Well its been and gone leaving a beach covered in plastic and a trail of SUV’s heading back to Bangkok. This year’s jazz festival was a mixed bag, the single venue was a long way down the beach past the Sofitel leaving a long walk back to the toilets, hence most people went behind the stage! The tide was coming in again and a lot of the beach was sectioned off for “VIP’s” so it was a bit of a crush as predicted. Due to poor promotion and marketing and a lot of confusion over whether it was going to be a paid entrance I’d guess there were less people at the festival than last year.

Now onto the music, in my opinion a lot of the early performers were a little bland - I’d class it as ‘elevator music’, the stuff that sends you off to sleep. Thankfully Kenny Garrett and crew came on and livened things up a bit, the highlight of Friday night though were Thai reggae/ska band T-Bone who had the crowd on their feet with a great performance.

The weather on Saturday was a little disappointing with incessant drizzle and low grey clouds always threatening with a heavier downpour. The afternoon bands matched the weather unfortunately and were also a little dull. It seems that the organisers are forcing the genre on the festival, possibly to attract an older crowd and deter the youngsters. Leaving early we did not get to see the final act, Mike Stern, Dave Weckl, Chris Minh Doky and Bob Franceschini who were reportedly a little more livelier.

There is also jazz all week in Hua Hin at the red cross park and railway station though we’re not expecting big names in attendance, it seems Hua Hin wants to do its own little thing to keep up with the Bangkok dominated main event.

More photos from the Hua Hin Jazz Festival can be found on www.jazzfestivalhuahin.com

Life in Hua Hin is starting to slow now as ,the low season is upon us; the advantage for those visiting and resident is that the town and beaches are a lot quieter and more serene. That was until one of the multiple long weekends last month, which drew convoys of shiny new SUV’s down from Bangkok clogging up Hua Hin’s road system. The new mayor promises change and improved road management, which is desperately needed in Hua Hin. Driving standards, or lack of, are always a hot topic on the forum as we all need to travel from time to time. A number of complaints were aired about the taxis clogging up the streets and charging over inflated fares to tourists. Solutions were suggested which included parking meters, taxi ranks with standard fares, park and ride systems and congestion charges. We have taken these measures for granted in the west and although they may not always be popular they certainly ease the traffic problems that have become so prevalent here lately.

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