Have A Glimpse of Greece at Santorini Park; Cha-am; Hua Hin

Santorini Park is one of the popular tourist attractions in Cha-am/Hua Hin, Thailand and it's opened since May 2012. It's the ideal place for photography session as we have met several pairs of couples and pre-wedding shooting session during our visit to Santorini Park. Santorini Park is inspired by the architecture in Santorini, the place which I dream of visiting one day. The vivid and colourful Santorini Park with most classic whitewashed buildings with blue colour painted windows and contrasting colors like purple, yellow and pink, stone-paved streets with blue borders and lots of decorative miniatures that provide you endless photography opportunities.

Santorini Park is divided into five different zones- Park Zone, Village Zone, Rest Area, Activity Zone and Weekend Art Market. Admission fee is 50 baht per person and I think that this is a good place for family trip. Additional fees are applied if you would like to take rides at ferris wheel, enjoy at the fun park, visit haunted house, 3D musuem, photography session and etc. The Santorini Park is not very huge, yet have lots of labyrinths and many retailers which you could step into to explore your favorite items and many places that you might be interested to take photos with.

During our visit to Santorini Park, it was a sunny day and I felt lucky to have bought a hat for myself to prevent sunburn. We spent almost 4 hours here with the main activities were snapping photos and window shopping. With the colourful sculptures and nicely painted backgrounds, it made Santorini Park a dreamy place with photography opportunities at every corner even inside the washroom which had been designed like having underwater aquarium with fish sculptures and water fountain. For the both of us who are photography enthusiast, we really enjoyed the artsy vibe and pretty architectures in Santorini Park; Cha-am!

Foods

While we strolled along the labyrinths of Santorini Park, we had a quick lunch at one of the restaurants. Pad Thai and spring rolls were our choice of foods, nothing much special. 

Hua Hin- Maruekatayawan Palace (Mrigadayavan Palace); the Palace of Love and Hope

His Majesty King Vajiravudh's (Rama VI) Summer Palace has been highlighted as one of the famous Thailand Royal Palaces that is worth to be visited. Maruekatayawan Palace; the Palace of Love and Hopeis located on Bang Kra Beach between Cha-am and Hua Hin. Maruekhathaiyawan Palace ( Mrigadayavan Palace) is approximately 15km North from Hua Hin Town.

A short and brief history about Maruekhathaiyawan Palace ( Mrigadayavan Palace) which is available from the website:
Originally, the King had a Palace built on Hat Chao Samran beach, a little more North, but he was unhappy with it and decided to demolish the building and use the teak wood to construct a new Palace facing the sea in Cha-Am district. The location was found convenient because Cha-Am was by then connected to Bangkok by rail and the area was beneficial to health with its forest and fresh sea air.It was constructed in the year 1923 under His Majesty King Vajiravudh, or King Rama VI. The beachside two-storeys palace is built with teakwood from the King’s demolished residence at Chao Samran Beach. As for architecture design, it is designed by King Rama VI and Italian architect, Ercole Manfredi who did the finishing touches. 

Reason that the palace is also named as Palace of Love and Hope:
Mrigadayavan was known as the “Palace of Love and Hope” because when Queen Indrasakdi Sachi was pregnant, King Vajiravudh was extremely hopeful in anticipation of an heir. The king took great care of her throughout her pregnancy, but regrettably the queen miscarried. King Vajiravudh finally got a daughter, Princess Bejaratana, just one day before he passed away.  Mrigadayavan Palace consists of 16 golden teak buildings which are divided into 3 groups. All are linked together throughout the palace by verandas on stilts to maximize the sea breeze and to ensure that the compound could easily be kept clean. Ants were controlled by niches for water around each concrete pillar and along the walls connecting to the ground.

We came to Maruekhathaiyawan Palace ( Mrigadayavan Palace) during the early morning on the 3rd day of our stay in Hua Hin. I was amazed by the well-maintained and clean Maruekatayawan Palace despite being almost 90 years old since it's built. More photos of the palace could be seen throught this blog. Before we entered Maruekhathaiyawan Palace ( Mrigadayavan Palace), the attire of visitors will be checked and those who were wearing sleeveless, skirt or shorts were required to rent a sarong at the counter. Each visitor will then be given a entrance pass with entrance fees [30baht] and we were reminded to keep silent while visiting this Palace.

The entrance passes to Maruekhathaiyawan Palace ( Mrigadayavan Palace)

The landscape garden and water fountain before the palace was seen.

The palace was painted in tiffany blue (some said it's light blue) and beige color with red rooftop. 

Maruekatayawan Palace (Mrigadayavan Palace) is a beachfront palace and the atmosphere was very tranquil and harmonious. The unique part of this place is that the Palace of Love & Hope is of raised-floor style with 16 golden teak buildings and 3 pavilions which face the sea view. 

When King Rama VI passed away in the year of 1925, Mrigadayavan Palace had been left empty until the year 1965. Under the order King Bumibol, Maruekatayawan Palace (Mrigadayavan Palace) was restored and opened to public. During our visit, there's on-going renovation of one of the section of Mrigadayavan Palace.

