THE ROYAL BEACH CITY - HUA HIN, THAILAND

Early in the twentieth century, the first member of the Thai Royal family visited Hua Hin.  Today there are two palaces here.  The current monarch and his wife mainly reside here at their summer palace, Klaikangwon, meaning "far from worries".

With the long history of the beloved Royals enjoying Hua Hin and with its proximity to Bangkok, it became THE place for elites to visit and even settle down, or at least have vacation homes.

Today Hua Hin is a modern city with a population of just over 60,000.  Its located on the western side of the Gulf of Thailand about a 3-hour drive south of Bangkok.  A high-speed train plan has been approved that will transport Bangkokians to Hua Hin in a little over an hour.

Here we are in a little Airbnb studio apartment in the Baan Khun Koey complex, with kitchenette, a 15-minute walk from a great, long stretch of white sand beach, enjoying Hua Hin's many offerings.  Each of the two-building has it's own infinity pool...about 50 meters long and a gym.  For this, we pay $19 CAD/day.

1 of the 2 buildings; part of the pool.  On arrival, the air is fragrant with blooming plumeria trees.

We're doing very little sight-seeing, mainly just living here, trying to recoup some money from our five-and-a-half months travel in Europe.  With long walks, beach days and swims, the days pass easily.  Tap water here in Hua Hin is supposedly safe.  We cook and brush teeth with it, but being extra cautious, we buy bottled water to drink.

One beach runs into another here and I haven't figured out where one starts and the other ends, not that it matters.  The name Hua Hin means "stone head".  There are some rocks where Hua Hin beach starts, then its just sand after that.  The beaches are very clean, the water shallow, calm and warm.

Rocks at the head of Hua Hin Beach

There are quite a few horses that can be ridden on the beach.  The riders go up and down soliciting business.  We spent some time with one rider and his horse 'Chocolate'.  Chocolate would stay on command then when called would go to his rider, just like a dog.  These are mostly small horses.  They all look healthy, strong and very 'perky'.

Many of the riders wear red vests and are part of a safety system on the beach to rescue swimmers who need help or to deal with other issues on the beach.  Such a great idea to make use of this 'person power'.

At the beach, we can rent two lounge chairs, an umbrella, side tables and two towels for both of us for 100 THB for the entire day ... that's $2 CAD/person.  The actual price is 100 THB per person/day, but Paul bargains each day until one of the owners finally presents him with this card, so there is no more haggling.  100 THB for both of us!

The staff are very attentive.  Lunch is good and beer and food prices are very reasonable.  What's not to like.

Just another day at the beach

From the collage below, the photo on the top right is the Hua Hin Fishing Pier, a great place to watch sunsets and below that is a sample of some of the many seafood restaurants near the pier.

Early morning is the time to go to see the fishers coming in with their catch...or grab a pole and do some of your own fishing.

We are here in October which is the last month of the rainy season and one must beware of the box jellyfish at this time.  On one particularly bad day, there were over 60.  Most days there were less than 20.  They are very hard to see in the water and their stinging tentacles can be several feet long.  Their sting can kill or leave permanent scars.  Touching dead ones can lead to serious stings too.

By the time the tourist (dry) season starts in November they will be gone.  There is a large area of beach where we never see them washed up (where we rent the loungers) and that's where we swim.

The part of the beach we like.  The top right is looking out from our favourite restaurant there.

We need to remember to take our vinegar to the beach.  Here's the sting protocol:

Finding a treasure on the beach we do a silly FB post about danger on the Hua Hin beach.  The jellyfish is real.  It was stormy out last night so more 'jellies' on the beach than usual.  The ones today have some colour.  Another day we find brown jellyfish.

On the pier and looking back at the beach eateries by the Hilton:

Several days after we arrive, the night before had been stormy and windy and the beach is covered in debris.  We are thinking that the flood from Koh Chang has sent us a reminder from across the gulf.  There are broken door and window frames and household items.  The beach is quickly cleaned and we don't see this phenomenon again.

One block north of our apartment is Nok's tasty street food at excellent prices and a little further, a good place with the unlikely name of Mr. A's.

