Below is the view from our balcony in Hua Hin. To get here one flies into Bangkok, then takes a 2.5 hour drive to Hua Hin. We are with another family and the kids have been remarkably good. We were promised and confirmed for connecting rooms but that wasn’t delivered our first night here.

At the next morning breakfast buffet the spigot fell out of the giant milk urn as Tess was getting milk for the kids’ cereal. What ensued was an outpouring of milk, showering itself all over Tess and anything in sight. I stuck my finger in the hole to stop the flood. Major mess – even the cats and kittens hanging around the resort would take a while to clean this up! Twenty minutes later when Sebastian toasted a donut, much to the horror of onlookers but hey it’s not like they tried to stop him, the staff were still mopping up the milk.

The dairy deluge, the original promise of connecting rooms plus ants all over our friends’ toothbrushes when they woke-up, were used as leverage for room upgrades. We now have a very conveniently located room “family suite.” Basically it’s two connecting rooms with one entrance. The second kids room has a pirate theme and easily sleeps three. Kids are thrilled. Below they watch a movie before breakfast in “the pirate ship!”

Tess says, “we’re doing something cool. wed and thurs we are going to see the bridge on the river kwai. It is an overnight excursion and we sleep on what I imagine is a little boat ‘a floatel’ not overburdened with mod cons and space…, we raft and ride elephants, and visit WW2 graves. A great chance to combine history and fun!! We are seriously excited.”

During the upgrade discussions the hotel duty manager buckled pretty quickly. He said the recent turmoil in Bangkok has caused a 75% year-on-year drop in business for the hotel. For example, when a bomb went off in Bangkok two to three weeks ago, twelve international agencies called up and cancelled ALL of their tours to Thailand. Reason being: general paranoia and most tours involve Bangkok plus 2 – 3 other cities.