2-3 Hours From Bangkok

[kamui]

Nice holiday!

[think_too_mut]

There is one more. The Venezia Hua Hin.

 

Also half open, perhaps 40% of the retail shops still under fitting or for lease. A shopping mall. It's where Dusit Thani hotel is, 20km before Hua Hin center. Good for an hour if no meals (has some restaurants, Brazilian BBQ and "Chicken for two" I noticed.

 

 

Gondolas too:

 

 

Everyone takes pictures on the bridge:

 

 

"Potemkin village" but a pleasant place to walk around:

 

 

At night:

 

 

The public? Mainly under 30. Even this horse recognized a head turner (the girl in the pink skirt):

 

 

[think_too_mut]

Storm approaching, Hua Hin city is already under battering.

 

 

 

 

The Royal Navy has deployed 5 ships to the bay (the glimpses of two can be seen), at night they glow like Xmas trees.

 

[huumlaar]

I love the light before a storm, the navy boats are always there, permanent,

[think_too_mut]

That is what BKK Post said, citing an officer. I have never seen the horizon from Hua Hin without Navy boats.

Don't know if the news mean the boats are now decorated or new vessels had sailed in.

[BelgianBoy]

That is what BKK Post said, citing an officer. I have never seen the horizon from Hua Hin without Navy boats.

Don't know if the news mean the boats are now decorated or new vessels had sailed in.

standard procedure as protection detail for the Royal palace, and now with HM in residence, 5 ships it is....between the ships and the coast is forbidden zone.

[think_too_mut]

Thanks BB, makes sense. Never knew why the ships are always there.

 

My colleagues from our BKK office go only there, no Pattaya, no Phuket. They might know why as I guess I know why I always go there.

 

An (amateurish) article in today's BKK Post says "Hua Hin is a victim of own success, proximity to the capital".

 

It has always been I think. First time there in 2002. condos were 300-500K US$.

 

Perhaps, today with all highway to there a day trippers may be lured with those shopping and nice money extracting venues.

In 2002. the road was 70% shared with local motsais, still wide but not like today.

 

Quite a nice place. Not really interested in the place itself but the critical mass has been reached and now everything is there, services, shopping, schools, even health care.

[BelgianBoy]

Indeed, HH is getting crunched by its own success, specially on weekends.

I always told my wife its not too far from BKK but still far enough....

 

In december we will now explore south og HH towards Kiri Kaeng in order to look for quieter places for later......

[think_too_mut]

Hua Hin, real estate.

 

Two buildings, on the beach.

 

Left one is from 1985. Righ hand side is from 2009.

 

 

What a difference in architecture. The left one, the façade shows deep strain and need for renovations, that might never happen.

 

 

 

The right side one is in accord with new requirements from the market, no "bunker" like balconies and far fewer things that can age or go wrong:

 

 

 

In the old one, the prices were 150-200K US$ (when they were, 1985, still even then outrageous for Thai standards). Now, it is worth nothing.

 

The new one is from 200K - 300K US$.

[think_too_mut]

One more for those considering between The Sheraton and the Dusit Thani in Hua Hin.

 

The Sheraton is 1 floor walk up, no lifts. No high rise, you are either ground floor (more expensive, direct access to the laguna)or 1st floor:

 

 

The balconies are pretty open, even walls between them don't go all the way up.

 

 

That is where, for some, a problem could be. Pedestrian traffic in front of the room is intense. You look at them, they look at you. At night, you have the light from the room behind you and whatever you are doing, all can see.

 

 

If you are smoking or drinking outside, it is visible, tobacco smoke goes from balcony to balcony as they are not fully separated. Even if you don't smoke, someone next to you might.

 

Dusit Thani offers better privacy for those like me, who in the evenings sit on the balcony, within the reach of beer and smoke. That beats The Sheraton building configuration and removes the uneasiness of bothering someone (I always take non-smoking room, wife and of course child, don't smoke).

 

 

Just something that Google won't tell you but may give a twist to your holiday. The facilities are comparable, no real reason to favour Sheraton over Dusit Thani.