thuglife

The other afternoon, we set out to another beachfront restaurant, the same one Lasse took Magnus to on the first day.  Apart from good food, the adjacent beach is nice and also deserted. We set up shop with the swimsuits, colorful letters and shovels plus some beverages from the restaurant bar. Saga immediately set off for the water again and Max was dodging stranded jellyfish and chasing crabs.













As any responsible parent, we always choose the cloudy days for the beach excursions. This particular day the cloudiness started shifting into a proper downpour. We quickly gathered everything and took shelter in the roofed dinner area as the rain intensified. A tropical storm is rather entertaining from a dry vantage point, so we felt quite snug enjoying the cool wind and spectacle of lightning and coconut trees swaying back and forth, while choosing from the various curries, phad thais and sundries from the menus.

The dinner was enjoyed accompanied by a full double rainbow as the rain subsided, and the last sips of Chang went down as the sun set beautifully behind the line of trees.

The country of Burma, renamed by their current not-so-worthy militia government as Myanmar is, because of said government, ranked rock bottom in the league of free and developed countries (they are all the way down there with pals like North Korea). They are however still allowed to do some business with their neighbors. There is a market on the Thai side of the border where the burmesians are allowed to go and sell their merchandize. As thai has it's own glyphs rather than our alphabet, any attempt to express thai words with latin letters requires best-guess/best-fit approach that is heavily prone to personal bias. This is the reason why the town where this market is has a name that is Darn Sink Hon/Dansinkon/Dansin khon/etc. It takes about an hour by car to reach it from our house, and we figured it was time to leave our present comfort zone and visit it.

 The market was a huge hustle and bustle. Everything in the shadow of the big concrete arch that marked the border and hence the no-go areas for farangs like us.

 There were some larger shop-like establishments but most of the peddling occurred in smaller market stands out on the streets or in the large areas under a shared roof.

 You could buy anything from dinner furniture carved out of single huge tree roots through spices, incense and glass beads, down to 60s antiques, shrink-wrapped CRT TV-sets, pirated NOKIA cell phones and baseball caps.

  Pleasingly, the vendors were friendly and not at all in your face, so we could browse the inventories at our own pace while Saga was bogarting all the attention from the locals.

Judging that the dinner furniture would not fit in our backpacks, we settled on some nicely colored bracelets, a new baseball cap for Max and some cheap, flimsy toys that barely survived the walk to the car for the home trip, save for a big concrete truck that quickly made Max's most prized possession.

Max with his "precious".

 We passed a stand for chilled coconuts and figured it was time for a refreshing drink. Saga eagerly sipped her coconut water down and chewed on fresh strips of coconut flesh, before ending up in the vendor's hands.

 She starts to getting used to strangers wanting to carry her around so she offered plenty of smiles and got lots of free coco in exchange.

On the home trip, it was all smiles, almost...

Later that evening, we finally decided on what to do after Kuala Lumpur. We're going to Bali and we have booked flight and hotel in Kuta, that will be out first Bali stop. Five days of super-exploited beaches will be an interesting contrast to the present "lost paradise" feel. "Expect drunken aussies with surfboards", the ratings warn. We take our chances! Then we plan to do a lot of temple watching, enjoying the rice paddy/volcano vistas and finally some DIVING!

Första dagarna i Thailand

Nu åker vi!

Att påstå att 11 timmar i ett flygplan med en ettåring och en treåring skulle bli en picknick skulle nog mötas av skepsis av de flesta. Vi visste att storebror Max kan föra sig världsvant uppe i luften, men nu var det nästan två år sen vi åkte på långtur med honom och mycket hinner ju som bekant hända. Lillasyster Saga var ännu ett oprövat kort på flygturer över två timmar. Det skulle kort och gott bli spännande att se! Vi slog oss ner i Norwegians nya Dreamliner nästan längst bak och fyllde stolsfickorna med leksaker, böcker och tilltugg - förhoppningsvis rustade för alla eventualiteter. De dimningsbara fönstren fick en uttömmande provkörning och alla väntade otåligt på att det inbyggda IFE (In-flight Entertainment)-systemet skulle öppnas.

