Hua Hin Hot Topics - Banking Bunkum
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.
The 24 hour reporting rumours cropped up again too as a couple of unlucky readers had bad experiences at local immigration. The majority however has never had to report in after leaving the country and has never been fined for not doing so; it all leaves us a bit mystified really. This is nothing new though with Thai immigration rules and the ever-shifting sands of bureaucracy at our local office here in Hua Hin!
More concern was aired from users of foreign bank cards in Thai ATM machines. According to a report by the Thai Bankers Association there will be an increase in the fee to use foreign ATM cards to 150 baht. As usual there is no consistency here, some banks have done it and others haven’t, also the norm is the concept of upping the price and trying to squeeze a bit more out of the farangs when the chips are down!
Rising hot season temperatures are causing Hua Hin’s visitors and expats to cool off by taking a swim. This is not as easy as it sounds since the only options seem to be the hotels who charge non-guests a fair whack for using their pool, finding a mate that has a house with a pool or jumping in the ocean and risking the jellies. Palm Hills used to be a good option until they quadrupled their prices overnight a couple of years back, Sport Villa is not bad either but it does get busy. So here is a business opportunity for someone with a bit of land and a spade!