Hua Hin

Vintage Loco at Hua Hin

Hua Hin is a seaside resort that is about 150 miles away from Bangkok and very popular with western holidaymakers principally because of its inexpensive and plentiful accommodation and the lengthy sandy beach.  It is also an easy place to get to from the capital either driving, by minibus or in my case by train.  The latter is a good option because unusually the station is conveniently located in the centre of town.  It was an enjoyable four hour journey by rail and coming this way enabled me to see a whole section of countryside that I wouldn't otherwise have seen.  The last hour in particular is quite scenic as the railway heads through paddy fields and coconut plantations.

Royal Pavilion at Hua Hin Station

I started my walk at the delightful Hua Hin station.  The locals are very proud of their station and justifiably so - the Royal waiting room is decked out in a beautiful red colour scheme fit for any king.  The platforms are festooned with flowers and a vintage steam engine takes pride of place on static display on the far side of the platforms.  Outside the main entrance are some old railcars that have been converted into a cafe/ restaurant, somehow adding to the almost museum like quality of the station.  It is unusual to see a railway station in Thailand that celebrates the railway - most are functional affairs.  I took some time to wander around and enjoy the ambiance of the place.  Unusually the station was built before most of the town, hence its central location.

Been Shopping

It was a useful starting point for my walk as it is probably the one building that the local townsfolk are proud of.  I walked along the side of the track until reaching the next level crossing where I took a left turn to start heading up the hill to the viewpoint that is supposed to be worth seeing.  The suggested route by Google up the side of a large golf course didn't look too promising so I doubled back to the railway track and proceeded along another block before heading up the main road.  I swapped a leafy residential street frequented by soi dogs for a another that was dominated by market stalls and workshops.  Initially they were so busy that I had to dodge my way round them but they soon thinned out and the road became initially residential and then surprisingly quickly it became rural.

Flintstone Hill View South

As I started to climb the hill with the viewpoint I passed a truck full of Leo beer and wondered how long a lorry that size would last me.  Possibly a couple of years?  I wound my way around a couple of abandoned cars that have clearly sat here for a good long time - it's a sight I have seen in the UK for several years and wondered whether the authorities do anything about them here?  Slowly the residential area gave way to countryside but before I left the houses entirely I passed by a whole gang of monkeys that I assume live on the golf course beyond the wall that I was following on my left hand side.  They seemed pretty resourceful - one nonchalantly crossed the road in front of me carrying a large coconut, almost as if he had been out shopping for it.  Many of the rest of them were into all sorts of fruit but especially the cliche banana.

Flintstone Hill View North

Soon I was passed by a rather curious looking truck - I wasn't sure what it was at first for it looked like a song thaew but I realised that it had billboards stuck to  the side of it proclaiming support for one of the candidates in the forthcoming Thai election.  Loudspeakers relayed some kind of message that I assume was meaningful to voters, all the while sounding like some kind of radio jingle such was the melodic tone of what was being said.  I was rather amused by the whole thing but I can imagine that voters will become very annoyed by these as the weeks drag on.

Rama VII Memorial

I passed by a Buddhist temple and the road suddenly became a lot steeper.  It was a bit of a slog up the hill but I was thankful for a pavement all the way.  At the top of the hill I turned left at a crossroads and on the other side of the road some Muay Thai sparring was going on between a Western woman and a Thai opponent.  It was quite intense and I paused for a brief moment to watch.  Any notion that I could take a picture was scotched by the fact that most of the audience around the fight turned to look at me.  I took the hint and continued up to the viewpoint.  When I got there I found the ubiquitous refreshment buildings and food stands but few people about to enjoy them.  I took a left turn and climbed up onto a dome of rock that had the most amazing view across Hua Hin and down to the south and to Khao Takiab and Monkey Mountain, where I would ultimately be headed.

Back In Town

I got talking to a French couple who joined me to look at the view.  They, like me, have moved to Thailand and in this case largely because of the sunshine.  I have to admit that it was notionally still winter when I completed this walk and yet our temperatures were in the low thirties Celsius.  Definitely better than  the cold and the rain that I would be experiencing in England!  I sat and enjoyed the view for some time and in particular the antics of the monkeys chasing each other around the  trees below me.  After a while I decided to continue around to the other parts of the viewpoint (known locally as Flintstone Hill by the way) and soon realised that there was not just a viewpoint but a nicely manicured park too.

Fishing Fleet

I went from viewpoint to viewpoint and each one had a slightly different view, and a different group of tourists too.  First up was a view purely out over town and the sea beyond that was frequented by a group of European ladies, none of whom really spoke much English but enough for me to be understood when I offered to take their picture.  I've got into the habit of doing this in Thailand - it breaks down barriers and I'm sure for the parties involved they don't have to struggle to get a crappy selfie.  An unintended consequence can be that I end up being the subject in one of their pictures, but it's a small price to pay.  A little further on and I took a path to a rather strange looking veranda type lookout.  Some people apparently climb out of it to get better selfies - looking at the steep drop below I'm surprised that there aren't more injuries or fatalities.  The view didn't offer a great deal more than the last one so I moved on quite quickly.  I was surprised to see a number of cacti growing happily on the hill - I never thought Thailand arid enough to support them.

