Hua Hin, Thailand (Jan 26 - Feb 4)

From Jan 26 - Feb 4, we had a stretch of 9 days that we had left unplanned so decided fairly last minute to return to Thailand to stay at the Juniper Tree Dolphin Bay Guesthouse,  about a 3.5 hour drive south of Bangkok near the town of Hua Hin. The area has beach resorts and is a popular weekend getaway spot for many in Bangkok. We previously stayed at the original Juniper Tree Guesthouse 24 years ago when we were returning from an assignment in Pakistan/Afghanistan. That location is no longer used and a new property was purchased several years ago where they built a beautiful new guesthouse, including two main buildings for lodging, office space and meeting rooms, 7 cottages and a swimming pool. It is an ideal place for international workers to visit and refresh. All meals were provided, laundry was done for us, and there were plenty of activities to keep visitors busy.

We found it so restful and once again a great place for Olive to focus on her writing. We also enjoyed sharing mealtimes with people who are working in China, India, Vietnam, Cambodia, Germany and Thailand. One family will stick out in our memory - they have 12 children, 7 of whom are adopted from China. We were amazed at how well all the children interacted with each other.

We swam a lot in the pool and in the ocean, read, solved Sudoku puzzles, and watched movies. It sometimes seems strange to be in a resort area with many activities to do, yet our focus here was to have Olive make greater headway in her writing, which she did.

We had a room on the 3rd floor at the far end of the building

The view from our balcony

Olive taking a break from her writing

Beach directly across the road from the Juniper Tree

7-legged octopus some of the kids found near the shore

Spotted at an eatery just down the road from the Juniper Tree

Small aviary at the JT

From here we flew back to Malaysia and then caught a connecting flight to the Gold Coast in Australia, where we plan to stay until Feb 14.