Bumi , you stole my heart

Our choice of location in no particular order was , it should be close enough to get to, affordable and borderline boring .

Few clicks on the AirAsia website got us geared up for Hua Hin.Only one flight a day in the late morning , worked out for us ,since we had kids in tow .So no unearthly hour ride to the airport .

Since we gained an hour , we managed to reach our resort by 12:30 pm and headed out to lunch to a nearby restaurant while we waited for check-in at 2 pm.

We stayed at Putahracsa Resort , about 800m to the famous Hua Hin Night Market .The principal reason we booked this place , was for easy access to street food . ( But never made it , coz we were smitten by Cicada Market food court )

We basically lounged at the resort , swam in one of the 4 pools , strolled by the beach , collected sea shells and napped all day ( well , just me) till dinner .Oh and, enjoyed the drinks .

The beach – wasn’t the cleanest , neither was it the clearest ………but we loved it anyways.

Waiting to collect sea shells.

The lobby

View from our room

Our room

Resort’s beachside bar

Rooms- outside looking in.

Dinner –Cicada Market .Food was amazing !!!!!!!!!! Street food at touristy prices but it was so good .So good. We were too hungry , we forgot to take photos. Sorry!

We surrendered to bed early , as the kids were tired and so were we.

Woke up to gloomy weather ,and signs of a thunderstorm headed our way. But we risked it and made our way to Hutsadin Elephant Foundation .

This IS the main reason anybody should visit Hua Hin.

We were give an option to ride the elephants ( apparently it’s not painful if done bare back , but we skipped it anyways)

Instead we took the option of walking with the elephants , and giving them a wash down after .

Facts about Hutsadin

-Run entirely by contributions from public .No government funding.

-Care for hurt /injured/orphaned elephants.

– In the evening , they are left to roam wild in the acres of land at the back , that they are hoping to buy once they have enough funds.

-You can volunteer at the sanctuary (Wish I could do this , the way Robin was volunteering at Hutsadin)

Back to my story.

We were introduced to Bumi, the oldest rescued elephant that was ” tortured” in the wild .He was a majestic looking 76 year old , weighing 4000 kg, and the only male at the conservation centre .Robin also mentioned back in 2014 , at the foundation itself, he was drugged one night , and his tusks were cut . (heartbreaking)

Bumi was not on a leash , the mahout had a long branch / stick that apparently was enough to keep us safe. We took Bumi for a walk , feeding him throughout the journey .It felt a little overwhelming at first , expecting Bumi to stomp and trample all over us . But we eventually warmed up to the giant walking with us , who seemed like a happy camper , waiting for the next banana to be placed in his trunk at constant intervals .Robin was our volunteer who accompanied us , feeding us facts about the elephants . explaining to us the efforts being done by the foundation and was happy to answer all our questions.

Our experience cost us 800 Baht /adult, and 400 Baht for kids . Our experience lasted about 45 minutes , but we were welcomed to stay longer to walk around the property. In view of the rain, we left .

In complete awe

We fed him nearly 100 bananas ,in that half an hour. Lucky him , 4000 kg , is not considered fat in his world.

Isn’t Bumi just… so….. magical?

More bananas.

Camera ready with a ear flap

Quick shower before we said goodbye

Songkran , the most lovable one who was saved at age 2.

Bumi and us

Ended our day at Ba Ba Beach Club once the weather cleared up at 5 pm. It was an effort to get there considering nobody knew where it was. Few calls and help with google maps got us there 45 minutes later.