little by little

little by little, we discover more about this town - Hua Hin.

I read about many expatriates retired here at Hua Hin, but we did not get to meet them, we are hanging around the tourist spots most of the time.

It wasn't a love at first sight, perhaps it is a good thing that we saw the worst to start with. The gap between rich and poor is huge here, any foreigners would be considered rich compare to what a local life might live like yet you have Bangkok Elites driving their Mercedes 500 all over and owning building after building of hotel or residential development. I once took Victor to a local noodle stand, he could not survive eating locally at where local people dine but he can definitely eat local food in a more established restaurant.

Golf is expensive, a round of golf cost US$ 80 each; this is because we are paying tourist price in the mean time. The best course here cost about US$ 32,000 to join but we have to buy a property inside the gate which I don't like that location, it's in the middle of no-where and have to drive 15 minutes to go out for dinner or something. Another option is to live south to avoid all the hustle and bustle of town area, belong to a golf club which is not as prestige as the best course but cost a lot less --- US$ 15000 for 15 years of membership. Immediately we bring down the cost of play for only paying caddie fee 250B = US$ 8 + caddie tip 300B = US$ 10 + yearly dues 20,000B = US$ 630

It doesn't take long for Victor to meet people, he spoke to our rental agency's owner and immediately joined their golf group to go for a out-of-town golf expedition. I am going to fly back to hong kong this evening, will leave this place at 2:00pm to get to Bangkok Int'l Airport to catch a 7:00pm flight. I just drove him to the opposite side of our hotel for their golf van to pick him up, drive together with the group to go to a golf course built inside a Thailand National Park located south-west of Bangkok, it takes a little over an hour drive from here. Instantly he is playing 100B = US$ 3 nassau with this group of expats! Hope he makes some birdies to win some $.

Overall we spent the most of our money on golf, eating out every meal everyday and grooming. We have thai massage 3 times a week, I did not buy much but I will when I arrive to hong kong. Right now at where I am, I feel like I don't know where am I going, I am just as confuse as Victor who is a known-certain foreigner, I can hide behind my tanned skin and no one knows I am not thai if I don't start speaking in English. But I don't know where to shop in great price like the way I do in Hong Kong. I keep going into tourist spots where a pair of sunglasses cost US$300 in Hua Hin Thailand, which discourages my shopping mode.

Victor is on his way to golf with his new group of British expats, I will go fix my hair before I fly back to Hong Kong this evening. Will keep you posted of my favourite Asian City --- Hong Kong!

Monsoon Valley - Huahin Vineyard

We were so looking forward to this local vineyard, heard a lot of nice things about it and every travel book I read has mentioned this place. Perhaps our expectation is just too high, it only lead to disappointment.

Wine-drinking becomes very popular in Thailand during the last 10 years but Thai government view Wine as a luxury product, imply heavy tax on it which seems crazy to me, a whopping 300% tax!

So a bottle of wine cost US$ 30 doesn't really get anything here due to the tax issue, it creates a bigger market place for local-made wine. Well we thought we would buy some and bring back to the hotel or drink it for the next two weeks while we are still here. The truth is it's drinkable, not great nor good but just ok.

There was a little village outside the vineyard selling local produce fruit and provide elephants for riding, I saw these 2 poor elephants one was tied by the neck and one was chained at the foot. I almost want to cry. I asked Victor: Why don't we ride them for 20 minutes to set them free from the chains a little bit?!

Vic replied: You go ride it, the elephant is full with dust and dirt, and they stink!

I said: They are animals of course they smell a little bit, you stink too after playing and walking 18 hole of golf!

He replied: I bet you won't ride me when I am stinky, not before I take a nice shower!

I was speechless..............

Pala-U Waterfall

I know at the end of the drive to Pala-U waterfall, we could see the other side of the mountain where crosses the border of Thailand, be able to see Burma (nowaday Mynamar). Unfortunately all we saw were mountain ranges, had no idea where is thailand border and where is burma so we gave up.

Driving one hour from the town center, we reached the most famous Pala-U waterfall. I read about it before, it mentioned a trail to the waterfall but no one has told me I need hiking shoes. Well I was equipped with the best hiking shoes in Thai version --- my flip flop!

Did not realize I have to hike over rocky dirt trail up and down the side slope in order to go higher to the waterfall, some hike are walking over small crack of big vertical rock. When I saw there is a rope tied with knob for people to hold on while walking up the stream, I know I am in trouble wearing my flip flop.

