On Wednesday 12th December 2007, the ‘Jazz train’ made its inaugural journey from Hua Hin to Baan Krut. The idea came from Khun Ray, the owner of ‘Ray’s Place’ bar & restaurant and a selection of musicians who jam in the restaurant on Monday evenings, for patrons’ enjoyment.

At about 11am, passengers started to congregate at Hua Hin Railway Station. We signed in with our tickets and received our name badges and information sheet. Then we waited for the train’s arrival. Many passengers found that their friends were fellow passengers, and the buzz of greeting and chatter mixed with the sound of music, being played live on the platform. Refreshments were already being served and some passengers eagerly partook of the cool beer or soft drinks, while waiting in the heat.

At about midday the train arrived and the 68 and a half (my little boy) passengers and the musicians and staff got onto the train in a surprisingly orderly fashion. One 3rd class car was reserved for us, and it was definitely a bit of a squeeze to get us all in. I found myself near the centre of the car & sitting with complete strangers, with my little boy perched on my lap. I admit to dreading the journey, fearing my legs would go to sleep before an hour was up.

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Thought I’d take a trip down to Dolphin Bay last weekend to catch up with an old friend and check out the place that I last visited 3 years ago.

The little town of Phu Noi is just on the outskirts of Sam Roi Yod national park and can be reached in about 45 minutes by car from Hua Hin. We stayed in a nice little suite with pool and all the trimmings, only a short stroll to the beach.

The serviced apartment can be rented daily or weekly [more details].

The beach and surrounding area is a haven for wildlife and is especially famous for migratory birds. From the accommodation was a view over marshlands and across to the peaks of Sam Roi Yod (which actually means 300 peaks). A great spot for those into their ornithology:

Sunset over SRY

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We are all deeply saddened this month at the loss of our good friend David Geoffrey Boycott or “Dr Dave” as he was known amongst us. David passed away early last month and was cremated in Hua Hin temple on the 14th or November. He was an integral part of HHAD running all of the sales and marketing and moderating the forums, he will be deeply missed by all of us here on the site and out sincere condolences go out to his family here and in the UK. As a reflection of the sad news the forum has had a quiet month although readership remained high as people logged on from across the globe to pay their respects to the great man. A gathering was held at Johnny Walkers bar last month to raise a drink to Dave and listen to some of his music.

Local news and discussion revolved around the opening of a new Makro store in Pranburi, the Japanese population in Hua Hin and more sad news with the closure of the Hua Hin Dog Rescue Center. There was also news of local events such as the Hua Hin Vintage Car Parade, Pranburi Triathlon, Jazz Train and a number of other local events and parties over the festive season. For those wanting to get out onto the ocean try the Buccaneer, a new pleasure boat operating from Hua Hin, they offer cruises, fishing trips and parties onboard.

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Last month saw the introduction of a couple of new sections on the Hua Hin forum, the first of which being a family and lifestyle section that offers a place to discuss family life, schools, children and household issues in Hua Hin. We also now have the “Entertainment Zone” where you can discuss books, movies and music. On the same subject there has been quite a bit of demand for some kind of book exchange here in Hua Hin, a couple of the bars and guesthouses have small book corners but it maybe time for something bigger.

More new accommodation options are cropping up as old houses are being converted into new boutique hotels, Naebkehardt Road has seen many of these new arrivals over the past year. The latest being Baan Talay Chine which offers luxury suites with private pools, finely decorated in oriental style. You can find more details and book it online now through HHAD.

There also seems to be demand for more recreational facilities in Hua Hin, especially for children. Public parks would be ideal but considering the inflated costs of land and the cost of construction they still remain a pipe dream. As mentioned last month there are now organized events and workshops for kids offering a range of activities from beach parties to art and crafts. Take a look at events.wt-thailand.com for more details.

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The race will be professionally managed by international race organizers and will take place on the beaches in front of the five-star Evason resort and backroads of Pranburi, a Thai fishing village on the east coast of Thailand, just south of Hua Hin.

The inaugural race will take place on Saturday 20th October 2007 and is planned to become an annual event and an essential fixture in the Asian triathlon calendar.

International professional athletes will compete with local triathletes in the Olympic distance elite race, while a sprint distance short course will be set to attract corporate racers and fun runners.