I needed some help to identify green papaya to make papaya salad at home ... we love it.  I tried on my own and the one I got was just starting to turn orange inside, so Nok gave me some tips and even sold me one of her green papayas.  The salad is on everyone's menu.  It looks old and mottled in the photo but was actually fresh and crisp.  The salad turned out well once I got the dried shrimp, fish sauce & other needed ingredients.  From that day forward we had it at home at least twice a week.

A fifteen-minute walk south brings us to a family that sells street food on the grounds of a temple.  They make only two meals, both satisfying.  One with meat and one without.  The vegetarian option costs us 50 THB for both of us or $1 CAD each, 60 THB for us to eat a meal with meat.

Various structures on the temple grounds

We need to organize an experiment to see if it's cheaper to buy food and prepare meals at home or eat street food.  We suspect street food may win ... which is so counter-intuitive.

Unfortunately, my (hopeful) hypothesis failed.  Cooking at home is still cheaper than street food.

There are two big Western-style shopping malls within a 30-minute walk or a short songthaew ride away when you have too many heavy bags to carry.

Hanging off of the bumper of a crowded songthaew.  The cost is 10 THB each for most places we want to go.

Each mall has a Cineplex with 6 theatres.  One is movies in Thai with English subtitles, and the other is English with Thai subtitles.  We never go to movies in Mexico and have seen one while travelling.  Its been a long time.  So far we've caught two with plans for a third when it comes.

A short walk away is the Cicada Night Market with quality crafts for sale and so much delicious street food.

There's free entertainment on Saturday night with a first-class outdoor stage, lighting and sound system and one can settle in at a Cafe table to pass the evening.  Drinks are available for purchase if you want; no pressure to buy.  The nights we were there the market was very well attended by locals and tourists alike.

One night I stop by a booth that sells shoes.  I ask if he has some shoe glue he can sell me as the sole of one sandal is almost off.  He fixes my shoe and refuses to take money for it.

There's an additional night market (The Tamarind) a block south of the Cicada that is primarily food and what a selection ... especially seafood.  Shrimp like small lobsters!  This is the place to come and eat, then head over to the Cicada for crafts and music.

It almost seems like every neighbourhood has its own night market.  Here's one that we go to on Soi 88 once we move accommodation to the north.  It is enormous, with more food choices and seating than we could imagine.  The stage here is huge and music is always on volume 10+++.  Our new landlady tells us that big acts sometimes come to this market.

The main day market for fruits and veggies is a carnival of sights and smells.  Food that we have no idea what it is.  Fruit and veg prices are much less than grocery stores.  What fun to shop here.

Some random things we are learning:

- beer & Liquor is sold between 11:00 & 14:00 hrs, then again from 17{00 hours on.  No purchases before 11 am and none between 11 and 2 pm.  On one national holiday, beer, etc cannot be purchased in stores and restaurants must serve beer in a plastic cup - beer bottles are not to be seen.

- no commercial business on the beach (sand) on Wednesdays.  No exceptions...unless you have a concrete patio - business is OK there.
- being saluted by uniformed security guards at the mall and our building is hard to get used to and I had to google search for the most appropriate response.  People everywhere are so pleasant and kind.  Going anywhere feels safe.
- toilet paper is used as napkins in restaurants and to dry one's hands on the sink outside of bathrooms, but is rarely in a bathroom stall - pack your own to be sure.
- tomatoes and avocados are expensive here, and not very good when you get them.

- Every night on TV from 8 to 8:30 all regular programming is stopped so we can watch the Royal family giving speeches, handing out awards, etc.  And in the movie theatre before the show, the King comes on and the audience stands in respect.

- on TV certain images are blurred out: cigarettes, booze, nakedness, sex, kissing and some speech is deleted.

- we have learned that if you log in to free internet in a cafe or a bar that your on-line life is automatically followed by the government.
- there are no seagulls at the beach & we've only seen 2 shorebirds - pigeons peck at the little crabs and other washed-up morsels.  Thankfully there aren't many of them.
- car drivers have little regard for pedestrians here.  Crossing streets is an exercise in caution and often involves running.  All windows are so darkly tinted that it's impossible to make eye contact with the driver.
- it amazes us how things are left on scooters; left out overnight in street eateries and outside malls and it seems that nothing is stolen, ever ... so different from what we are used to.