Luckily I did not slip, Vic slipped once walking across the stream where the rocks are wet, he is hanging on stronger than ever so no serious injury happens. The country side is just beautiful, bamboo lining up both sides of the waterfall along with giant evergreens, butterflies are flying all over the place to decorate the water with its dazzling color. I took a video while hundreds of butterflies flying around us just walking up the stream, too bad the video size is too big to upload so can't share it on the blog with you all.

Local carps are also abundant, we do not think we have to prepare bait for the fish, there are so many of them, just to put a net to skim and certainly there will be fish in it. Literally thousands of them swimming all over the place. We hiked from Level 1 to Level 5 and the top is Level 11. Sure enough we were not prepare for Level 11 so 5 was pretty good for us. There were pool of water where the waterfall collects, people are swimming in it, jumping into the pool of water. I just took my flip flop off and soak my leg in the cool stream of water. There are small fishes come over to poke onto my skin, I am sure they are trying to eat away my dead skin somewhere but the fish did not give me a pedicure, they were just keep poking the leg and heel area, it is such a funny feelings when a whole brunch of fish are doing it onto you together.

Also Vic couldn't help himself but complaining about the discrimination of foreign visitors, the reason why he went crazy because our car was stopped at the entrance and we were asked to pay the entry fee. It was ok to pay 400B = US$ 12 for 2 people, but Vic then saw thai people pay 40B = US$ 1.5 for entry, this policy is enough to make him nuts!

Hey you are in Thailand, if the Government doesn't take it from you, who are they going to take it from?

Banyan Golf Club

yesterday we played the Banyan Golf Club and this is the newest course being built in the area, just open for play 2 years ago. It is very beautiful around the mountain ranges, however we got 2 lousy caddie this time, didn't make my round more enjoyable.

This community also built condo and villa to allow residents joining as members, but the residential site is 10 minutes away from the golf course. This doesn't make any sense to buy at a premium rate but not living on the golf course. So Banyan was crossed from our list, we could target onto the other 2 courses which are Springfield and Black Mountain.

After playing golf in the morning, I got my wisdom tooth pulled in the evening. So my face is all swollen now and going on a liquid diet for 2 days or so. Vic said I should use this opportunity to stay on a liquid diet for a week to lose some weight. I said 2 days is the max when facing all the good food in thailand. I can drink soup and have congee in the mean time. 2 days later, everything should go back to normal, this is also why I did it today, for my trip back to hong kong! How mean is that if I can't eat the food in hong kong?!

I wanted to write this blog last night, once I switched on the laptop, I actually see stars flying out from the screen. Then I realize it's the painkiller and I should lie down. So I went to sleep from 8pm last night till 8am this morning, feeling better now.

Driving range

we went to the driving range today, it's located in the city, we do not have to drive very far, about 5 minutes from our hotel.

the driving range has 3 levels and we were on the ground level, hitting ball from a matt into a gianatic net about 150 yard wide to 300 yard deep, there are grass and mount with different flags to aim at. Well it was 9:30am in the morning and it was not busy at all, we are the second customer who drove in. There was a swiss guy beating ball by himself while his thai wife and baby are watching on the chair. Vic and I settled down 3 bays away from him, this swiss guy looks like he is a serious tennis player because he uses his arms to swing through the ball and no pasture or weight shift whatsoever. As usual, Vic could not help himself but offer a free lesson to this Swiss guy. And Vic said to him:

"Hey you see this girl?! She has a nice swing and I taught her how to play. If you want to swing like her, you have to listen to me."

I said to myself, who else would refuse a free lesson?! Especially a beginner?!

We each got 3 trays of ball and by the time I finished my last tray of ball, Vic was still working with that guy! Perhaps he should seriously consider to become a teaching pro somewhere outhere!

Thai silk

today is sunday, we decided to drive around town to discover the area without the main road's traffic. We found this place just one block closer to the sea behind the main road, it looks like a tourist trap but we go in anyway just to see what's inside.

I guess in season this place is jammed with tourists brought by the tour buses, I can see there's many parking spots for giant tour bus but now is empty. They show how thai silk is being made traditionally, how they grow the silk worm, how the worm works the cacoon around its body, how to extract the silk from the cacoon and how to woven the extracted silk. It's very interesting to see how thai silk is being made, I am sure Chinese silk is just the same.

Silk is among the very few fabric that U.S. government implement 0 import tax on, because United States do not produce silk by themselves, there is no tax on a clothing item made by silk vs a clothing item made by cotton could be applied a 25% import tax without the proper quota.

