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[Wado-Karate]

Part 6 in Wado Karate Federation’s series, Katas Around Hua Hin.

This week, Sensei John visits the historic Railway Station in Hua Hin. This is considered to be the most beautiful station in Thailand.

The Southern Line third phase between Cha-am Station to Hua Hin opened in November 1911, and the line continued to Wang Phong Station in January 1914. The original station building was built in 1910, and rebuilt in 1926, by Prince Purachatra Jayakara (former commander of the Royal State Railways of Siam) to the current Victorian building today. The design was taken from the planned Siam Rat Museum Expo, intended to be built in 1925 at Lumphini Park, but was never built due to the death of King Vajiravudh and the cancellation of the expo by King Prajadhipok.

In 1967, Colonel Saeng Chulacharit (former minister of the State Railway of Thailand) coordinated the relocation of the Sanam Chandra Palace Railway Pavilion from Sanam Chandra Palace, to Hua Hin and it was renamed to "Phra Mongkut Klao Pavilion". Nowadays, it is one of the main attractions at the station.

Today, the ongoing building of the elevated dual track railway through Hua Hin is seeing a lot of demolition and construction going on in the surrounding area (you can see the silver coloured builder’s fence to the right), but the beautiful station is completely untouched, and will remain for future generations to enjoy.

This week Sensei John performs Pinan Yodan on the station platform. The arrival of the train came as a complete surprise, but compliments the video beautifully. I have turned the background music volume up a little to compensate the sound of the giant locomotive, and station announcer.

[Wado-Karate]

Part 7 in Wado Karate Federation’s series, Katas Around Hua Hin.

This week, Sensei John returns to the Lake at Khao Tao, and performs Pinan Shodan in front of the Monument on the Lake.

The lake was formed when a reservoir was built as the first royal initiative for sustainable water management. Within the lake a pavilion was being built to commemorate the late King’s 90th birthday anniversary on 5th December 2017. Sadly, the King never reached the 90th anniversary of his birthday, but the monument still stands to honour him, and attracts many visitors. In front of the pavilion at lakeside is a small area where people can sit and admire the monument.

[Wado-Karate]

Part 8 in Wado Karate Federation’s series, Katas Around Hua Hin.

This week, Sensei John gives us our first view of the sea in Hua Hin. As Thailand’s first seaside resort, we thought we’d better include some seaside views. This week he performs Rohai Kata at Queen Sirikit Park, which is located beachside near 19 Rai.

This park is situated little north of central Hua Hin, just after the Klai Kang Won Palace (the Royal Palace) and known as the Queen Sirikit Park is a very user friendly public park. It has been renovated in recent years and has a canal running through the centre, with a waterfall into the sea.

Access is from either Soi 35 or Soi 19. The beach here is very quiet and during the week you will probably find you are the only people there. A short walk (about 1,000 steps) South along the beach, you will come to the guarded Klai Kang Won Palace, and an exclusion zone.

[Wado-Karate]

Part 9 in Wado Karate Federation’s series, Katas Around Hua Hin.
This week, Sensei John stays with a seaside theme. On a very windy November morning, he went to the end of the Hua Hin Fishing Pier. It was so windy that when we arrived, there was a film crew already there, filming the ginormous waves coming in. Fortunately, the end of the pier was acting like a breakwater, and we filmed today’s video on the calm side, whist getting wet backs from the waves breaking over the pier.

When we first visited Hua Hin many years ago, the local fishing fleet used to tie up alongside this pier, and the pier was a hive of activity. However, the larger craft have relocated slightly South to Pak Nam Pran these days. Now there is ust a small sheltered harbour at the landside of the pier, housing small fishing boats, and it is unusual to see anything other than the occasional small naval vessel tie up alongside the main pier.

The pier suffered bad storm damaged around 2013 and was closed for repair/refurbishment, re-opening in 2016.

These days it is a popular destination for visitors to get a panoramic view of the Hua Hin shoreline from the sea. It is also used by many local fisherman. At weekends there is a very popular street food market on the pier, where diners can sit al fresco on the many tables and chairs, with the sea crashing beneath them whilst enjoying the lights of the Hua Hin shoreline.

This week, Sensei John is performing Chinto Kata.

[Wado-Karate]

Part 10 in Wado Karate Federation’s series, Katas Around Hua Hin.

This week, Sensei John stays by the seaside, and performs Wanshu Kata in the early morning shadow of Khao Takiab.

The beach is Khao Takiab on the Northern side of the mountain. Strangely (to an Expat originating in the UK) as the rainy season ends, the wind changes to a Northerly direction in late October/early November, and the tide stays very high. Beaches become very narrow, or disappear for long periods. Basically, the tide comes in and doesn’t really go out for several months. This isn’t a bad thing in itself, but the strong Northerly winds tend to deposit a lot of jetsam and flotsam (combined with a lot of plastic waste) on the high tide line, which often represents much of the beach.

