I had trouble sleeping last night. The vacation is coming to an end. I wasn’t sure of the days. Last time we were here (2006) we missed our return flight by one day because we lost track of the days. I didn’t feel easy until I could pull out the airline tickets and check the calendar on my computer. I even changed the time on my computer clock so it’s set to Thai time. So we leave on Wednesday night and get back to Germany on Thursday morning. I’m not sure what we will do today. We will for sure swim a few times. The apartments had a few visitors from Bangkok this past weekend. Most of the apartments are owned by Thai families that come here on weekends and holidays. During the week we have the place pretty much to ourselves. Last night we were again alone in the pool. I’m sure it will be the same today. It feels like it’s going to rain today. So far the weather has been pretty good. When it rains, it’s just for a few hours. Then it’s sunny again. It’s hot and humid, but I like that. I can not say how sad I am we are leaving soon. Sarah was sitting on my lap in the Jacuzzi last night. She said she loved Thailand and never wanted to leave. I’m on board with her. I could easily see myself living here for long periods of time. But I would want to start a business of some kind. Something to help employ the people. People don’t seem so happy here. It’s very hard for the locals. 5 star hotels are taking over Hua Hin. There are” nice” restaurants every where replacing the family run Thai kitchens. We came to Hua Hin about 9 years ago. It was just a sleepy little place back then. The people didn’t have much, but they also didn’t need much. 10 baht could buy you a pretty good meal. Today you need 90 baht for a cup of coffee. They can make more money because of tourism, but everything cost more too. I guess the reason I loved Dolphin Bay so much is because it’s not overly developed. I also do not see enough tourists in Hua Hin to sustain this growth. We are here during the low season, but I can imagine this town only gets a few months of real crowds. Most of the population is under employed most of the year. I’m not sure what kind of business I could start to help employ a few families? Life is easy here if you have money. But with out money, it brings despair. I see hopelessness in too many faces. Too many tourists come here to use the people. I read that 90 % of the beach front is owned by foreigners. I feel like the government is not doing enough to protect the Thai population from being exploited. This also goes for the sex tourists. They should stop the whole exploitation of women and children in the sex “industry”. Thailand is a beautiful vacation spot. They should stop this whole sex tourist thing. It ruins the country. It robs the people. It only attacks those who would exploit and use these beautiful people. I never saw any sigh of a sex industry in Hua Hin before, but now there is a big night club here. It has a large sign out front with girls on it. Pretty sleazy looking. How sad! I hope they don’t go in that direction. This place was so clean before.
We can not find Sarah’s Mp3 player. It was in the kitchen before the maids cleaned our apartment. We searched everywhere. I’m sad to think it, but we think the maids took it. Today Juergen is going to ask them about it. We don’t want to ask the apartment manager because we don’t want to see anyone fired over a 40 dollar Mp3 player. I am writing this to say you need to be careful with your stuff. It’s a sad fact but they do have crime here. The last time we were here a women standing near us had her purse stolen. A couple on a motorcycle ripped it from her hands. It had her passport and airline ticket and everything in it. I never carry the important stuff with me. I hide it in a safe. I only carry a small amount of cash, and a copy of my passport. I also watch the motorcycles and hold tight to my bag. I don’t care so much about the Mp3 player. I only write this to warn travelers to be careful. Most Thai people are honest, but some are not.
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