The source of water for the royal family in the past.

Red blossom flowers that reminded of Korea.

Corridor leading to a bathing pavilion of royal family

There's a signboard showing you to follow to go upstairs which is the other end away from the main entrance [ 30th baht entrance fees are incurred ]. The visitors are allowed to visit the 2nd storey but camera, phone and hat/cap have to be placed inside a white cotton bag to be carried up together. The palace is very big with the halls are linked together and connected by long corridors. The royal consort members’ residential halls are located on the right wing with the central group of halls is the royal residence of royal sitting/ relaxing rooms, accommodations for close royal servants called Phisan Sakhon Hall, and the reading room. Samoson Sewakamat Hall, a two-storey open pavilion is used as a meeting place and theatre occasionally.

There's limited information provided but still able to let us understand of events that happened at the palace. The signboards are available to show the purpose of the each pavillion of the royals.

The long stretch of covered walkways towards the sea and you could feel the breeze from the seaside.

Overall, it's a place that worth to be visited if you are interested in peeking the lifestyle of the Royals and history. The visit to this historical palace will not be taking long time unless you like to sit down along the beach to enjoy the breeze. We spent most of the hour to enjoy the scenery at landscaped garden.

Hua Hin - Sight-seeing and photo-shooting at Plearnwan Eco Vintage Village

Plearnwan Eco Vintage Village is is located on Petchkasem Road, between Soi HuaHin 38 and 40. Stepping into this faux village is like entering a living museum which recapture the classic charm of old Hua Hin. Plearnwan is derived from a combination of the English words 'Play and Learn', together with a Thai word ‘Wan’ that means yesterday. It's a place for playing and learning the past in order to bring it to life for new generations.

Plearnwan Eco Vintage Village is comprised of the wooden complex of old-fashioned shop houses that are designed with vintage merchandises, retro fashion, Hua Hin souvenirs, Thai traditional foods, childhood toys, massage service, saloon and etc. There were also offer accommodations with hotels at 2nd storey of the shops. It's worth to be visited for those who love photography, vintage design and reminisce the childhood memories. Moreover, there's no entrance fee incurred for visiting Plearnwan Eco Vintage Village.

Plearn Wan offers a glimpse back in time with the vintage vibes and traditional-looking shops. For a photography enthusiast like me, I enjoy very much with the photo-shooting with vintage ambiance. We visited this place during evening and had a stroll for almost 1 and half hour.

At the entrance of Plearnwan Eco Vintage Village

The retro design of the shop

With the huge mascot at Plearnwan Eco Vintage Village

Drum Sand Hammer Bell Kit

The place we took several photos due to the nice background

At the end of the stretch of shops, there's a fun fair with a small ferris wheel.

One of the local Thai snack foods stalls

Mochi Ice-cream stall

Mochi ice-cream which we opted for the yam flavour ice-cream

Thailand cuisines @ Friendly Kitchen Thai Food; Hua Hin

After vineyard tour, we headed back to town seeking for lunch. The high ranking of Friendly Kitchen Thai Food had been attracted us hence we provided the map to the driver to bring us here. It was difficult to be found as it's tucked behind a busy area of the bustling town and you might need to ask the locals for the direction towards Friendly Kitchen Thai Food. We were warmly greeted when we arrived Friendly Kitchen Thai Food.

Saw this map shared in Google

We were greeted warmly with the female boss who could speak well in English. The menu had dual language i.e. English and Thai language associated with the photos of food eased us in ordering our meals. The environment was clean and quite many locals dined here.

The foods here were tasty with affordable prices. The downside was the food portion which was smaller than our expectation, but sufficient for both of us. The service was great and I got to know that a free meal (fried rice/ fried noodles) provided to the driver/ tour guide. A pleasant food-ordering process as the female boss was very attentive and friendly. We ordered stir-fried vegetables with chicken meats and cashew nuts, steamed seafood in coconut and green curry chicken. 

Steamed seafood with curry paste in coconut

The very presentable dish with fresh prawns and squids served in a coconut.The combination of coconut fresh meat with seafood and rich curry paste was succulent. Steamed seafood with curry paste in coconut had just enough spicy zing to wake me up from afternoon sleepiness and it's very appetizing to be matched with the rice.

 
Green curry chicken

The Thailand Green curry chicken we had in Krabi trip was delicious, hence we had this dish ordered as well. It had pungent scent of the coconut milk. The freshness of Thai Green Curry paste really blended well together with creamy coconut milk in this recipe. The chicken meats were tender and this dish was very flavorful. 

Stir-fried vegetables with chicken meat and cashew nuts
This dish was rather bland yet still acceptable as the other two dishes were rich with flavors.
I preferred it to have more cashew nuts and in bigger portion.

The female boss helped us to capture this photo.

Coconut beverage with fresh coconut meats to quench the thirst