There are tailor shop everywhere here, silk is cheap and labour is cheap. It may cost less to tailor-made a suit than to buy a ready-made suit in the states. I did not go in to check the prices, but I saw it cost about US$ 120 for a suit made from silk. Many European ladies would bring the designer magazine, pick the fabric and have the tailor copy the design to make evening grown. I don't wear those serious evening growns anymore, there's no ball to go to living in sunny florida, all I purchased are beach wear and silk accessories.

Dental

I never thought what damage could a frozen milkway do to my tooth, well I bite on a frozen milkyway a few months ago, it chipped away a corner of my front tooth! Unbelievable, a frozen milkyway.

During the last few months, I have noticed this chip getting bigger and bigger. Perhaps I become more aware of it. While Victor is getting some crown work done, I checked with the dentist and she said she can do a good job repairing it.

We must have went into 8 different dental offices and found this one, named "Perfect Smile" and the dentist is a very young lady. Maybe one would think we should not get our teeth done through a young dentist; but I have this motto of "whoever get to where they are have to start from where they were". We gave her a chance and she did not disappoint us.

She did a wonderful job in repairing my chip tooth. There is one good thing about using a young dentist, she is not afraid to use new technology, try new things, does not have a set rule to follow. Many dentists did not prefer to repair my front tooth because they feel it is very difficult to match the color of the filler and the color of the original tooth. This dentist has a device to match the color tone without dealing with the naked eye-matching, and it looks great now, couldn't tell it was chipped before.

One thing about this place is also cleanness, Vic said he feels he could eat on their floor that's how clean it is. We made a good choice, as far as the price tag goes, I had an ultrasound cleaning for 400B = US$ 12.5 + repair chip tooth for 1000B = US$ 32 + UV dental office whitening service for 5000B = US$ 157

Plus the service is A++++++++ couldn't ask for more!

Exotic fruit in Thailand

Last night we went to the night market again, it was Vic's first trip to the night market though. He was curious at what people are selling and couldn't help himself to fool around with the hawkers about pricing. I told him if you are not interest in buying, don't bother them.

He stopped at a fruit stand asking the lady for a free taste of an exotic fruit called "Rambutan", the lady is very nice and offered him a free sample. Vic peeled open the hairy looking red fruit like lychee, it tasted milder than lychee but have the same texture. He was sold after he sampled it so we bought a kg for 40B = US$ 1.2.

Then I saw this lady has "Durian" so I bought a portion too, "Durian" is the King of all fruit in Thailand, cost 140B = US$ 3.2 for a small portion. But it is one of my favourite exotic fruit. It has a very strong odour not everyone can take it, you either love it or hate it, there's nothing in between.

On our way back, Vic said: "Why is that I smell garbage?!"
I kept quiet......
He continues: "Ooh my God, it's your Durian, please put it in the trunk! It smells like vomit mixed with garbage."

I replied, "It is a very exotic fruit, a special taste that you have to acquire it and it is not everyone know how to appreciate it., just like cheese or beer."

On the other hand, I am happy that he hates Durian because I get to enjoy it all by myself!

Black Mountain Golf Club

Having walk 18 holes mountain course 2 days ago, we were prepared for Black Mountain this time, we brought ourselves each 2 litre of bottle water, towel to dry our sweat, extra socks and plenty of golf ball.

This club was developed by a Swiss developer, it was tucked behind a few mountain range close to the town. It took us about 25 minutes to drive from our hotel, the road was bad driving up to Black Mountain. There are potholes all over, the bushes is over-grown on the side of the road so we can not see through when we come to a sharp curve. But once we arrive, it is a magnificent scene over-looking the town being wrapped around by hills and a seaview at far, really a gorgeous view.

I love the course very much, also loved my beautiful caddie. They were very nice and spoke simple english, when Vic missed a putt, they have to apologise to him. I told them: "it's not your fault, it's his fault that he didn't putt the ball to the hole. And it's also his fault when you told him to drive the ball to the left center fairway that he drove into the bushes..... not your fault, no need to apologise."

The slope is even more severe this time at Black Mountain, we climbed some fairway uphill to a 35 - 40 degree slope. I played at the red tee marked 5700 yard and I felt like I am playing to about 6000 yard. We think we could take advantage of downhill hole which we really could not because there are water hazard like a creek running through the fairway and the rough is 4" tall, if we missed the fairway or the proper landing spot then it felt like we lost a stroke right there. It has a lot of blind spot to hit to, where you can not see through the uphill there are bunkers around the green, all we could do is to trust the caddie and hit it straight to where the caddie told us, unfortunately this is not always do-able.