We've decided we like it here and are going to settle in for a while.  Fair Warning: the rest of this blog will simply be notes and photos when there's something we want to remember.  It will probably be boring unless you plan to visit Hua Hin.

A couple of our early days were spent hanging on the beach with Anja and Christina from the Netherlands.  Long time friends, they vacation together every year.  We continue to be FB friends.

As we were walking home from the beach one day these most amazing clouds appeared in the sky. The rest of the sky was summer blue and the dark clouds with shimmering white edges just clustered in one area.   Then the colour began to appear.  Everyone was stopping their cars and scooters to take photos. Never have we seen such intense colours of green and violet in particular but also red, yellow and orange. It was almost like looking at northern lights. Too bad the camera does not get the intensity of the colours. The shining white edge below the colours created a spaceship-like effect and there was a brilliant ribbon of bright white that created a lightning bolt-like line through the clouds. Mother Nature is so interesting.

One day we head out in a taxi to the Sam Phan Nam Floating Market.  It's kind of like the Venice of Thailand, not a true floating market and it has really been turned into a tourist gimmick.  Not worth the effort to get there or the price of admission in our opinion, unless you really want a boat ride on the lake or to go on a small train...but then we aren't shoppers.

Another day we walk up to see what has been called the prettiest train station in all of Thailand.  Built by the royal family in the early 1900s before there was a road to Hua Hin, the train became a more comfortable and innovative way than boat to travel from Bangkok.

This separate little building was moved from the grounds of the palace to serve as the Royal Waiting Room at the station:

Another day we decide to walk to the south end of the beach (which is farther than it looks in the photo below) to the 270-meter high rock (AKA: Chopsticks hill) on which  Wat Khao Takiab is built.  It's possible to take a cab that drives to the top of the hill.  The beach access is not possible at high tide unless one is willing to get wet.  The views from the top are spectacular.

The enormous standing Buddha top right welcomes travellers from sea and sand.  Top left is one of three rows of bells that one walks beside to give each bell a resounding tap with a coin for good luck (only if the coin is dropped into the donation box).  Stairs up.  The bottom left is a structure like a short bell tower.

This hill and temple are overrun by macaques!  There is an area where visitors can go to buy bananas to feed the monkeys.  We witnessed this one day and it was gross.  The monkeys were crawling all over people.  Some of the baby monkeys are so tiny they would fit on the palm of your hand.

One day we were sitting at a table in a little pagoda sharing a bottle of water.  Quick as lightening a macaque jumped up and stole our water.  He held onto it, stuck his chin out at us and glared, daring us to do something.  He never broke eye contact and I was so uncomfortable that I felt the need to leave.  Even allowing a wide berth around him, he struck out at me.  There are warning signs at other parts of the temple to not feed the monkeys and there are posters with photos of human limbs bitten and scratched by the monkeys.

A while ago the government sterilized 600 of these macaques, but they are reproducing quickly and causing problems in neighbouring villages so the plan is to sterilize another 1,200.  It costs 1,000 THB ($43 CAD) per monkey for the procedure.

They do know how to take care of each other and to enjoy their grooming session.

Either coming or going from the temple, it's great to walk around to and through the nearby tiny fishing village.  Here is the freshest seafood, much of it kept alive in tanks with running water and the air is filled with wisps of white cold from the crushed ice that the remaining seafood is stored in and on.

View of the village from Chopsticks Hill

Just a few of the many small fish boats

Tending the nets

Delicious steamed squid in lemon sauce

I peruse the shops at the temple before leaving and find two pair of Thai shorts, nice and cool for $4 CAD each and my new favourite travel hat:

Its lightweight; folds down to nothing; can be used as a fan or as a hat!

For a few days, one of the shopping malls invites vendors who sell cacti and succulents to set up.  I'm surprised that desert plants are in the tropics.  Many are much smaller than we would see in Mexico but still colourful and lovely.

Shortly thereafter a vendor who sells waterlilies has a place in front of the mall.  Of the many beautiful colour combinations, purple is my favourite.

