Yesterday, my mom and I went out and had a day to ourselves. No men, no toddlers, no limits… just two ladies looking for a day of pampering and fun. There really is no better place than Thailand to do this so easily and inexpensively. I had to show my mom one of the reasons that I would love to make Thailand our home (okay, for 3 or more months at least).
Mom and I made a loose plan for our day, we wanted to eat lunch, get our hair washed and blow-dried (not washing your hair for a week can leave it a little lackluster), a pedicure, waxing for me, foot massage for Mom, all to be concluded by afternoon tea. I did not do a whole lot of research ahead of time about places to go. I had a general idea of where to get the services we needed and we decided to mostly wing it.
11:00 AM Mr. Lucky, our wonderful go-to taxi driver, came and picked us up to take us to Hua Hin Market Village. I am a huge hater of malls, but as I had been to this mall too many times before, I knew that it had much of what we needed in an air-conditioned atmosphere, my Moms only request for the day (it takes quite some time to get acclimated to the humidity and heat here). Also, it houses a Swensen’s Restaurant, which do not exist in Northern California anymore. Both Mom and I were ready for a different culinary fare than Thai food, and Mom wanted to go to Swensen’s, not that I argued, a big juicy hamburger sounded great!
11:30 AM We arrived at Hua Hin Market Village and walked towards the Swensen’s. I was starving as I decided to wait to eat until our lunch. Doing so could have been very dangerous for those around me, as I am not a happy person when I do not eat as soon as I wake and then often after that. I am the poster child for the term “hangry.” I kept it together so well though, no crankiness at all! Even when we realized that the Swensen’s was just an ice cream bar, I was still okay. I had a back up plan, there was another Swensen’s in the area.
11:45 AM We took a tuk tuk even though both of us are avid walkers. Along with a day of pampering comes a day without sweating and walking in the hot sun. I alighted from the tuk tuk with apprehension, I was already wrong about one Swensen’s, what if I was wrong about this one, too? How flexible can one girl with low blood sugar truly be? Well, I got to find out… We walked in and realized that it is also an ice cream bar. Poop.
By then, I was feeling nauseous because I had waited too long to eat (stupid, stupid, stupid), but I didn’t let it get me down. I was hanging out with my Mom, IN THAILAND! It was a dream come true. I thankfully did not ruin it by turning into Ms. Hungry Hyde.
We hopped in another taxi and made our way back to the mall.
12:00 pm We decided that Sizzler was a good place to eat for a yummy hamburger lunch! At first I was a little embarrassed to be eating in a Sizzler in Thailand (I guess I am a tourist though, so who cares!) and I reeled at the 389 baht ($12.33 USD) price tag for a hamburger and fries. Then I noticed that all the dine-in meals included the all-you-can-eat salad bar. It turned out to be a huge meal that was actually quite tasty. I left feeling much better about our decision to eat there than when we entered.
1:00 pm We walked around the different salons and massage “stores” and found a place that offered massages as well as pedicures. Score! I cannot tell you what the place was called, but I did get a picture of it for once! I sat and got a pedicure while Mom got a relaxing half-hour foot massage. My pedicure was not spa style, in that they did not soak my feet, or pumice off the rough skin (thank goodness, I hate how that tickles my feet), but she was very thorough about cleaning my cuticles and toenails and did an excellent job painting them.
1:30 pm Mom wished that she had gone for the hour foot massage, but after I promised that we would return, she started her pedicure and I went to get waxed. I had not had my eyebrows waxed in over 5 months, and I was honestly surprised that I was still able to see. Our bodies are amazing at how they can continue to work even under such stress. They were ghastly. I am not even going to mention how bad my underarms were, oh wait I guess I just did… Anyways, 600 baht ($19 USD) and 5 minutes later, I was 20 pounds of hair lighter! If only it were really that easy to drop 20 pounds…
2:00 pm Mom and I had one more thing to accomplish while we were still at Hua Hin Market Village. We both desperately needed a hair wash. My hair is usually very dry, but I looked as though I had been using Bryl cream. I really did try to fully embrace my cross-dressing greaser look, but enough was enough. We entered Chic Hair Salon, with our heads held high despite our homeless appearance. The staff there was very attentive and efficient. We were rushed back to very comfortable hair washing stations and were given fabulous head, scalp, and neck massages while the lovely ladies taking care of us washed our hair three times.
After the dirt and grease were finally washed out of our hair, we were led to the hair stylists chairs. We were given cold bottled water and english magazines while we had our hair blow-dried and styled. I was so happy, Mom was being shown how awesome and wonderful being pampered in Thailand can be. We left with gorgeous, clean, bouncy hair and only paid 200 baht ($6 US).
3:30 pm We had reservations for High Tea at the Centara Grand Resort. Mom had found out about their tea service from one of the millions of guidebooks that she brought along with her. It had seemed like a perfect way to end our day of indulging in the good life.
Mom and I hopped in a tuk tuk, not thinking about how our newly coiffed hair would get tossed in the wind, but we made the best of it by taking selfies along the way. Don’t worry, duck face was not allowed in the making of this picture.
3:45 pm We made it to the Centara Grand Hotel and… WOW! WOW! WOW!
I felt as though I was walking back into the 19th century. The resort and it’s grounds were opulent with teak trimmed white walls and wide circular staircases in every wing of the building. I was especially enamored with the balconies. I think I will let my not-so-good pictures do the talking for me. (See the slide show below)
We made our way through the well-manicured gardens, past the topiary animals and arrived at The Museum. Mom and I sat down for our High Tea service. I had never been to an afternoon tea before and was immensely happy with the savory and sweet snacks and the wonderful tea that went along with it.
Back in Northern California, a tea service such as this would cost upwards of $25 a person, here it was 450 baht, or $14 US a person. So, another win for Thailand! (Ready to relocate here yet, Mom?)
5:30 pm After we finished our snacks and tea we walked around the grounds and gardens taking pictures while we waited for Mr. Lucky to pick us up and take us home.
It was truly a magnificent day with my mom. I could not have had a better day with anyone else anywhere else! I will definitely do all of these things again… maybe tomorrow… hmmm.
I would love to hear from you, whether you are male or female, what do you do to pamper yourself?
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