We have received permission from the Royal Palace, and are now happy to announce that the proceeds of this event will be donated to the Royal Project Foundation of His Majesty King Bhumibol.
Also, H.S.H Prince Bhisadej Rajani has confirmed his presence at the event on 20th October.

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At midnight, as I was shutting my kitchen door, I noticed a large frog by the door frame. It had flesh pink patches and looked sorry for itself. Unsure whether it had been squashed, I did not fancy picking it up with my hands, so used a pan and brush. I was careful and pushed it onto the pan. It was alive. I put it in the garden, on the grass then went indoors.

Call me soft but I began to think that if it had been in the house then it might be starved of water, so I filled a jug and went outside. It was were I had left it. When I poured the water over it it hopped away. Not huge leaps and not fast but it seemed to be okay. It had gone in the morning. At least I don’t have a chlorine swimming pool.

Why am I writing about frogs? Eighteen months ago when I moved into the house and after a huge rainstorm the noise from what must have been thousands of frogs woke me. I thought I had left a machine on and went to investigate until I realised. Since then several new houses have been built around me and the noise is far less. I assume the digging has driven the frogs away and it is something else that makes me sad, although I still hear a fair number, especially in my garden, after rains.

They are also a delicacy. Wander through the tracks around the village and the marsh at night, even on the main road, you will see people with miners’ hats on collecting frogs for supper.

I prefer a round of toast with blackcurrant jam myself.

The twin-engine, Spanish-made Casa 210 banks sharply to the left over the Gulf of Thailand. The pilot levels off and begins a steady climb to 6,000 feet. The skies along the coast are clear, but I can see banks of low-lying clouds in the interior – our target.

I am flying with the Royal Rainmakers based out of Hua Hin Airport There are eight of us on board, including the pilot, Maj. Amian, who, like most pilots in the rain-making service, is a former army aviator.

In the bay to the back of me crouch three crewmembers surrounded by plastic bags filled with powdered sodium chloride, the chemicals we plan to spread once we’ve reached our destination.

Our mission, as briefed at the 9 a.m. morning pilot’s meeting in Hua Hin, is to fly exactly 147 kilometers to the northwest, then turn due north seeding “warm” clouds along a 50 km stretch over Rachaburi province near the border with Myanmar.

The aircraft banks slowly to the north and begins to enter clouds. To my untutored eye they don’t look promising for making rain. They are broken and whispy, and I can see patches of ground through them, including a sinuous river.

For a moment I wonder if the mission might be aborted, but just then the crew in the after bay comes alive, and, with practiced moves, begins to empty sack after sack of sodium chloride into a chute, where it will be released into the clouds from the underbelly of the aircraft.

By now the view out of the cockpit window is all white. After twenty minutes, all of the powder released, the crew tidies up and Maj. Amian turns the aircraft back to Hua Hin. The whole mission has taken about an hour and a half.

Did we make rain today? I asked station manager Mr. Prinya Sudhikoses as we deplaned. He simply smiles shyly and nods his head “yes.”

Unknown to many there is an animal park/zoo in Hua Hin, you can get there by taking Soi Huay Sai which is about a kilometer after the Palm Hills turn off heading north on Petchkasem Road. Around 4 km down this soi on the left is the entrance to what is sign posted as a “deer research center”. It seems to be government funded and has never been promoted since all signs are in Thai. Entrance is free which is a pleasure to see as one quickly gets used to these racist two tier prices for tourist attractions in Thailand.

There are a number of large deer pens and plenty of pheasants and wildfowl roaming around the large complex. Monkeys are also popular here with a whole range of species from gibbons to macaques, some are caged and some free swinging. The only slightly worrisome sight was the inadequate cages for the Malayan Sun Bears and Asiatic Black Bear that looked thoroughly depressed. Other park residents included exotic birds, tortoises, porcupines and more gibbons.

There is a canal system running around a number of “islands” where the gibbons live and seem to enjoy watching and mocking the humans tossing the occasional banana at them. It provides a great little picnic spot for an afternoon out but be sure to bring your supplies as there is nothing in the way of shops there.

More busy times on the forums last month as low season in Hua Hin slowly starts to come to an end. Accommodation hunters will be delighted to see our range of places to stay expand with the inclusion of Markwin Lodge, Chada Guesthouse, Hua Hin Avenue, Baan Nilawan and house and condo rentals by Room by Room. A new website with easy online booking has been launched at Hua Hin Accommodation , the forum also makes a great place to ask for recommendations and reviews of Hua Hin hotels before making your booking. As high season approaches the internet will be the key tool for securing online bookings.