It is a truly beautiful course, I won't rate it better than Kapalua in Maui but it is one of the best we played in Thailand, just as good as Blue Canyon at Phuket. But Blue Canyon becomes too expensive to play, each round cost US$ 180 per player plus caddie fee and tips, my opinion is not worth this price as far as comparison to other courses in Thailand is concerned.

I shot a 82 and Vic shot in 90's, we both enjoyed the course very much and he had a cramp on his left leg after the hike. I don't see myself can play here 5 rounds a week unless I go through a training program, it is very demanding to walk this course, have to be in un-believable shape to walk 18 holes 5 times a week.

Chao Lay

I remember I couldn't get in "Chao Lay" seafood restaurant during my last trip to Huahin with my sister, it was jammed at 7pm and my sister and I went back the next day to secure a seat at 5:30pm, it was jammed pack on a friday night.

This time I took Victor to "Chao Lay", a night before we eat there, I had him go look at the menu and walk around the restaurant just to make sure he is comfortable with it, then we'll go together sometime. My golf booking agent from Denmark told us the princess of Thailand dine at "Chao Lay" at least once a month. Well I turned my head to Vic and say to him: "If the food is good enough for the princess of Thailand, it should be good enough for you!"

It's an open air restaurant on the pier facing the gulf of thailand, the kitchen and operation are mainly downstairs, also the fresh seafood department with tanks filled with lobster / grouper / all sorts of sea-creatures is located downstairs. You can order standard food on the menu and it's a 4 color photo with english description menu, good for any tourists to order. Or be a little more creative, pick your own fish / tiger king pawn (no kidding, it's really king size, the pawn is bigger than my hand) / lobster / scallops / crabs ....etc. They weight it by the kg and charge a small fee to cook to order.

For example I ordered a steamed grouper, they weight it and tell me how much it cost per kg and how heavy my fish is, I told them I want it steam with ginger, scallion, garlic and soy sauce with shitake mushroom. It came up a total price of 350 thai baht = US$ 12

We had scallop, fish, shrimp, vegetable, rice and dessert mango plus 2 glasses of wine for 1300B = US$ 40

Hey it's good enough for the princess, it's good enough for me!

Costco in Thai style

we discovered this place called "Macro", just like "Costco" in USA. The funny thing is the variety of the items are totally different. They also have fresh produce department, seafood department and meat department. I attached a picture of what kind of meat they put it on display, it scared me a little when I walked through the isle but I guess it was because I didn't expect to see head, I used to see it all the time in Hong Kong at the wet market.

The regular supermarket here called "Lotus" is like our "Whole Food". We have been there a few times to stocked on drinks or snacks and they have what we need at a similar price. I personally find there's no advantage to shop at this Macro in Thailand at all except the frozen food items. Macro has frozen dumplings from Hong Kong, Japan and Korea; lamb from New Zealand or Australia; beef from Argentina or USA but the quality of the steak is far from Prime quality in USA.

Einstein used to say: "It won't called 'Research' if we know what we are doing."

Obviously we don't know what we are doing, but this is a good research trip, just to look a few layers deeper than a tourist perspective.

Mood Meter

I would rate Vic's mood meter as followed:

first day upon our arrival: Bad
second day upon our arrival: Very Bad
third day upon our arrival: Extremely Bad
fourth day upon our arrival: Couldn't be worst
fifth day upon our arrival: Great, this is the best place in the world after eating that toasted baguette with german ham and cheese

Note that Vic is allergic to wheat flour and gluten, the baguette here seems does not bother him. The reason is in Asia, french bread is always made with a mixture of rice flour and wheat flour, perhaps the trace of gluten is much less in a bread than regular flour, he did not have a reaction to it at all, I am kind of surprise that he can eat bread here all the time without any problems.

Also, the reason why he felt so bad for the first few days because we did not have a car. It was my idea to not rent a car for the first few days, just take shuttle and taxi to get a feel for the area before we actually start driving all over the place. There was a big jazz festival on the beach last 3 days upon our arrival, traffic was bad and residents are driving in from bangkok or from the southern provence, it was a smart idea not to drive on those first few days.

