Hua Hin seems to be changing - for the worse

[margaretcarnes]

Unfortunately that row of bars started to change after Little Big Horn went IMO, and the established barkeeps have had to adjust their opening times to suit a different market which I'm sure has been fuelled by the flashy karaoke place next to Billys.

Good point, there was never really anything in that Karaoke area when all the regular bars were allowed to open 24 hours a day - the scraps were down Bintabaht then!

They weren't proper scraps Buksi - just domestic beatings with golf clubs!

[JimmyGreaves]

The Russians are on the way, no racism intended

High season stinks!

Yep the place may be going to the dogs!

[hhfarang]

Also the Bintabaht area will almost certainly be redeveloped in the next few years; it is just a matter of getting enough of the land owners to sell and what I have heard is that at least 8 out of the 12 or so are willing to sell.

Yes, rumor (or rumour ) has it that a stretch of Bintabaht land owners have already closed a deal to redevelop a section into a hotel with shops and restaurants. If true this would shut down several of the bars on the south side near the Hilton end of the street.

[dozer]

I have a friend who is a long time resident of HH and is married to the daughter of one of the main Bintabaht land owners.
I was recently chatting to him about the redevelopment and he was very coy about the whole thing, which is unusual as normally he discusses quite openly the plans for redevelopment.

[Homer]

You saw one bar brawl. That's 100% more than seeing none. It's also one more.

I was next to a fight last November in a restaurant. Heard some menacing words behind me, the thud of a body hitting the ground, then looked around and saw 60+ year old man standing over an 70+ year old man on the floor. The standing man said ‘Why you still come here?’.

What's the world coming to?

[DaveT]

You saw one bar brawl. That's 100% more than seeing none. It's also one more.

I was next to a fight last November in a restaurant. Heard some menacing words behind me, the thud of a body hitting the ground, then looked around and saw 60+ year old man standing over an 70+ year old man on the floor. The standing man said ‘Why you still come here?’.

What's the world coming to?

I saw 2 bar brawls, which is two more than I've seen in 6 years of coming to Hua Hin and frequenting that area for a late night drink.

It's not just the bar brawls or the moody bar girls, the whole feeling of the place seems to have changed. Before the brawl that happened near me, I'd actually said to my Thai friend that the atmosphere seems different this time. I'm sure you know what I mean - it's a kind of sixth sense, an inner feeling. A few minutes later the scrap started and it was a nasty one. If this Thai girl had smashed this beer bottle on the guys head God knows what the damage and the outcome would have been.

[PeteC]

Richard was talking about deja vu and this thread sure is it. Pattaya expats were talking about the exact same phenomena 18-20 years ago. It's a so called form of progress I guess and unfortunately seems to be unavoidable in resort towns. If they do develop the bar area into something else and move the clubs inland somewhere, that will go a long way to restoring peace and quiet to that seaside/shopping part of the town. Pattaya has never been able to accomplish that, so far. Too many power Thais with too much invested and at stake. Pete

[Spitfire]

It's inevitable really, HH could just be next on the list, especially with the new ferry angle, idiots in Pattaya will eventually just go for a few days as a change of scene and will talk about it to others, the infection will spread.

It's the same in most places, same where I am, 7-8 years ago, nice and quiet, just a few long stayers and Vietnam vets living here, cheap prices etc, now it's flooded with people/idiots that can't afford to live by the beach anymore, prices rising too.

You probably have to go south of HH now to find what HH used to be, or some peace and quiet. Bangsaphan seems still to be nice but even there too, in time will be effected, probably already started with plots of land being swallowed up by people with no connection to the place. The smart thing to do, I guess, is to buy some land before it happens somewhere then sell it when it's screwed/full of idiots and find the next place that will be peaceful for a while before it's ruined on the temple of commercialism/tourism etc so it can cater for the garbage. Kho Tao is another good example of this, 10-15 years ago was a cool, nice and fairly wild diving island, now completely ruined imo.

That's the problem with paradise, once found it's ruined because too many people want to change it into "their" version of it and there are only too many businessmen that will facilitate it and turn it into a replica of where these people come from apart from a different currency, hot weather and a sand beach.

Sad, but inevitable I'm afraid.

[Super Joe]

Bangsaphan seems still to be nice but even there too, in time will be effected, probably already started with plots of land being swallowed up by people with no connection to the place.

You're right there actually Spitfire, it's already started with some of the riff-raff from HH snapping up swathes of land, and building themselves 'footballers wives' style mansions.

Just hope it's done in moderation.

SJ

[Nereus]

You can`t Buk progress.

[Khundon1975]

Well DaveT if the Scandi did slap a Thai girl then he deserved a bloody good twatting IMHO.
He was lucky she did not have a Thai boyfriend handy or he could have been looking down the long, dark, barrel of a gun, but only for a split second.