More local topics involved discussions on crime levels and police in Hua Hin and although there were a couple of negative comments Hua Hin still remains to be one of the safest places in Southeast Asia to live or visit. A new local news website at Hua Hin News also highlights some of the top stories in the town, focusing on news for foreigners; it covered the opening of the new Sheraton Resort and updates on property and real estate news.
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The little known town of Bang Saphan lies 180km (2 hours by car) south of Hua Hin. It’s attractions are miles of empty beaches, acres of coconut groves, quaint beach bars and bungalows, idyllic offshore islands and of course none of the traffic, noise, construction, tourists and mayhem that is commonplace now in Hua Hin.

The main island of Koh Talu is popular with weekend Bangkokians who jostle for the shady spots on tour boats offering fully clothed snorkeling day trips from the mainland. Sadly the once pristine fringing coral reefs of Koh Talu have suffered lately from careless captains dropping anchors, and tourists standing on the coral and littering.

My mission was to find some new undiscovered snorkeling and diving spots and so I headed for the two islets of Koh Sing and Koh Sang with a friend who happened to own a small boat! Once beneath the surface the coral cover and condition was impressive, large boulder corals abundant along with carpets of sea anemones and finger corals. Although maximum depth was seldom over 8 meters marine life was plentiful enough to keep me occupied. A moray eel was found free swimming, a group of remoras decided to attach themselves to me, crabs scuttled for cover and large schools of glassfish parted like a silver curtain as I swam through. Some large pufferfish could be spotted and a rare saddleback anemonefish family was discovered vociferously protecting their home from the scuba intruder!

These two small islands are a haven for marine life and ideal for novice divers and snorkelers as currents were slight and everything was found in the shallows. There are plenty more undiscovered dive spots around Bang Saphan but I’ll save those for the next trip!

More information on the area can be found on www.bangsaphanguide.com

Going South from Hua Hin turn left off the main road and down to the coast. This is the road that leads to Kha Ka Lok. Along that stretch of coast is a lot of new build resorts and residential housing. Many Bangkokians come here for the weekend.

Plenty of restaurants ranging from the reknowned Evasons to the small Thai House run along the coast road and bars like the Windy Bar or Mr Sings are inviting. Both bars are attractive. The Windy Bar is part of a resort with a restaurant and it is like a circular gazebo which becomes quite lively. Mr Sings is something like an ornamental wood gypsy caravan. It is parked a couple of yards from the sea wall and there are tables and chairs overlooking the water. It is quite peaceful.

Continue along the coast towards Khao Ka Lok and you will pass many other restaurants. Most of them serve excellent sea food and quite a few have a farang menu. The Purimuntra is one of my favourites. The food is good, the layout appealing and it is located on the shore. This, as with others, you can visit for spa treatments. On one glorious occasion, when I had friends from the UK staying, they set up a table on the beach and served us there.

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There have been lots of questions this month from a number of new forum members looking to make the move to Hua Hin. While still in low season in terms of tourists the town is constantly growing in terms of foreign residents and expats. As more and more people reside in Hua Hin on permanent or semi permanent the demand for services and shops will also increase. A new shopping mall is also on the cards and there has been plenty of discussion on it on the forums.

Accommodation hunters have been rewarded with a larger selection of guesthouses and hotels with online booking on HHAD as our sponsors list increases yet again. A new website has also been launched to promote our accommodation partners in Hua Hin, take a look at www.huahinguesthouses.com for more details. There is no better place online to advertise a guesthouse or hotel in Hua Hin if you want instant direct bookings and no better place to look for somewhere to stay.

Property problems
A very busy month for real estate discussion as buyers air their views on the developments they have purchased from. Some glowing reports were shared but not all stories had happy endings. Sadly the owners of certain developments decided to blame HHAD for allowing the truth to be told, following a threat of legal action we were forced to remove certain comments regardless of their authenticity. It was a disappointing turn of events and our only advice to anyone buying on a development in Hua Hin is to do your homework, speak to current residents, and get a legal team, in some cases though even this wont be enough to protect you should things go awry. The number of horror stories we get is frightening however we are unable to allow members to tell their stories on many occasions simply due to the dark nature of a number of property developers in our small town. Even those who claim to be assisting foreigners with property disputes are often hiding their true colours.

