My adventures in and around Hua Hin

Hello everyone! Now it’s time for an update about my adventures in and around Hua Hin.

The beautiful Thai countryside minutes away from Cha Am

One of many flats during this ride..

As most of you are probably aware by now I’m quite into biking and try to seize as many opportunities as possible I can to get out and ride some. Last time I told you about the trip up to Cha Am to join in with the Hua Cha hash, well that trip is one for the history books. It was the first time I met this really cool dude Paul from Australia and I had more problems with my bike within those 65 kms than I have ever had accumulated through my life. It started when we were in the middle of nowhere and these stray dogs started chasing us and my chain snapped as I was trying to accelerate to outrun them. The chain got caught under my rear wheel causing it to lock up and I went in to a very uncontrolled powerslide because there’s not a whole lot of friction between the tarmac and metal. Luckily the noise from the chain scared the dogs off. However it left me stranded without a chain. Good thing Paul and I were front riding bastards(FRBs(Hasher language)) because one of the slower guys actually had a chain breaker and we managed to fix the chain enough so that I could ride home at a very cautious pace. Ten minutes later on the paved road my rear wheel decided to go flat. I was already taking the easiest and closest way to home but now that I only had one spare tube it was even more urgent to get home. But this is not where my problems ended, oh no.. After about 20 kms of riding at a super steady pace to save the chain from breaking again I was three kms away from the bike shop and then my front tyre went flat! But that’s life…

During the last weekend of February I went on a Bangkok Hash House Bikers hash in Khao Yoi, near Petchaburi. This is one of the main reasons I brought my bike to Thailand and this event was much looked forward to. So I managed to hitch a ride with one of the guys from Hua Hin bicyclists and we were at the site in very good time. The Saturday’s ride was going to be one of the most challenging tasks I have ever undertaken. Ride-off was at 1 pm in the deserty area around the Sawang golf resort. The temperature at ride-off was a cosy 35 degrees centigrade. By the time we reached the first water stop 1 ½ hours later the temperature was up to a scorching 42 degrees. Add to that the fact that most were riding in black or dark clothing and the total absence of shadow and the temperature alone would be enough to call it quits. After having replenished with coke and water at the first water stop we kept on going and soon my front tyre decided to go flat again. Luckily I had brought a spare tube so not much else to do but to find the nearest tree and change the thing. Fifteen minutes later and I was on my way again. This probably happened some 25 kms into the ride with another 40 kms to go and it wasn’t long until I noticed that my front derailleur was giving up on me, so the rest of the 40 kms I tried to stay on the middle chain ring to save the derailleur. It made it all the way around. With about 15 kms to go I somehow managed to break my middle chain ring in half, a feat rarely heard of which resulted in 15 kms in fourth gear at a painfully slow pace. Later on I was called to stand in the middle of the circle and confess to that it was my chain ring everyone was laughing at, and yet worse was that someone had told them that I was a bike mechanic. A hash is a really cool get together of people biking and drinking beer. For bht 300 (roughly 65 SEK) you get the riding and then a sandwich and hot dog buffet and free beer! Sweet deal! There was another ride on Sunday and luckily the bike shop that comes to all the hashs had a spare chain ring and front derailleur. Thirty minutes and a few litres of sweat later my bike was fit for fight again and off we went. This time I only had a smaller problem with a broken spoke, but otherwise this ride was quite uneventful. The scenery was stunning to say the least, the thai countryside is gorgeous.

Niklas and I chilling out ten meters below the water surface!

Last Thursday Niklas and I went on a trip down south to an island called Koh Tao which translated mean turtle island. The name comes from the shape of the island. The island is mostly known as a scuba diving paradise, but I’d definitely say just paradise, it sports some of the most pristine beaches I’ve seen and the island is hilly with jungle everywhere. So it’ what you think Thailand should be! Niklas had never been scuba diving before, but PADI has got a programme called discover scuba diving which lets people without certificates scuba dive for real to a depth of 12 meters. I got my diving license when I was in Thailand in 2007 and have been diving at Koh Tao before and my memory of it wasn’t the greatest but that was because of the timing of my visit, just after the monsoon ended means that the visibility is quite crap. The monsoon ends in late November so this time the sea had had plenty of time to settle so we had great visibility of up to 20 meters. The diving was great and the underwater life is just spectacular with a vast array of different species, including barracudas, anemone fish (Nemo’s cousin), stingray and squid. Niklas and I had a blast and did all kinds of stuff that one needs to do while in Koh Tao, like have a Snickers shake at the View Point resort, watch the sunset at Sunset view bar and watch the nightly fire shows on the beach. Koh Tao is only an easy five hour busride and then two hours on a boat away and it is so worthwhile going there. Check out the photos.

The sunset on Hat Sai Ree on Koh Tao is pretty spectacular.

Next week I am planning on catching a bus down to Phuket to go see a friend of mine who is holidaying there at the moment, will let you know next time what happens!

Until then, peace out!

// Sebbe

Life in Hua Hin!

Alright, so a few weeks have passed since the last post, hence it is time for an update!