Maybe it is a good thing for Vic to see the worst first. We did not know where we were going on the first 2 days and we trumbled into a very old & bad neigbourhood close to where the shuttle drop off point. He went totally crazy, I think people do not understand thai lives thai style, we are on their land, we perceive beautiful image of thailand because we only stay at 5* resort or spa and dine at restaurants where a meal worth a monthly salary of a local worker. When you walk out from a bubble, not everything you see is pleasant to your eyes and you have to accept it because you can not change them. This is the way they live and you have the way you live.

In asia, having boundary is important; on the otherhand it translates to a level of respect of different culture. Not to look down to them but to respect this is the way of their living.

Springfield golf club

Due to my tanned skin from Florida, accompanying a good-looking foreign gentleman at the same time, made everyone think I can speak Thai. Whenever Vic says something, the waiter looks at me / the cashier looks at me / the driver looks at me; I just used a phase "Mai Kao Chai thai" and shake my head, means I don't understand thai, don't expect me to speak that to you. I am a tourist too.

We played Springfield Golf Club today, it was very muggy and slight rain in the morning, we walked 18 hole with caddie and it was tough because it is a mountain course, some greens are 10 minutes walk from the next tee. I felt very good to about the 12th hole, then it felt like I was mountain hiking to my ball, when I arrive to where my ball is on the fairway, I lost the strength to hit the ball already.

But it is very nice to play with a true caddie, not a fore caddie who drive your cart and clean ball for 4 players at the same time. She was my own caddie, she carried my bag, clean my club, rake the bunker, tell me how far to the pin, how far to carry the water hazard and how the ball will break.

We went for massages after golf, Vic could hardly move afterward. Well, I told him our next round would be at the Black Mountain also walking up and down, he would take a cart instead of walking I guess.

The heat was also a factor to take a lot out of us, the sun came out after light rain, we could feel the steam is coming out from the ground and the sun was out to beat down on us on the whole back nine. We bought 10 bottle water along the way, no kidding, easy to get dehydrated under this condition.

interesting night

we met so many people today it wasn't funny, we first spoke to our rental agents for about an hour to collect all sort of information about this area, one of them is from England, one of them is from Scotland and one of them is from Poland. We will play golf with the scottish and english before we leave, one is a scratch and the other is a 6 handicap.

Then we got our rental car to drive around the area, Vic was keep telling himself: "keep left, keep left, keep left...." because his steering wheel is on the right which is completely opposite than what he's used to in usa. It is difficult especially you have lots of motorbike shooting all over the place around you, I told him to watch out for the bike. In thailand, if you get involve in an accident, you are designated to pay for everybody because you are a foreigner even it is not your fault. He said: "Fu*k the bikes, they have to watch me."

I am not sure this New Yorker mentality can sustain for how long in thailand.

We then had a dry run to drive from our hotel to black mountain golf club by the mountain area, it was advertised a 15 minutes drive, we did it in 30 minutes.
http://www.bmghuahin.com/

we found this place called "ALL IN HUA HIN" behind the main street for lunch, it was owned by a German family and its wide selection of deli meat, cheese and bread is amazing. Vic ordered a ham and cheese sandwich on a toasted baguette, he said it was better than the one he ate in Paris. He said he can eat here everyday, I said look how cheap you are, got sold by a sandwich!

We also ate dinner there, yes, the same place!!!

While we were eating, we chat with the single guy sitting at the next table. He is from switzerland retired young in thailand, he is in his 40's so he could not obtain a retirement visa, he has to do visa run every 3 months. We asked him about the area and life in Thailand after moving from a sophisticated city, he said he gets used to it and he likes it, it has been 8 years since he decided to live here permanently. He was an expat working for a swiss bank in Bangkok.

we then ran into an italian restaurant on the opposite side of this deli, I had a very nice tiramisu there. The italian owner speaks broken English, between Vic's broken italian and the owner's broken english, we talked for about half an hour. He brought out his home-made Limoncello as a treat for us, it was very good, tasted much sweeter than mine with less heat because he made it with Vodka not Everclear.

it has been an interesting night. Vic can just stay on this street and talk to strangers all day while I go back to hong kong for a few days visits.

U.S. Opens at a different time zone

Today is our fifth day at Huahin, Thailand. Perhaps it is not too bad that we have not adjust to the time zone 100%, allowing us to watch the u.s. opens in the middle of the night. We have been taking long nap at around 6pm or 7pm in the evening, we would then wake up at 9pm or 10pm, walk around or read or surf on the internet then go back to sleep at around 1am, then we'd wake up at 6am or so. This was the pattern for me in the last 4 nights, Vic's pattern is an hour earlier or behind mine.