Fishing

The last viewpoint provided another chance to chat - this time to a very friendly Swiss couple from Zurich.  We took the opportunity to swap photo opportunities and I had the rare distinction therefore of having a picture of me on one of these walks.  I lingered for a bit before taking a look at the memorial to King Rama VII in whose name the park is dedicated.  Rama VII reigned from 1925 to 1935 and is notable for being the last absolute monarch in Thailand.  He abdicated and moved to Europe following the change of regime to constitutional monarchy.  He established a royal palace in Hua Hin that served as recently as 2006 as the full time home of King Rama IX.  The park is a credit to him and he is clearly remembered fondly by the inhabitants of Hua Hin.

Beach Babe

I retraced my steps back down the hill to the town of Hua Hin.  Sadly the Muay Thai had concluded and everyone who had been there had now departed.  Halfway down the hill I got a cheery wave from the Swiss couple who passed me on a little moped but much of the activity I had seen on the way up had disappeared.  I continued across the railway and straight down to the seafront, battling through the line-ups of masseurs and restaurant owners all desperate for my business.  I opted instead for the relative peace and quiet  of the pier that I had spotted at Flintstone Hill.  It was busier than I expected when I got there, with a number of fishermen trying their luck.  Many of them were catching fish too, although they weren't much bigger than dainty snacks.

Chinese Temple

The pier marked the beginning of the next stage of the walk along the seafront.  Before I could reach the beach I had to walk along another of the busy tourist streets dodging the motorcycles and the carts carrying goods between restaurants.  There is quite the eating scene here - I saw French, Italian, Greek, Indian, Chinese, Swedish and German restaurants just to name a few choices.  I guess each batch of tourists have their own choices.  I took the opportunity to take a side road to the left which led me into a small Chinese temple.  It was full of the bright colours and paintings that I had seen in similar temples in Bangkok - they are distinctive and very different from Thai temples.

Hat Seller

Just past the temple I climbed down on to the sandy beach that would be my footpath for the next 7km.  The shoes that I had worn to carry me up Flinststone Hill now seemed completely inappropriate as I wanted to put my hot feet in the warm sea.  I was confronted by an odd sight ahead of me which necessitated me going in the sea - it wasn't just a question of me having a paddle for the sake of it.  The hotel alongside the beach had stationed tables and chairs on the beach, with many actually in the sea at the point of high tide!  I had to therefore go around them by going in the water.  Luckily that was the first and last obstacle to my progress along the sand.  Now my shoes were off though I wanted to keep them off and did most of the rest of the walk barefoot, to my knowledge the furthest I have ever walked in this state.

Perusing The Menu

I'd like to say that the walk down to Khao Takiab and Monkey Mountain was full of scenic beauty and lots of features to look at along the way but I would be fibbing.  That isn't to say that it is a lovely walk because it is but other than taking in the activity of the beach, a little wildlife and the architecture of the hotels alongside the beach there isn't much to report.  I was entertained by a couple of wildlife sights however - the first was a large egret that seemed to follow me down the beach.  Whether he thought I was a fisherman I'm not sure but I certainly didn't have any food for it.  The other sight was a lot smaller - pretty well camouflaged crabs that were no bigger than my thumbnail.  As soon as I got close they skittered across the sand and buried themselves in a weak spot in the beach.

Football

Most of the other interest was human in nature - western tourists playing football, jogging, walking just like me, watersports and all the other activities that you would see at any resort in the world.  The only Thai people I saw were largely there to service the holidaymakers every need, selling them hats, barbecue food or running horse rides.  I meandered along the beach, sometimes in and sometimes out of the water.  It was rather a meditative kind of walk all the while faced with the large  Buddha looking out from Monkey Hill.

Crab

Eventually I got to the end of the beach and my shoes had to go back on as I left the sand.  I climbed up the rock passing the inevitable refreshment booths at the bottom and found a set of steps that took me to the top of Khao Takiab (translates as Chopstick Hill).  When I got to the top of the steps I immediately saw the monkeys that call this place home.  I had been warned about their thieving behaviour before coming but in truth most that I saw were looking fairly lazy and there were many groups simply spending time picking fleas off each other.  None seemed remotely interested in me.  Neither were a group of very lazy looking cats that had decided that the fan left in the temple was too good to miss.  It all felt a bit siesta like in the Buddhist temple at the top of the hill.  I contented myself there with the view back along the beach, which was definitely worth the effort of getting here.

Chopstick Hill

Having reached my goal I decided not to walk back and instead wandered into the  small town at the back of the hill and found the song thaew that took me back into the centre of Hua Hin for the princely sum of 25p (10 Baht).  It was a bit crowded but strangely only with western people - that is something I have never had to deal with in Bangkok!  I liked Hua Hin - it is a sedate kind of place and due to its ease and cheapness of getting here from Bangkok I can see me coming again.  Maybe I need to find some other walks in this area.

Hua Hin Beach