I think you will see the strength of these winds demonstrated by the way Sensei John’s Gi is flapping in the wind, the strong waves, and the leaves on blowing on the resident palm trees.

Looking North from this position on a clear day you can see the shore line of Khao Takiab, becoming Hua Hin and in the far distance, Cha-Am.

[Wado-Karate]

Action from last night's kata competition.

[Wado-Karate]

Part 11 in Wado Karate Federation’s series, Katas Around Hua Hin.

This week, Sensei John is at the harbour mouth of the fishing community at Khao Takiab. It is a recently constructed Ferry Terminal and car park for the passenger ferry that used to run daily to Pattaya before Covid. It provides easy access to Khao Takiab Beach.

On one side of the jetty is the pretty little harbour where many colourful small fishing boats live. On the other side is South Takiab Beach, which you can walk all of the way to Khao Tao, passing the army recreational facility at Suan Son on the way. You may have to wade across the small stream at the end of the Sea Pines Golf Course, but apart from that, it is good walking all of the way.

Sensei John is performing Seishan kata.

[Wado-Karate]

Part 12 in Wado Karate Federation’s series, Katas Around Hua Hin.

This week’s video is a bit special for us. When we thought about making this series, one of the first locations that we thought of was the old piers in Hua Hin. However, because of the very high tides at this time of year, we didn’t think there would be a decent filming opportunity. We were in the area at the lowest point of the tide, and happened to spot the smallest area of beach.

Armed with rubber gloves and a very large bin bag, Sensei John set about clearing enough rubbish from the beach to make it suitable for filming. The black bag was full within 5 minutes, but there was opportunity to fill 12 more bags, such is the way this area is abused with littering.

Ever since we started coming to Hua Hin 20 years ago, people have been talking about the legality of the piers, and there have been many reports of their imminent demolition. However, to date, they have survived the bulldozers. It is our belief that it would be a tragedy if they succumbed to bureaucracy.

The piers are part of the old town’s heritage as a small fishing town. To look at them, you wouldn’t believe they have survived many storms over the years, but survive they have. These days, the fishing industry is a distant memory, and the piers have been converted into restaurants and hotels. In the foreground of the video is one of the many restaurants over the sea, where can enjoy the beautiful sea view whilst hearing the waves crashing under your feet. It can also be very interesting to walk around some of the old streets in this area to appreciate old Hua Hin.

The light blue coloured pier in the background is one of the piers offering accommodation over the water. We’ve never tried it, but imagine it as a novel way to wake up on a tropical holiday, hearing the waves beneath your bed.

So, in this beautiful setting of old Hua Hin, Sensei John is performing Jitte Kata.

[Wado-Karate]

Part 13 in Wado Karate Federation’s series, Katas Around Hua Hin.

This week’s video was shot at a place often referred to as one of Hua Hin’s best kept secrets (not any more). Just South of Khao Tao, it is a small stretch of sheltered beach, situated between 2 mountainous rocks. The beach is very steep, so not necessarily suitable for children (although children are always seen here having a great time).

The small road to the beach accesses the beach at the central point. On one side is a beach club, but there are also plenty of sunbeds available from local vendors, and the usual Thai dishes and refreshing drinks can be served at your bed.

The more adventurous (and fit) will access the beach from Wat Tham Khao Tao Temple at the Southern end of Khao Tao, which is a quirky sea front temple well worth a visit in its own right. From here, you can climb the steep mountain path to a huge Golden Buddha at the top, which offers splendid views, both North along the coast to Hua Hin and also inland including Khao Tao Lake. Then where the path forks, you can climb down to the Northern End of Had Sai Noi Beach, which is where the video was shot. At this end of the beach there are some high rocks from where locals often fish. Also found on these rocks is a statue of a mermaid and a man playing pipes. This can be seen in the background of the video.

Interestingly, there was a very rare shark attack (only a handful of recorded incidents ever in the whole of Thailand) on this beach about 3 years ago. Shark nets were laid off the beach, but people have short memories, and these nets have long gone. Of course, the attack was an isolated incident.

We have never seen this beach busy, and it is a great place to chill. It is a delightful isolated place.

Today’s kata is Niseishi. Because of the steepness of the beach, and the constant high water at this time of year, there was no hard sand, and the kata had to be performed in very powdery sand, and you will see Sensei John ankle deep at times.

[Wado-Karate]

Part 14 in Wado Karate Federation’s series, Katas Around Hua Hin.

This week’s video was shot at the North Khao Takiab Beach. The intention was to film it under the 19 Metre high Standing Buddha, which is quite iconic at this end of the beach, but very high low tides at this time of year combined with strong winds and rough seas meant the low tide beach was submerged.

Khao Takiab is well known for its vast troop of boisterous monkeys, and on a sunny day they can be seen diving off the rocks into the sea to cool off – playing like young children. Be warned though, playful children or not, these guys don’t like to share with anybody, even if it isn’t theirs to start with. They will take any opportunity to steal food and drinks from you, and resistance can result in them getting violent. Basically, keep temptation out of their way, and you will be fine.

