Moving Forward

April 11, 2007
Huahin

Every year, my family go on a road trip together. Usually they would end up in a luxurious hotel by the sea somewhere near Bangkok. They would spend a night or two lounging and catching up with one another. The fact that I have a very big family and dad in a wheel chair, each year the trip get more challenging. The major hindrance is a lack of facilities for people with disabilities. Forget about kneel-down buses, priority seats, sidewalks, and washrooms for handicap, the insufficiency leave them no choice but staying home most of the time.

This year I had a chance to participate in my family gathering. Our destination is Kao Ta-Kleb beaches, Hua Hin Town, 3 hour drive from BKK. My sister planned the trip itinerary in advance and was able to reserve a 5 bedroom house by the beach for the family of 23. Before the trip, the number of attendees freaked me out as I was used to to living alone for a long time. I was worried about loosing my privacy.
Surprisingly, It turned out to be one of the best trip I've had. My sisters and I had
lived in a different places all over the world and had a lot to catch up. First night we stayed up until 5 A.M.. We sat in front of the house drinking beer and looking
at the sea at night. It was a beautiful night. What could be better than good conversation, great company, and bottomless beer?

As hours passed by, my sisters started to go back to bed, and left me and my in-law competing for a title of Last Drunk Standing. Around 5 A.M., the beer cases were empty. We were wasted but still chatted with our eyes half-way closed. Eventually we called it a night and went to bed. The next day my in-law got up hung over and had a headache. He asked if I felt the same. I said no, I was cool. Everyone thought I was a hard-core drinker. The secret is I drank half of what everyone else had. My in-law had about 12 bottles of beer. Our glasses were full the whole time. I was the one who refilled all glasses. I filled up half of my glass with beer and the other half with water. They were drunk and didn't pay attention to what I was doing. I knew drinking beer and water together will never get me drunk.

Hua Hin is a cute small town that has beautiful beaches and cozy resorts. I made a visit to the town when I was a kid so I had no recollection of what it looks like. I'm surprised to see beautiful beaches as I didn't expect shoreline beaches would be as pretty as beaches on the islands. No wonder it's become one of the most popular weekend get-away destinations for BKK people. Here's a link, in case you want to know more about Hua Hin. http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-489327-hua_hin_vacations






We got there on Friday A.M. and left on Sunday P.M.. On the way home, we made a few stops at Ratchburi and Na-korn Pa-Tom, the 2 other cities. I looked out the window and saw the same scenery I saw 10 years ago. I smiled to myself. For once, I feel like I'm finally home.