What brought you to Hua Hin?

Hua Hin general discussion, observations and chat. Hua Hin topics that don't really fit anywhere else.
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richard
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Re: What brought you to Hua Hin?

Post by richard »

Came to Thailand many moons ago as part of a round world trip after early retirement. Fell in love with Bangkok and decided to relocate. Met an old friend who lived in Hua Hin and after realising my body would not be able to sustain much more of Bangkok decided to move here for a quieter lifestyle. When HH then started to explode development and farang wise I moved to the jungle north east of Khon Kaen. After a year I realised it was far too primitive for an aging geezer like me and returned to HH. I know it's grown out of all proportion but what place doesn't eventually?
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Re: What brought you to Hua Hin?

Post by Pleng »

hhfarang wrote: In 2003 Hua Hin was nearly like that (well, maybe 100 full time foreigners) and look at it now!
I keep seeing things like this. Was there a big explosion between 2003 and 2004? Because when I first visited it seemed pretty densely populated? Ok to be fair I didn't venture far outside of the train station/night market/binta-hilton area/"little plaza that used to be where Colonnade mall is now" areas but within that section there seemed to be a lot of foreign run establishments at the time. Not sure when Market Village came to Hua Hin? But it was definitely here by the time I returned in 2006.

Maybe it's just expanded outwards? Because the central area looks pretty much identical; apart from the sad loss of the area that is now the Colonnade Mall, next to the supermarket.
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Re: What brought you to Hua Hin?

Post by hhfarang »

As Buksi said in the late 90's there were only 50 expats and they all knew each other. In 2003 that had doubled or tripled but there still weren't that many "full time" expats. A lot of people were seasonal or worked offshore with a home here, but I'm talking about foreigners living here full time on long stay visas. The story I posted above about the first renewal of my annual visa should tell you something changed shortly after 2004. In 2004 there were still so few Americans here that we all knew each other and used to have regular American holiday meet-ups and a good portion of them met weekly at Billy's bar with someone always bringing a homemade American snack that was not available here yet because there were no American restaurants.

BTW, the only place in town to buy groceries then (other than the fresh market, 7/11s, and Family Marts) was the old Hua Hin Shopping Mall near the traffic light. We used to make a monthly trip to Petchaburi for shopping as the Big C there was the nearest modern super market. Most of the materials such as western kitchen cabinets, sinks, faucets, and other fixtures we used to build our house had to come from Bangkok; even marble and granite had to come from Petchaburi as it wasn't sold in Hua Hin.

Edit: I think there actually was one American restaurant here already when I came... Burger King! :wink:
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Re: What brought you to Hua Hin?

Post by buksida »

Two things happened in 2004 - the tsunami which drove many people from popular southern tourists spots to Hua Hin and a real estate boom which saw hundreds of fly-by-night property agents suddenly appearing and new housing developments springing up like mushrooms. The town hasn't been the same since.
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Re: What brought you to Hua Hin?

Post by Takiap »

Visited Hua-Hin for the first time in the late 90s but can't remember much from that short weekend break. Moved here full time in 2002 and have seen a massive change. Stayed in Takiap for around two years when the road leading down from the main road was mostly just a dirt road. Takiab beach was mostly deserted and we'd often go and BBQ on the beach down near the river. Today the river is no longer there and has been replaced by a golf course. To be honest, if I didn't know better, I would not even recognize Takiap anymore.


Visiting immigration was nothing more than a quick stop at the police station, whereas now it's a total pain in the butt.

There were a few nice restaurants near the original shopping mall but they disappeared when that pathetic, still unfinished white elephant got built.


Despite all the changes though, it's still not such a bad place to live, if only I could get rid of my MIL.



:cheers:


PS: I think most of the expats living here were drawn by the charm of this sleepy little fishing village, and maybe to escape the Bangkok elite. :oops: :laugh:
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Re: What brought you to Hua Hin?

Post by lomuamart »

Came here for a 3 week holiday in 1989 and just fell in love with the country. I vowed I'd be back but it took about 6 years to do that.
Then met a girl etc etc. I couldn't get her a tourist visa for the UK in those days despite going through my MP to the Home Office. They were fraught days that lasted forever.
Then to hell with it. If she can't even come here to visit, I'll go there. Finished work and made the move.
The girl turned out to be not the right one but I luckily met another one shortly after and she's become my wife of some 8 years.
Now, I'm a fairly contented man.
I suppose that it's easy to say that HH was better years ago and I am guilty of that as well. However, I've got beach to walk (maybe not right now because it's busy and high tides) but for 9 months of the year it's pretty much deserted except for weekends. I've got swimming whenever I want and some great golf.
I certainly miss the community of years ago that has been referred to but we were all so young then and many just had to head back home because of money troubles. But they were great days and I'm happy to say that I'm still in touch with some of them. Some of us are still here, hopefully getting by and generally being happy.
I always reckon HH is better than some messed up commute to work and being told what to do.
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Re: What brought you to Hua Hin?