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It took a lot of hope over experience for me to sign up for the Hua Hin Golf Festival 2007 open tournament (first 150 players, no qualifications).But I got to the Royal Hua Hin Golf Club early in anticipation and looked for my group on the posted play list.

This was to be a “shot-gun” start, and my group of five players would start from the third hole. Rather than wait around, I took the shuttle golf cart out to the tee. My caddy had already arrived even though it was almost an hour before the official start. I killed time practicing some chip shots onto the elevated tee.

Presently, two Thai women who made up a part of our group arrived and went off to talk by themselves. Just before the start my other two playing partners, Martyn a Brit and Paul from Australia, arrived to complete our party.

I approached my first tee shot with some trepidation – I’m used to playing alone with only a caddy to watch me muff my shots. The two Thai players strode off to the ladies’ tee, 50 yards down the course. More than once my off-the-tee drive has fallen short of the ladies’ tee.

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I don’t know what happens in town to celebrate Mother’s Day but here the resorts have ceremonies.

I live near Khao Ka Lok, a headland which splits the coastal area into distinct halves. One side leads to Hua Hin, the other away from it. The leading side is more built up, has many resorts and receives lots of tourists, mainly Bangkokians for their weekend break. There is a small stretch of beach on the other side of Khao Ka Lok but to reach the larger stretch, travellers have to turn up onto the Sam Roi Yod road, driving for about ten minutes before turning left down to the coast.

This side is less populated and although there are distances between the few resorts it is starting to grow. On this side is a resort called Dolphin Bay and that is where we went for dinner. The food varies from okay to good and is reasonably priced but that is subjective.

When we arrived we were given a candle protected by a clear plastic cup. A television had been set up at the entrance to the resort where the Dolphin plaque stood. People were gathering around to watch the televised ceremony.

At 7.30 the candles were lit and the crowd responded to the formal words and songs.  I cannot speak Thai so I could only participate where there was repetition that I could pick up. When that happened I attempted to sing the words and raised my candle in salute. In the pauses I could hear voices drifting on the wind from other resorts.

To end the ceremony I followed everyone across the road to the beach and made a hole in the sand with my index finger where I planted my candle. 

I found it emotional because this was the first Mother’s Day without my mother who died earlier this year.  She and I participated in a similar ceremony last year for the King and she enjoyed it so much.  

Back at our restaurant table, dinner was being served but we could see the row of flickering lights and it looked very pretty. On the other side of Khao Ka Lok, probably from the Evasons, fireworks burst into the sky. This time we raised our glasses and shouted ‘Chockdee’.

www.writeinparadise.com

More than 200 sailors will set sail in this year’s Hua Hin Regatta, which is being contested off the Hua Hin Naval Yacht Club.

A total of 99 boats in the Super Mod class - a boat designed by His Majesty the King - will also be in action.

The three-day regatta is being held to commemorate not only His Majesty the King’s great success at the South East Asian Peninsular (SEAP) Games on December 16, 1966, where he won the gold medal in the OK Dinghy event, but also to celebrate the diamond jubilee of his accession to the throne.

The Yacht Racing Association of Thailand (YRAT) have put the Super Mod - a 14-feet, 11 inch dinghy designed and patented in the UK by His Majesty - on the list of boats taking part in the regatta.

On the first two days of the regatta sailors will contest the Thailand Open Sailing Championships and the Super Mod Vega Rudder Race, while the 25 nautical mile long-distance Vega Rudder Race for will be held the following day.

The Thailand Open will consist of the small Optimist class dinghies for children and the bigger Platu boats, while the long-distance contest features Lasers, 420s, 470s, Fireballs and catamarans.

Sailors from Australia, Burma, China, Germany, New Zealand, Singapore and the United States are expected to return for the annual regatta, while skippers and crews from England, Hong Kong and Japan have already entered.

“This year’s event is very special because we [YRAT] have added the Super Mod class as part of the celebrations for His Majesty the King,” said Rear Admiral Apiwat Srivardhana, the secretary-general of YRAT.

Source : The Nation

More images from the event can be found here: Hua Hin Regatta 2007 images