The Land of Westerners

Hua Hin

Day One

We arrived in Hua Hin after the worst train ride imaginable. Since Paul and I are both cheap we decided to take the 3rd class train from Bangkok to Hua Hin. It was supposed to take four hours and it ended up taking almost five. Most of the time the fans weren't work and even when they were on they didn't help. The train was crammed full of people and it was as hot as heck. The seats were made to fit Thai people who are significantly smaller then us Westerners. Most of the time I was practically in Paul's lap so we could make room for the small Thai person who sat beside us. It was the most uncomfortable experience of this trip so far. We vowed to never be cheap when it comes to transportation again.

We found our way to our guesthouse of choice and checked in. For the first time on this trip we decided to pay for a little luxury and we got ourselves a air-con room. It is a welcome addition in the south's steamy heat. We decided to walk down to the beach and explore a little. As soon as we saw the beach you could see the disappointment in our faces. It was crowded and dirty, the water wasn't clear at all and it was crawling with people from Europe who have decided that walking around topless was the "thing" to do. We went back to our guesthouse to discuss our options. We talked about going back to Ko Samet or maybe Kanchanaburi. In the end we decided to give the beach one more try the next day.

That night we explored Hua Hin's night market which was more impressive then the beach. The entire city itself is overpriced and very Westernized because it caters to resort travelers and not backpackers. Thanks to our two months of experience we were still able to sniff out a good bargain! We bought some DVD's and ate pad thai with the locals.

Day Two

We dragged ourselves out of our air-con room and headed down to the beach. It costs 100 baht to rent two beach chairs so we decided to buy breakfast from the 7-eleven to save some money. Once we walked about a kilometer down from the crowded section of the beach we found a fairly decent place to spend the day. It didn't nearly have as many people, I guess because you had to walk to get there. We spent the day on our chairs reading and not much time in the water. Two factors contributed to this - one: the water wasn't clear and you couldn't see anything and two: the number of jellyfish washed up on shore. Based on the jellyfish and the fact that you couldn't see any coming your way we stayed out of the water. I didn't mind because I hate swimming in the ocean - give me a pool anyday! - but Paul was a little upset.

Day Three

I could pretty much cut and paste the description from the day before. We sat in the same beach chairs, had the same topless people around us (a little redder then the day before) and read the same books!! We both got a bit too much sun though and decided to spend today (day 4) just wandering around the city and doing Internet. Tomorrow we're planning on heading to Sport Villa which is just outside town. For 50 baht per person you can swim and lounge around by a pool for the day. We will probably hit the beach on Saturday since it will be our last day in Hua Hin before we head to Phetchaburi.