Post by Big Boy »

2 good friends of ours had sold up in the UK and moved here. They'd bought a bar complex (3 bars) and were keen to show us. That was about 15 years ago. We had been Pattaya regulars until then.

We loved what we saw, and were regular visitors until we moved here 2 years ago.
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Re: What brought you to Hua Hin?

Post by Dannie Boy »

My first visit to Thailand had been a family holiday to Phuket in 1996, followed by a "boys" trip to Koh Samui in 1997. At the time I was working in Pakistan so you can probably imagine what a breath of fresh air it was to come to LOS!! My first visit to HH was in 2000 or 2001 and I preferred it's laid-back feel compared to Phuket or Samui and I became a regular visitor, meeting my now wife in 2006. We spent 4 years living in Abu Dhabi and I managed to get early retirement in 2011 and have been living here permanently since then.

I have certainly seen some changes since the first visit, most noticeably the volume of traffic and the increase in housing developments. It may not be perfect, but on balance I still think its a good area to be living in.
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Re: What brought you to Hua Hin?

Post by Pleng »

Ok looks like I did come just at the beginning of the boom. Thanks for clearing that up as I often saw posts referring to how different things were "10 years ago" or "since 2002/2003" which always confused me.
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Re: What brought you to Hua Hin?

Post by Eugene »

A friend of mine found and shared a link with some nice pictures of old Hua Hin
http://www.gt-rider.com/thailand-motorc ... 39-Hua-Hin
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Re: What brought you to Hua Hin?

Post by Eugene »

Gérard wrote:Strange that you paid 12.000 bahts for a studio in Prachuap. I live alone too, but I prefer a house and I found a furnished one for 5000/month, no luxury but comfortable, 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, air in one bedroom only, on 400 m2 land.
I spent about three days driving around on my bike but didn't succeed to find anything. Maybe just a bad luck.
The studio was in the O'Bay hotel, but it wasn't one of their rooms and had a separate entrance.
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Re: What brought you to Hua Hin?

Post by J.J.B. »

Having never been one for a long holiday (2 weeks in the UK was considered a luxury!) I began work in Italy back in 2010 and got seriously caught out by the fact that the place simply shuts down for at least a month around August. The following year, not to fall for the same trick twice, we planned a trip to Asia that would encompass Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and finally Thailand, where a good friend was living and working. Since plane journeys are at least a weekly if not a daily occurrence, we decided to just visit Thailand in the end and after four crazy days in Bangkok, came down to HH where our friend lived during their down time.

I'm not sure whether it was the people, the atmosphere, the palpable difference from the homogenous 'West' but we fell in love with the place and the promise of what it offered. On the morning we left, we put down a deposit on a house we knew we could not afford and spent the next 12 months trying to beg, borrow and steal the balance. We made it, having almost now paid everything back, and have a fabulous place we can call a home. Even though we are collectively 12 years off a retirement visa, we can come and go when life allows and have grown to love the place more and more each time.

We arrive this Sunday for just two short weeks and every time we get ready to leave, it is harder and harder to go.

One day, we won't have to.
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Re: What brought you to Hua Hin?

Post by Gérard »

Eugene wrote:
Gérard wrote:Strange that you paid 12.000 bahts for a studio in Prachuap. I live alone too, but I prefer a house and I found a furnished one for 5000/month, no luxury but comfortable, 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, air in one bedroom only, on 400 m2 land.
I spent about three days driving around on my bike but didn't succeed to find anything. Maybe just a bad luck.
The studio was in the O'Bay hotel, but it wasn't one of their rooms and had a separate entrance.
Well, at O'Bay hotel, I understand. It's a new place that seems quite fine and you probably had a nice studio with all the advantages of the hotel.
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Re: What brought you to Hua Hin?

Post by hhfarang »

I began work in Italy back in 2010 and got seriously caught out by the fact that the place simply shuts down for at least a month around August.
I worked for Siemens for many years and our German colleagues were the same. When we had a joint project between the U.S. and German offices we could expect nothing from them during August. I've always attributed the "mini high season" we have here in August to the fact that the majority of Europeans take their families on holiday for that month every year.
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Re: What brought you to Hua Hin?

Post by Frank La Rue »

The complaints about the traffic I can understand but the growth of HH I have observed in 7 years I personally consider positive. I guess it all comes down to what you're looking for. If you want a sleepy village with a beach I think you would have to look elsewhere. If you moved to HH for that reasib 10 -20 years ago I can understand you would feel it has been taken away. I enjoy the blend of thai and international feel and look forwards to living there. My wife is from Kanchanabyri province but her folks live partly there and partly in Bangkok so weekly visits both ways is overcomable. Having seen me browsing sites with houses for sale in HH on rainy weekends for the last 4 years she has reconciled with the fact that living in HH seems to be in my spine.

I do wonder if more commercial markets can survive though, the Venezia looked pretty quiet the previous time we were there.
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