Av världens alla spännande reseberättelser så utspelas troligen inte många i turistklass full med Singha-sugna svennebananer, därför lämnas ytterligare detaljer därhän. Resan kan i alla fall sammanfattas med 0,5-2 timmars sömn för föräldrarna, svårt uttråkad lillasyster som så småningom lyckades somna i pappas famn, och den med lite för stora och färggranna hörlurar utrustade storebroderns ögon släppte inte skärmen för en sekund innan han slutligen somnade av ren utmattning. Och inget krånglade i Dreamlinern, den var till och med lite bekvämare än genomsnittet!

På plats!
Fem timmar i förbokad "VIP"-buss (klistermärkena på sidorutorna förkunnade stolt tillgång till mat, dryck, DVD-video, karaoke samt mycket mera) rullade vi in i byn Hua Hin och sedan på "Coconut", en gated community med 23 charmiga hus praktiskt taget undantagslöst ägda av svenskar. Så här strax innan högsäsongen börjar komma igång fanns inte en boende på plats förutom Lasse och Helena samt flertalet thailändska byggarbetare och trädgårdsmästare. Vilket ställe!

Bananträd, kokospalmer, frangipaniträd fulla med vita blommor och ännu mer kokospalmer fyller trädgårdarna och omgivningarna utanför.

En ganska stor och snyggt inredd trerumsvilla med kök och badrum och stor terass mot det gemensamma poolområdet.

Vi kokade nästan över av hettan (ovanligt varmt just idag enligt Lasse) och mjukstartade acklimatiseringen till det tropiska klimatet genom att dra igång alla tre AC-anläggningar, så vi kunde få tillbaka normal kroppstemperatur igen. Följd av en rejäl familjedusch, sen började man bli människa igen.


Huay Yang är en liten by dit turistkalabaliken ännu inte nått. Visst finns det en och annan resort, men för det mesta är det vanliga hem, små affärer och en hel del betesmark. Stranden ligger ungefär en kilometer bort från huset och är praktiskt taget öde i sin milslånga sträckning förutom en pir för fiskebåtar och enstaka hotell/restauranger. För oss som är helt ointresserade av nattklubbsliv och liknande kunde det helt enkelt inte vara bättre!

Efter familjeduschen var det lunchdags. Vi träffade på våra enda grannar på vägen ut från området och fick ett snabbt tips om restaurang i närheten, vilket vi tacksamt tog emot i vårt alltmer påtagligt jetlaggade tillstånd. Restaurangen var mer som ett vanligt privathem med en liten uteservering under ett enkelt tak. Inte en matgäst syntes till så vi frågade försiktigt "Restaurant open?" till det leende paret som tog emot oss. Att svaret blev "Äta mat, ja!"på rent svenska underströk en extra gång hur vanligt det är med svenskar i den här lilla byn. En snabb måltid senare fick vi både slutsumman och växeln berättad på svenska.

En snabb sväng i en liten butik utrustade oss med vatten och frukostmat. Sen var det uppackning och lek som gällde, och förstås ett långt dopp i poolen med hela familjen. Det fanns både barnpool och bubbelpool, förutom den stora poolen och vattnet var precis lagom ljummet för att alla skulle kunna njuta. Förutom Satu, som på oklara grunder började frysa efter en stund.


Middagen blev takeaway från en strandbeläggen restaurang. Tipset samt en tur och retur-skjuts på skoter kom från Lasse, som fick en Chang-öl som tack medan vi väntade på maten. Efter maten började föräldrarnas koma-period, när vår bristfälliga sömn hann ikapp oss. Saga var hyfsad lätt att natta men när Max skulle nattas av oss båda blev det  nästan farsartat - vi somnade efter en halvminuts läsande, blev väckta av en otålig Max, och somnade över boken igen. Till slut gav Max upp och somnade.