Speaking of colour, we passed this car on the way to the beach one day.  Paul thinks its a vinyl-wrap, not a paint job.  Talk about pearlized.  We see it driving down the street on another day.  Its an eye-catcher!

Another day, another walk and it seems to be a vehicle-spotting day.  I would love to have one of these scooters with the VW bus sidecar.  We didn't see the price they are asking for them:

The yellow scooter and sidecar are pretty cute too:

Paul has a fondness for this little Austin Mini 850 panel van:

A walk to find where our new accommodation will be when we have to move out of here brings us to a completely new neighbourhood.  This one will be lively at night.  

Just a few shots of the many paintings on, in and around a small temple overlooking the beach:

BluPort Mall is having what it describes as a blossom festival.  Over two days a huge area outside the mall is filled with potted plants, that then disappear inside.  Floral staff work long hours and in a couple of days have stunning arrangements outside the entrance door, inside the entrance, at the foot of the escalator and on the second floor.  Hundreds and hundreds of orchids, bromeliads, anthuriums, palms and birds of paradise, if not in a pot, are stuck into the wet floral foam to surround existing structures and to create new statuary.

My favourite is this woman and her fine gown:

The escalator entrance is gorgeous too:

Each of several columns has so many plants, it takes a while to look at them all:

Upstairs is a section with a butterfly garden and a butterfly educational display:

Some of my favourite close-ups.  The spray-painted palms were surprisingly attractive:

Finally, we get around to exploring Wat Khao Lun Thom. This is a newer temple at the foot of Khao Kraibat and well worth a visit.  It's just south of us, walking distance away and we have seen from the top of Wat Takiab. 

The building details, of course, are exquisite

There are many lovely Buddhas here and the wall murals are vibrant.

My favourite image here is this beautiful woman gazing out from under a tree

We travelled on a walkway through a mangrove on this day but were unable to capture a brilliant bluebird that flitted around its home.

After the temple, we made our way to the beach south of Wat Takiab for the first time.  Close to shore there were little fish boats with nets out. There is a golf course here and they put the workers up in RVs in the shade of palms.   This beach is beautiful and almost no one on it, then we discover why ... many, many box jellyfish...so sad.

Looking back up this beach, north towards Mount Takiab

This woman is working hard to clean some tiny creature that has come from the sea.  Apparently, a paste is made from it.  It smells like fish, not like shrimp.

One night, just before we leave Hua Hin we go out for Western food at Father Ted's Irish Pub and catch the tribute band: The Bangkok Beatles who get a five-star rating on any review site we check.  The place is packed and their performance is brilliant.

While there is no dance floor at Father Ted's so everyone is dancing by the tables, wherever there is a sliver of space.  We forgot the camera, of course, so have a listen from their FB page: Let It Be.

So two nights later there is a Stones tribute band.  Well, no.  Not so good.  But we met some great folks to talk with to make the evening interesting.

The Thai Baht has increased in value every year for the past six years to the point where tourism (a major driver of the economy) is down and the news is that thousands of ex-pats who have been living in this country for decades are selling out and moving on to less expensive countries like Cambodia and Vietnam.  The strong currency also reduces Thailand's competitiveness with exports and the country's GDP growth forecast was reduced for the first time, as of this June.

We definitely notice price increases since our last visit only three years ago, but we succeeded in our goal to relax here and save money.  Hua Hin really is a city of ex-pat retirees but it was pleasant enough for our purposes.  We used less than half of our monthly income to live here.

 Its time once again to say goodbye to the "Land of Smiles".  The next stop is Cambodia.  We have already applied online for our 30-day visa.  Maybe we'll renew it, maybe not.

Random Photos Hua Hin

Fountain at the Hilton

Love the green that this bird sports

These would look great in the Mexican condo, but the mantra is no shopping for stuff.

Love the wild buses here.  By day their mirrors make them look like big, multi-coloured bugs.  At night they are like a circus rolling through town with all their lights.  In the middle, second photo, those are speakers all across the front.  Some have really incredible artwork.

And look, we find the Canal Inn (Falkirk, Scotland) on Hua Hin beach.  A little project to photo their gift to us from different places and post them on their website.   If we can make this work, its to be the first of many.