One of Hua Hin’s biggest stories in recent times reared its head again this week as the shooting of Donald Whiting sparked more discussion. A number of suspicious looking user accounts and doppelgangers materialised on the forum to have a poke at each other leaving the rest of us still with no clue how this case is proceeding. Getting information from the local plod is harder than finding a parking spot in Hua Hin at the weekend so we’ll just leave those with too much time on their hands to it for now.

Many public forums fall foul to trouble makers and time wasters who have little better to do than hide behind pseudonyms on the internet and have a go at other people. This is the nature of the beast and often explains why forums are so popular, in a virtual world someone can say what they like without any comeback. Just as well HHAD is well moderated and the spurious among its membership are easily spotted and exposed … Hua Hin is still a small town.

(more…)

Well the wet week is now over and as expected the death toll on the roads made the violence in Bangkok look like a Sunday picnic on the beach. Alcohol, water fights and motorbikes don’t mix and never will so we trust you all were sensible and never left the safe confines of your local bar!

Many expats have grown a little tarnished over the years and avoid Songkran at all costs; we still find it a great day out providing it doesn’t get out of control. Hua Hin only celebrates the 13th but as you read this people will still be flinging cold water at each other in different provinces around the country.

(more…)

The real estate discussion section was bought back to life this week with the same conundrums on buying and leasing property in Thailand. Apparently there are some not-so-honest property developers in Hua Hin (yes we were amazed too) that have been selling houses with a 90 year lease disguised as three renewable thirty year leases. Some local legal advisors and officials in the land office have also been supporting this spurious practice and allowing buyers to be bamboozled by bureaucracy.

A 90 year lease does not exist as one inopportune home buyer later discovered following consultations with a Bangkok lawyer. Only the first 30 years of a property lease in Thailand is covered by law so the rest is just a loose agreement which is probably not worth the paper it is drafted on. The company route to buy property as a foreigner is pretty much a dead end also since the last wave of government restrictions included the enforcement of checks on operational, tax paying, companies with Thai shareholders – who will all be investigated. Not the most welcoming option for a retired couple seeking a holiday home in the tropics.

(more…)

Finally, after seven years of last minute scrambling for information, we have been contacted by the organizers of the Hua Hin Jazz Festival with confirmed dates of June 12-14. The official signing ceremony of the 8th Hua Hin Jazz Festival took place on March 23 at Municipality office. No lineup details have been released yet but they did state that there will be two stage locations this year which will alleviate some of the overcrowding at previous festivals.

The jazz festival is always a spectacular event regardless of your tastes in music; you can’t beat the carnival atmosphere on the beach and a cold beer (providing it is on sale). For those that can’t wait until June there will be another music festival on the beach in Khao Takiab though it will attract the younger crowd from Bangkok. The Honda Summer Music Fest 2 kicks off at midday on Saturday May 2 and runs into the night, the lineup will feature a number of Thai ska and reggae bands including T-Bone. News updates and photos for both events can be found on the forum – don’t forget to get online and book your accommodation early if you need somewhere to stay for either weekend, it will be jammed.

(more…)