After the last trip to Bangkok we’ve pretty much stayed in Hua Hin for the majority of the time. There have been a few people who have seized opportunities to travel to other places in Thailand. One group did a very good job of representing the IBE crew at the full moon party at Kho Phang-Na on the 8^th of February. I wasn’t part of the pack so unfortunately I can’t provide any further detail. We might go next time though, so keep an eye out in about a month’s time!

Last weekend a few of us went on a little excursion to a beach a bit further south of the main Hua Hin beach called Hat Sai Noi, literal translation is Little Sai beach. Hat = beach, noi = little or small. We had an awesome day just lazing around in the sun going for a few swims and not doing much at all really. The way a day on the beach should be spent according to most people. Personally however I can only spend so many hours before I have to do something. The beach was beautiful and the waves were a lot of fun. The best bit about the Hat Sai Noi experience was the lack of souvenir vendors that walk up and down the beach all day trying to sell whatever they can to the tourists.

On Friday we had a party for Nasser who had his 22^nd birthday. Robert and I live at a place that is owned by a woman who lives in Helsingborg, Sweden, during the summer months. She helped us hook everything up and she cooked food for us and got us a cake for Nasser. The party was a huge success and everyone really had a blast. After the party the majority of the class continued on in to Hua Hin and kept partying to the wee hours of the morning.

There are a lot of Swedes in Hua Hin in general, and one of them has started a soccer team called the Hua Hin Vikings. Adam, Dilan,  Jesper, Nasser, Robert, Viktor and I have joined them to get some exercise and to help them win the series. There’s a game tonight in which most of the above mentioned will partake, and hopefully it will be a victory for the HH Vikings! The umpires here in Thailand have their own way of judging the games. One match we played got called off too early because the umpires wanted the thai team to tie the HHVs and another got called off too early because the thai team was getting aggressive and the umpire was afraid that something bad might happen. At least that game we won, by 12-4!

I have also taken up my biking a bit finally. There is a company here in Hua Hin called the Hua Hin bike tours, really original, I know! The owner of the company has also got a facebook page called the Hua Hin bicyclists in which more long term residents of Hua Hin can post to find ride buddies. I’ve been on two rides with them so far and am going again in two hours. Today there is a 40 kms ride followed by an Aussie bbq, yum yum yum! Tomorrow we’re doing a longer ride up to Cha Am to join in with the Hua Cha Hash bikers which will be a lot of fun! My behind will probably be a bit sore afterwards though as that ride is 90 kms return. Phew!

That’s all for now folks, I will write an update about actual school stuff soon too so you’ll be in the know!

For now, peace out!

// Sebbe

Thailand 2012

You know how you look forward to something that you know is going to happen and as it gets closer you get more and more excited? This trip to Thailand is exactly like that. For the students in the International Business Engineering programme it is an integrated part of the course and therefore we have known that we are going to Thailand for nearly a year and a half. There’s been lots of talk about it, lots of speculations and expectations and now the time has finally come and it is still quite unbelievable that we are here.

The original plan was to study in Bangkok, but due to the flooding of Bangkok and northern Thailand we have had to move to Hua Hin instead as the campus in Bangkok was severely affected by water damages. This obviously means that there will be a little more hassle with the practicalities concerning school. So far everything has worked a charm and no problems at all just because everyone is working really hard to make everything work well. The switch to Hua Hin has so far only been for the better as Hua Hin is a beach resort on the Thai gulf coast. And Bangkok is a 2.5 hour bus ride away, so I’m not complaining! The beach is white and lined with palm trees and nice hotels and houses, so it’s a picture-postcard city!

My name is Sebastian Dahlström, I’m 25 years old and I was born and raised in Borås. I have volunteered to do some blogging from our time in Thailand and try to give a representative view of what studying in Thailand is about. My main interests are action sports and photography. I do quite a bit of mountain biking and my biggest passion is backcountry skiing. I also enjoy diving and mountaineering. I feel that Thailand presents ample opportunities to practise all of the above activities, apart from skiing obviously.

The first couple of days in Thailand have been a lot about sorting out practicalities such as buying stuff that we didn’t bring from Sweden namely fans and water boilers and towels and so forth. We’ve also spent quite a bit of time figuring out how life in Thailand actually works with transportation and timing and well, just about everything that we need to know. The first couple of days were less than easy, but that would happen anywhere. You don’t know where you’re going or how to figure it out. After five days in Hua Hin we feel that we have a much better grasp of how things work than we did when we arrived and it’ll only get easier from here!

The past two days have been spent on the beach by the majority of the students that are here from UB. The weather is spectacular with low 30s temperature and clear blue skies all day long with a light breeze. So to spend two full days at the beach laying in the sun, or the shadow depending on skin tone, isn’t too hard to do. The food on the beach is also amazing! You get a proper thai fried rice for around 15 SEK, and that is considered rather expensive!

Tonight ( Sunday January 8^th) we’re all meeting up with the teachers downtown for dinner and some information about the upcoming week! I will write more when I know a little bit more about how everything works with school.

So, for now, peace out!

// Sebastian from Hua Hin