Something different for lunch today I suggested?

Yep, was the answer and before you could say," possum up a gum tree" we were on our way to catch a songtaew to this beach area only a few clicks outside Hua Hin.

The songtaews to this area all leave from the corner of Dechanuchit and Sa Song Road in town and as we approached we saw around three or four lined up ready to go when they had some passengers.

The first one had a driver sitting on the back having a cigarette and asked where we were going," "taxi" he said and he indicated 200 baht for seven of us in his songtaew. However, the woman sitting near to him, washing vegetables in a big bowl said the next vehicle would take us for 10 baht each- what do you do? Its a saving of almost $4 or about 60 cents each and not to be sneezed at.....we clamber aboard and are sitting on the wooden bench seats, waiting, waiting, waiting....... five more minutes says the old lady with a wry smile as she continues to wash the vegetables.

True to her word we are finally underway. Its sort of like an all stops to Redfern trip with people being picked up along the route. Soon we are full with people hanging precariously off the back and he can take no more passengers. The locals look at us and smile. We smile back.

After 15 minutes of stops and starts we turn left and proceed along a dusty road. We stop at an intersection. Every one gets out. I ask the driver which way to the beach and he points to the right. "How far?"I ask. He says, "one kilometre". This doesn't make sense to me as my pre planning on the internet indicated where we wanted to go was along Fish Market Road and this was found by going past the Supatra resort which I could see was on our left. So I told the others we should go left rather than take his directions and besides I could see the look on Lipstick Lovers face when he said the beach was one kilometre away and it was around 36 degrees in the shade, if you could find some. My reputation as a "local guide" was still in some doubt with the others after I had almost got them on a wrong ferry to Nonthaburi and we had almost gone in the opposite direction- This was my chance for redemption.

We walk for ten minutes with no result in sight...How much further? says the Lipstick Lover..... then we see a line of shantys with names on them. They purport to be "restaurants". All have dirt or bamboo slat flooring. There is a range of seafood in bowls, trays or buckets out the front, a couple of tables inside. Some of the seafood is in water others have it more or less on melting ice. They are uninspiring. We look for something that seems decent and has plenty of ice on the seafood. We finally settle on one but the three girls say they don't want to die and will not eat anything but will have a drink.

There is a worn and very tattered menu offered.We order soft drinks and beers. The boys have decided on the big prawns and they are to be cooked on the B-B-Q which is already smouldering away at the front. Our "restaurant" has a toilet which runs straight down to the water below us and although there are boats moored out the back the tide is out and they sit on the mud which is a bit smelly. Not a great sight, buts its a new experience..

Our table is being wiped down with a dirty black rag- not good, we think. I must remember to make a mental note that the cleanliness factor will be far less than 5/10. The prawns arrive ....well cooked with a chilli dipping sauce. At 600 baht a kilo they are the same price at the night market. We are a bit dubious about eating them but they are a good 8/10 and quite tasty. Yummy, we tell the girls. We finish our drinks, pay our bill and get out of the place and walk to the beach, a couple of hundred metres down the road. There are some eating places here which look far better than the one we have just experienced but the hungry girls refuse to eat and want to go home, Now!!!

We commence our walk back to where we will catch our songtaew. Along the way there is a solitary van parked along the road... and the driver says ,"Hua Hin, four hundred baht". I offer two hundred and he ignores me. We walk back to the intersection and go to the songtaew, "10 baht each," the driver says. "Leave in five minutes"as he sits down and lights up a cigarette. Five minutes later we are underway.Unfortunately we miss our stop at Hua Hin because of our constant chatter about our days outing and we have to do another lap of the town before we get off- the driver says the fare will now be 20 baht each because of the extra sight seeing. We get out and head for a place selling food and a cold beer. I jokingly tell the girls I am getting pains in the stomach and may be getting food poisoning.... the guys laugh but the girls just look at me with expressionless faces...................

Aah, the cold tiger beer slides down my throat, another day in paradise is almost over as I contemplate where we will eat tomorrow.

A very nice review Wabbit. Of course, I HAVEN'T marked those restaurants for a visitation and review next year. The boys were a little imprudent to eat there as from you description it sounded to me as if were "Hua Hin belly central".

Again, a great review. It was a good day, albeit a hot walk and, like a lot of places in Asia, I bet the 'restaurant' would have looked a lot more attractive by night. I particularly liked buying direct from the fisherman, and his wife did a very good job cooking the monster prawns.

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Surprisingly I think you will find that the songtaews do run to a schedule and during the day leave every 20 minutes - they will set off even with one or two passengers because they know they will fill up along the way. The great thing is the price and the fact that they will pick up any where along the route just stick your hand out. Incidently if you had turned right and walked for about 15 mins you would have arrived at the other side of the mountain and an excellent beach with many small eating places and a couple of nice hotel restaurants on the beach.

Thanks for the comment Rone. I had read some other reports about good eating places at the beach so I was quite disappointed with what we found.The Songtaew driver had indicated we should walk the other way but said it was around one kilometre which we felt was too far in the heat. The reports I had read indicated the "restaurants" were to the left and thats the way we went. I will try the ones to the right next time so thanks for that info.

that's cruel, kicking sand at the 'local guides' face......BUT..........so true.....so close, but so far away. LOL. there are quite a few comfy spots to much in that area. though being the CC that i am, i save the bbq shrimp for lotus when there, and pig out on a kilo in the food court for about 300 baht....... lacks atmosphere, but that can be a stretch sometimes.

nice write up, and i'm with MD, don't think they will make the list to visit.

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because when we arrived at the bus terminus we also turned LEFT. Walked couple hundred yards (past a small restaurant) across a car park and onto the beach.

Unfortunately it was the end of November and the beach was covered in rubbish following a storm and high tide. Nice/friendly English guy who together with his Thai wife owned the little restaurant told us the story of the high tides which had wiped out at least one of the bigger restaurants on the beach.

He advised that we walked back to the bus terminus and take the other road to beach, the other side of the mountain. Incidently def a brave man. On another day we decided to have a look at the "seafood restaurants" around the corner that you dined in and sorry Im with your kids - you have to draw a line some where. No way Jose.