I do love to be beside the seaside!

After a couple of days in Bangkok and a fairly long drive, I finally arrived in Hua Hin to start a week's R&R in the hope of shaking off the bug I had caught on my way home from Indonesia. It was lovely to feel the sand under my feet, explore the waterside restaurants and jetties, and sample some of the local cuisine.

I fell in love with this young pup who had crawled under the boat to be as sick as the proverbial dog. (I think it was the Miss Bella ears that won me over.)  I even started making all sorts of crazy calculations about vets and quarantine and airfares until I remembered that I was flying on to Jakarta to work and not heading home. But all is well that ends well. When I checked again the next morning, Pup had made a full recovery, and I realised was probably a dearly loved family member from one of the fisherman's cottages by the beach.

That wonderful coconut shell and orchid combo, again.

Sorry Mr Hilton if the purple umbrellas below are yours, but this is not my idea of fun at the beach. Imagine being Umbrella 11 in Row E. Maybe the Europeans are more used to massed umbrellas, but it's just not the Aussie way.

I regret not having bought one of the terrific shell mobiles.

One of my Thai connections told me that Hua Hin was an 'old money' resort. It became popular during the twenties when Kings Rama VI and VII both built residences there. My base for exploring Hua Hin was Baan Bayan. The main building was a beautifully restored beach house from those times, reminiscent in many ways of a traditional Queenslander from my home state, but with even more under-cover veranda space: a great design for the tropics. 

This is the rear of the building from outside my own more modern unit. I love the blue and white ginger jar against the lemon at the top of the stairs.

I've been thinking of having fairy lights put into the big poinciana in my front garden, but these white shades are another great option.

There were some wonderful dendrobium orchids in the garden, as well as the beautiful Indian Cork tree I had fallen in love with at Bang Pa-In Palace, a few days earlier.