From the beach, there is a path and steps that passes the Standing Buddha which you can take to reach the top of the 77 Metre high mountain. There are fantastic views back along the beach to Hua Hin from this route.

We made this video early morning whilst the beach was still in the shadow of the mountain. The shadow of the mountain combined with the rough sea beyond creates some great silhouette shots of the kata.

This week’s kata is Kushanku, which is a combination of all the moves from the Pinan katas, making it the longest Wado kata.

[Wado-Karate]

Part 15 in Wado Karate Federation’s series, Katas Around Hua Hin.

So here we are at the penultimate video. There is just one more after this one, and we believe we’ve kept the best until last. However, we have an exciting announcement – Sensei John’s friends at local film company, Pablo Productions have taken all of the raw footage from the series, including sweeping the cutting room floor to find previously unseen footage, added a pot of magic dust, and there will be a VERY SPECIAL COMPILATION VIDEO released on 25th January. It is truly Hua Hin as you will never have seen it before. Some of the Pablo Productions effects are stunning.

This week’s video was shot in front of the iconic Hilton Hotel. I say iconic because it seems to have dominated the shoreline here forever – certainly for the 20+ years we have holidayed and lived in Hua Hin. Despite being several miles long, many visitors see this stretch as Hua Hin Beach. This is the area that gives Hua Hin its name. Hua means Head and Hin means Rock or Stone. At this point along the shore there is a rocky headland. You will see the kata was filmed from some rocks and there is quite a large crop of rocks at the end of the beach. The rocky outcrop stretches quite a way out into the Gulf of Thailand, with a small lighthouse marking safety. There is a small pathway that leads you off the beach, past the Chinese Temples to the Old Piers.

To the left of where this video was shot is a huge umbrella city. Before Covid Restrictions into Thailand, this stretch of beach was very popular with bathers. A combination of too many umbrellas (totally disproportionate to the handful of bathers) and a very high low tide (a common theme during the making of these videos), we actually had to wade to the rocks to find a bit of sand where we could film. Believe me when I say we were lucky to find a large enough patch of beach.

This week’s kata is Jion.

[Wado-Karate]

Part 16 in Wado Karate Federation’s series, Katas Around Hua Hin.

So we’ve reached the end of this short journey of performing katas around Hua Hin. It has been an interesting journey with some very mixed reactions from the public. Some were very abusive, whilst other were on their own journey, desperate to get in the video. We even omitted some videos rather than offend. We’ve waded through the sea, been savaged by mosquitoes, climbed sand dunes, danced with red ants and endured very strong winds, but it has been a great experience, and we’ve thoroughly enjoyed it.

However, as announced last week, Sensei John’s friends at local film company, Pablo Productions have taken all of the raw footage from the series, including sweeping the cutting room floor to find previously unseen footage, added a pot of magic dust, and there will be a VERY SPECIAL COMPILATION VIDEO released next week. It is truly Hua Hin as you will never have seen it before. Some of the Pablo Productions effects are stunning.

We think we’ve saved our best video until last. It was filmed in the Mangrove Forest, which is part of the Pran Buri Forest Park, a protected area in Thailand. It is at the mouth of the Pran Buri River to the Gulf of Thailand in Pran Buri District (yes, this is where we were savaged by mosquitoes). Sensei John had to perform on the raised walkway above the mangrove floor, so his choice of kata was very important due to the limited space available. Naihanchi was ideal for the narrow walkway.

Karate aside, this is always a very serene place to visit, and very popular with the visitors who can find it.

[Wado-Karate]

It is time to introduce the culmination of our Kata Around Hua Hin series, which mixes a variety of locations and katas with a strong helping of Pablo Productions expertise/magic to produce an excellent representation of Hua Hin and Wado Kata.

You will all have seen the 16 part series, Kata Around Hua Hin. In this series, we have simply filmed Sensei John performing different Kata at different local beauty spots. The guys at Pablo Productions offered to take our raw footage, and use it to bring Hua Hin’s beauty to life. They took footage from:

• Wat Huey Mongkhol
• Rajabhakti Park
• North Takiab Beach
• Pranburi River
• The Monument on Lake Khao Tao
• The Mangrove Forest in Pranburi Forest Park
• Queen Sirikit Park
• The Viewpoint at Hin Lek Fai
• Hua Hin Railway Station
• Hua Hin Fishing Pier
• Hua Hin Fishing Lodge
• The Old Piers, Hua Hin
• Lake Khao Tao
Some of the above locations did not appear in the original series, so some of the footage will be brand new to you. We are very impressed with what the Pablo guys have done.

Please enjoy Hua Hin as you will never have seen it before, and feel free to leave your feedback for the Pablo Productions team.

[PeteC]

Quite good to my eye. I liked that effect where he was doubled in the same frame.

[Wado-Karate]

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