Koman släpper

Först vid niotiden följande morgon (efter över 10 timmars sömn!) började vi kvickna till. Härligt att åter vara vid sina sinnens fulla bruk!!

Vad får man om man kombinerar ett tvåhjuligt motorfordon, blandade metalldelar som exempelvis armeringsjärn, lite presenning, stoppade sitsar och ett extra hjul? Jo, ett Alfons Åberg-helikopterliknande vrålåk för hela familjen, kallat saleng.

Efter en behagligt långsam morgonrutin som varade ända till lunch var det dags att provköra underverket inne på området, och när det kunde konstateras att det nog visst gick att köra med anständig säkerhet fick hela familjen ta plats för en liten sightseeing. Skotern som utgjorde hjärtat i anordningen kunde säkert prestera närmare 100 km/h i ursprungligt skick, men vi tog för säkrast att hålla oss under 30-strecket då det var ganska trögstyrt. Vädret var mer normaltvarmt idag och i selengen fläktade det mycket behagligt. Max satt duktigt på plats medan Saga nyfiket kurade i mors knä. Byn erbjuder åtskilliga småbutiker med dagligvaror, det finns en liten läkarstation och polisstation och en Shell-mack. Bensin till skotrar och salenger handlas dock normalt i nämnda butiker, som då säljs i gamla enliters läskflaskor.

Efter lite fruktshopping tog vi oss ut till stranden och Jack's Resort. Där fanns en mycket trevlig restaurang med barnstolar, barnböcker och t o m en urinoar i småpojksstorlek. Saga sopade hem all uppmärksamhet, något som tidigare var Max paradgren. Lyckligtvis är han just nu inte det minsta intresserad av främmande människor så han var lika glad att slippa som Saga var att få. Han föredrog att gå ner på stranden och köra med sina leksaksbilar istället, medan Saga förevigades i åtskilliga thailändska fotoalbum. Magnus höll på att klättra upp i palmerna av upphetsning när han hittade sina två Thailandfavoriter Paeneng Curry samt Ananas-shake på menyn. Efter en mycket smarrig lunch var Magnus på väg upp i palmerna igen när det stod klart att de hade en alldeles äkta espressomaskin också. På plats i sarengen kunde det sista av cappucinomustachen belåtet slickas bort innan det bar av igen. På återseende!

Eftermiddagen spenderades ätandes de supergoda små minibananerna vi köpt, en lång vända i poolen och sen en middagsvända till Bengts Restaurang(!), där det förutom ett mindre urval thaimat även serverades falukorv, köttbullar och sill med nubbe. Bengt själv var på plats. En tystlåten herre, men som ändå växlade några ord med oss på bred götebösska. Saga hamnade i några fotoalbum till och sen var det dags att åka hem för nattning. Max hade redan hunnit somna i salengen några gånger. :O Vi pustar ut i soffan medan vi blir utskrattade av de små ödlorna som klättrar runt på väggarna (deras läten påminner om gälla skratt).

Vi är kort och gott acklimatiserade och börjar njuta fullt ut! Resans motto är "Ingen brådska!" och detta skall vi leverera på de kommande dagarna.

#honeyquarter #nohurry #paeneng #espresso

Idag lämnade vi över lägenheten till våra andrahandshyresgäster. Märklig känsla att stänga dörren för sista gången på över tre månader, men nu skall det bli kanonkul att komma iväg efter allt slit med planering och rensning. Först några dagars kontemplation hos mor/svärmor Ingela i Västerås, med en extra chans att komma på vad vi glömt packa, men på söndag eftermiddag den 4/10 så sticker vi. Resplanen ser för tillfället ut så här:

Huay Yang, Thailand - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Bali, Indonesien - ? - Singapore - ?

Allt är inte klart som sagt, och det är ju bara kul. Första etappen blir lugn med en månad i hyrt hus i Thailand. Det blir ett bra sätt att förbereda huden och magen för nya utmaningar.

Fortsättning följer!