He woke up at 4am to start watching the u.s. opens, I woke up at 6am to join. I was only able to watch the last 2 and a half hour or so and missed a lot of drama at the beginning of the tournament. Overhere it was boardcasted by ESPN and the commercial is not as bad as watching NBC at home in Florida.

Today we are going to pick up a rental car at downtown, I believe it would be much easier to move around town. It has been a nightmare to try to get taxi in the middle of no-man's land, we had to call a taxi by phone all the time. I have a cell phone that works here in Thailand with pre-paid sim card but the card ran out of minutes yesterday so we were stucked and often taxi driver do not speak english well. We were lucky to have the dental office lady called a taxi for us to take us back to the hotel.

We are planning to go to the driving range later in the afternoon today, take a ride to the country side and do some grocery shopping at a local supermarket, then we would go to the fishing pier to have a seafood dinner at a very famous restaurant called "Chao Lay". Will post some photos with exotic food we are going to order, make sure you are able to handle eyeball on the table if you are reading..... ^_^

Tomorrow would be our first round of golf at Springfield Golf resort at Cha Am, Thailand, about 20 minutes drive from our hotel.

about the number

I wonder how much does number do to your brain, the reason I said this is because of the currency translation sometime dazzle me. It has been 4 days and I still have to pause for a few second to figure how much everything really is.

For example, yesterday we had a big lunch with crab meat fried rice, vegetable, a whole steamed fish with lime and chili jam, shrimp spring roll and a big bottle of ice cold beer. All of the above costs $1,050 baht (thai currency) at a top notch local thai restaurant next to Sofitel Hotel (expensive), and of course Vic is complaining the restaurant is ripping us off. Well I paused for about 5 seconds then realized it's only US$32! And we had the WHOLE fish, steamed fresh for us! In Hong Kong this lunch would be HK$ 500 = US$ 65

As far as shopping is concerned, I always know buying local product is always cheaper than buying something that they have to bring in from somewhere. But crunching the number is still a daunting task sometime especially coming down to night-market shopping on the street, where price is not mark on the product. How much does a product cost solely based on how well you dress on that day / what kind of shoes are you wearing.

Luckily I speak some thai in numbers, and I pretend I am thai by throwing the hawker a very short opening statement in thai: "Hey, how much is this one?"

they would then say a number, $350

my routine is then throw them back a number 50% less and go from there, I usually smile and tell them they are more expensive than the other stand over there, the closing ceremony would be a sentence means "this is my last offer $250." Then they either agree or dis-agree, that decision depends on how well they are doing business on that night, are they eager to make a sale or how busy the market is at that particular moment.

I personally think not many people have the patient to do this, it becomes a lot of work if you are buying a lot of things. The other night I asked a lot but only bought 3 scarf made with Thai silk. I wasn't totally in the shopping mode on that night, it was my second night after arrival and my battery was on low, did not have the energy for further negotiation, better go again tomorrow!

Shopping for property

I have been speaking to this japanese real estate agent for almost 3 months, finally got to meet her yesterday. She showed us around town and where to buy our daily bread, took us to 6 different project including golf community, beach condo, mountain villa from 9:30am to 4pm, it was a long day.

I like what I saw most of the time, just the fact that Thai law is different than others, as a foreigner I can own the house but not the land which the house was built on it. There is a format called Leased-Hold which I lease this land for 30 years, I am allow to renew it once for another 30 years. The technical difficulties are who know what is going to happen 30 years later?! Would I be able to find the developer to sign off the renewal of the lease? It's not a definite answer, there's certain risk involved. However, we went to a few condo on the beach and they are just too small, and Huahin law prohibits to build taller than 8 floor so you get 30 units on a floor which I just feel too crowded. But foreigner is allowed to own the condo land legally forever if it does not exceed 49% of the condo population.

One common thing I saw among all these houses are lack of storage space; they were built having a vocation home in mind, everything looks nice and orderly in the model home. Well I don't think that would be the case for us if we move in permanently. There's just no room to store anything and public storage is not popular in huahin at all.

Another problem I noticed yesterday was all I saw are new development, nothing was shown to me as re-sell unit. I guess the incentive is higher in new development, obviously the agent was thinking on behalf of how big her commission would be; not showing me something might suit my needs and requirement. Base on this consumption, I would have to look for another agent who has a better network of re-sell inventory.

It's just very easy to lose track of what we suppose to do. If I were the agent, my focus would be finding a home for the client so there is commission waiting for me, not to give the clients choices that would make my piece of cake larger because at the end of the day, there could be no-cake for me.