Back in 1999, the bar area was always a very safe place and remained so up until late 2004, when more young piss heads came here from Europe. Cheap beer, cheap girls, cheap accommodation and sunshine will always attract the dregs of society, who don't have the brain cells to know how to behave.

Unfortunately, you saw one fight and no doubt this has darkened your view of Hua Hin. Don't let it, this sort of thing happens all over the World and HH is no different.

I always enjoyed the bars in HH and never encountered any trouble, but then I knew which areas to avoid and I was always home early.

[johnnyk]

Richard was talking about deja vu and this thread sure is it. Pattaya expats were talking about the exact same phenomena 18-20 years ago. It's a so called form of progress I guess and unfortunately seems to be unavoidable in resort towns. If they do develop the bar area into something else and move the clubs inland somewhere, that will go a long way to restoring peace and quiet to that seaside/shopping part of the town. Pattaya has never been able to accomplish that, so far. Too many power Thais with too much invested and at stake. Pete

Pattaya has actually been quite busy for the past 5 years or so doing just that. The big new Central Festival mall and the VT condo beside it are on land that was tin-roof beer bars 5 years ago.
Soi buakhow, now a major nightlife street, was a totally Thai street of small businesses 5-6 years ago. Soi LK Metro now a booming nightlife node didn't exist 5-6 years ago.
Pattaya sees the future as Asian families and the falang nightlife will be between 2nd and 3rd roads tucked away from the beach. Walking Street will remain to amaze rubberneck tourists ("Live hookers!") and because it is controlled by the real powers-that-be in town.
Nightlife built Pattaya and it will never go away because too many powerful interests make too much money from it.

[margaretcarnes]

Unfortunately JohnnyK Pattaya had the 2nd/3rd Road bar area vision in the late 90's - it still hasn't happened.
Maybe HH is looking toward Patters for inspiration and hoping to beat them to it by the proposed/rumoured redevelopment of Bintabahn - but tourists have to go somewhere for a bevvy.
If the Bernie Bazaar area DOES go (again - rumoured for years - and all it gets is flash new bars) where is left for town centre drinkers?

[Super Joe]

and no doubt this has darkened your view of Hua Hin. Don't let it, this sort of thing happens all over the World and HH is no different.

I always enjoyed the bars in HH and never encountered any trouble, but then I knew which areas to avoid and I was always home early.

Agree with KD, I drank it that area a fair bit when i first came over, and there was too much trouble then as Hua Hin was v. busy then and that area was laid out differently with most people jammed inside the bars bumping into each other. Now it's quieter there in general, and half the people sitting outside the bars, it's miles better imho.

For the past 8 months or so, I've been going there 2-3 times a week, until it's time for my son's toast and apart from some close calls that got defused by Thai male workers (believe it or not), I have honestly only seen one real fight. Maybe I'm just unlucky, I don't know, but it has been crowded round there, like 50% more people from maybe Christmas on, so doesn't really surprised me that DaveT could have witnessed two.

The area was brought up in another thread the other week and I wrote:

As SteveG mentions, the 'karaoke' area is open 'til 6am. It's changed drastically round there now imo, now that a couple of them have had a make-over, glass fronted, air-con, DJ (kid with Now Dance 95 cd), and lots of seating outside, feels a bit like a food court
And the whole atmosphere's better round there now, not all crowded in small bars with problems cos someone stood on someone's flip-flops, plus there's 4 or 5 sensible owners & security who actually want to keep the peace. Lot brighter and smarter, plus a dedicated Bintaburger who stays the course. SJ

As it's the only all-night drinking area in Hua Hin/Cha Am, with 12 bars all welded together, you would expect to see problems anywhere in the world in these types of places, whether or not you had witnessed it previously. But I don't really get how this, or the grumpiness levels of hookers during the quietest spell of their careers, is a meaningful reflection on a town overall, there are plenty of other negatives, more indicative imo.

Think you were just unlucky this time DaveT, it's that sort of place where it could produce problems 3 nights on the trot, then nothing for the next 3 months. It's very unpredictable, but don't let it, or the idiots in it, stop you from coming back.
And about high season, I think yes it is worse then as goes from half empty there, to quite crowded due it's relatively small size

SJ

[johnnyk]

Unfortunately JohnnyK Pattaya had the 2nd/3rd Road bar area vision in the late 90's - it still hasn't happened.
Maybe HH is looking toward Patters for inspiration and hoping to beat them to it by the proposed/rumoured redevelopment of Bintabahn - but tourists have to go somewhere for a bevvy.
If the Bernie Bazaar area DOES go (again - rumoured for years - and all it gets is flash new bars) where is left for town centre drinkers?

Margaret, have you been there lately?
You can see the spread up the sois from 2nd road to Buakhow which is now lined with bars, go-gos and guesthouses pretty well all the way from Pattaya Klang well past soi LengKee.