Another busy month all round on the forums as people login from across the globe to find out what is happening in Hua Hin. We had some interesting first impressions on Hua Hin from recent visitors and some varying angles on them from the old hands and expats. Hua Hin seems to be slowly becoming a more family orientated resort; evidence of this can be seen in high season as more families flock to the beaches of Hua Hin. The emergence of a number of luxury boutique hotels and resorts also appears to be changing the direction of the town and aiming at more affluent visitors. This can only be good news for Hua Hin and we hope the authorities will keep up with the pace.

Back to the forums again where a couple of readers had tough times getting visas in neighbouring countries such as Malaysia, we all hope that the new government won’t continue the trend of clamping down on visas but nobody is holding their breath. There has also been a lot of news discussion on the new iteration of TRT and how, if at all, they will be an improvement over the old government … only time will tell.

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I sometimes eat dinner at the restaurant at the corner of Naresdamri Road. In addition to providing a passable pizza, it was a pleasant place to take in the passing scene. Running past the Hilton and restaurants catering to tourists, Naresdamri Road is the main tourist drag and it is always bustling in the early evening as night falls and the sunbathers go looking for their evening meal. The restaurant has a thoroughly European ambiance with its red-checkered table cloths and chianti bottles on the wall. The only suggestion that one was in Thailand was the Thai staff. The restaurant was packed with patrons, virtually all of them European. It was the height of the tourist season.

As I watch from my perch at one of the restaurant’s outdoor tables, I can see dozens of European tourists ambling down Naresdamri Road. I listen to the voices trying to discern their nationalities - German, for the most part, but also some unfamiliar tongues. Danish？ Finnish? Most tourists in Hua Hin are from northern Europe. They are mostly middle-aged couples, the men wearing shorts and flowered shirts and sandals, the women in shorts and halter tops. Hua Hin tends to attract older visitors since it is quieter and more laid back than some of the flashier tourist spots such as Pattaya and Phuket.

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