BBA Trip- Hua Hin

***Just realized this didn't get posted. This was the weekend of September 4-6.***

Ah this weekend was so much fun. And I know I say that about almost all my weekends, but this was one definitely one for the books. It wasn't anything super fancy, but it was a weekend where I really got to know some of the local Thai students, and that was absolutely amazing!

So some of the awesome Thai students in BBA planned a weekend getaway to the city of Hua Hin, which is about three hours outside Bangkok. We left Friday afternoon, and after some delays in traffic and stopping for some amazing seafood on the way, we arrived at our hotel (which was so beautiful, situated directly across from the beach) at 5pm. We all took a few hours to rest up before we headed out to a night market for some more amazing seafood and a little bit of shopping. I also experienced my first rotee, which is basically a streetfood version of a crepe. They are utterly delicious, and I think I ate about four of them just this weekend. After the market came the real excitement though! We headed back to our hotel to have a party and truly get to know one another. We had lots of leftover money from what we each paid for the trip so the Thai students surprised us with tons of whiskey! This led to a very eventful night to say the least. But it was so much fun, and I am now close friends with some local students, which is great! They seriously have the answers to all our problems, so I highly recommend making friends with the locals wherever you go!

We also had the perfect place to hang out at night! All of our rooms were in the same hallway, so it was super easy to get to one another. And the Thai students all had a big family suite at the end of the hall, so we could all hang out in there. But outside their room led to a children's pool and playground, and lots of lounge chairs. And since the area was technically closed at night, it meant we had lots more room to enjoy ourselves. The whole night was actually so great. We had a guitar going and lots of singing happening outside by the pool, card games happening in every corner, people just sitting around getting to know one another, and of course, lots of whiskey being poured into cups.

Saturday was a super eventful day, once we finally got everyone up and out of bed. We first headed off to a temple about 35 minutes away. The area itself was small and the only main attraction was this giant statue of a Buddha, but regardless it was very cool to see. We then headed for a Thai Boxing Class, and I think I fell in love with a new sport. It was fun and such a good and hard workout. I'm currently looking into finding some classes in Bangkok that I can attend to learn a little bit more about the sport. Before supper that night we went to this little Vintage Market that is designed to look like old Thailand. It was small and the stores weren't super great, but the food was amazing! They also had live music being played and a dog show taking place. It made me miss my own little pet squirrels (I mean dogs). We went to a different night market on Saturday that was more touristy with everything there being handmade. So it was really more of a craftshow. There were buskers all around the area singing, breakdancing, doing magic shows, etc. It was neat to see but it was more like the markets I've been to in Canada, so we actually decided to leave early. Once again, Saturday was very fun with even more whiskey. Except this time, I was determined to stay up all night so that I could watch the sunrise over the beach in the morning. I just barely managed to stay awake long enough, but was it ever worth it! I can't even describe in words how beautiful it was! Only six of us were awake to watch it, but it was perfect. I've never experience serenity like that before. I'm sure I'll see lots more sunrises and sunsets during my time here, but that was a perfect first one to see.

As you can imagine, I was dead come Sunday. After a busy two days and two very long nights, I was running on no energy, and I really just wanted to head back to Bangkok. But as a last minute decision, 12 of us decided to take on of the vans and head to a waterpark for the day. Normally I'm not a big fan of waterparks, just because I usually find them dirty and crowded, but this one was amazing. It's call Vana Nava and they definitely had some good rides. Everyone's favourite was definitely one of the two big ones where six people go in one tube. I don't know how many times we climbed those stairs that day to ride it. My favourite thing about being at the park, however, was the view from standing at the top of the slides waiting to go down. It was breathtaking, and I only wish I had've had my camera with me to take pictures. If you looked in one direction, you could mountains covered with brush and greenery, and in the other direction you looked out into the sea. It was like two worlds colliding into one in that exact location, and I'm so lucky that I got to stand there and admire the views, all while riding exhilarating water slides for six hours straight with some of my best friends here. To say the least, it was a great day, and a great weekend, and I can't wait until the Thai students plan another trip for us all to go on.

~Ally