Blue Lagoon Hua Hin

[loua_oz]

Blue Lagoon Hua Hin, next to the Sheraton, even part of it.

However, looks like The Sheraton has done all they coud to distance themselves.



No Sheraton in the name



When the villas went on sale off the plan in 2002. Sheraton was everywhere in the brochures, even the selling point. Looks like, after it was complete, Sheraton managed it for first 3 years (normal timeframe) and since 2007. it is a standalone separate company.

Sheraton does not rent the villas. They would accept email and then forward it somewhere for some individual owner who is interested to contact you.
Search revealed the villas are rented out everywhere and anywhere, down to AirBnB level.

"Contact owners, Nat & John" may point at uneven service, quality and everything that comes with independent individuals. Someone posted on some site they were presented with 5,000THB bill for electricity after 2 weeks stay, that was not mentioned when they booked.

Went there 10am, floated in the laguna alone (it is double the size of the Sheraton one, 1.2km, but one part appeared to be dammed) for 90 minutes and saw not a soul. Only gardeners and pool cleaners.



Identical as Sheraton laguna.



No path around the water, access is directly from the houses and few for cleaners.



Liquid "main street". Not a sausage there.



Furnishing of the villas appear to vary from house to house.





Weed in front of some of the houses kind of indicates the quests are rare (this same house and the weed are on their web site as well)



Maybe 90% have no plants



Upturned plastic water bottles for watering



This villa was 22 (twenty two) million baht



The water is perfectly clean, same as Sheraton. The design and fitting are the same too.



Villas and condos were between 7.5 and 22 million THB. Still, 30 remain unsold since 2004.

I guess maintenance fee (137 units) could go 10-15K THB a month for cleaning and maintaining the tropical garden and pool.

Without own transportation, it would be difficult to live there or even be a guest without going to the Sheraton.

No WiFi. Unless they bring a router when someone comes to stay, for a foreigner guest who uses the Internet, quite an issue.

The Sheraton next door has top quality rooms and furniture, restaurants, free WiFi and...cascading wedding madness 4 days a week.

[Gregjam]

So is this an advert, an anti advert or possibly a continuation of your wrath against the Sheraton? Possibly not needed if as you say a reasonable number of the units are unsold after 13 years. Way out of my spending bracket and if I had that money I would be looking for something different anyway. Why pay so much to live so close to others.

[loua_oz]

Why ere you calling it "wrath against Sheraton"?

Documented, with pictures, others confirming, what wrath is that?

This one I wanted to inspect and i did, what is in the post is what I saw. What did you have to tell and contribute about the place in your post?

[Taikka]

Well, almost everything written above by OP is right. Nowadays South side and North side are two separate juridical persons. Different rules, staff, guards. For now BL has not much residents, but from mid November till mid March it is usually crowded, if not overcrowded.
Some Russian families come here for winter every year, we among them. All renting from different owners and agencies. This is a place for families with kids. And yes, you need a car.

[loua_oz]

That was what I was wondering. How could they survive with hardly anyone there. Now, you are telling us it is full during winter months, fair enough.
I only come to Thai in July and August, winter months we ski in Japan.

And yes, what is the water temperature in January? In August it was 31-32C. The swimming pool in my Bangkok home is useless from end of October until mid-March, the water is cold. Kids get blue lips after 10 minutes. Same in the waterparks (Pattaya tower).

[deptrai]

So can a guest staying at the Sheraton just walk over and use the pool at Blue Lagoon?

[loua_oz]

That is what I did. Nobody asked me anything (there was nobody anyway).

You would not need to use it - the lagoon at the Sheraton is the same. When you are floating in circles through tropical vegetation, it does not make any difference whether the circle is 600m or 1,200m long (Blue Lagoon physically partitioned in half, at that).






While Blue Lagoon has "Sheraton pass" (it says "available", indicating it is for a fee), there is no other way round, not even mentioned.

If you need to use it while at the Sheraton, then you have a bigger problem that questions the very decision to stay there.

[loua_oz]

Look at this unusual palm tree:





That is ravenala, "traveller palm", native to Madagascar.

It is a natural compass: front facing south, left east, right west. Handy when you are navigating through the jungle size of France.
Small wonder then it is on Madagascar Coat of Arms and on the tail fin of their airline (picture from the net)

[Taikka]

They put the separating fences under the bridges couple of years ago. Before it it was much easier and joyfull to make a round on the inflatable boat playing pirates with kids
Water seems cooler in December - February than it is now, but blossom gets reacher. Now it is almost all green around, not much flowers.
We live on the south side. For the six years that we stay here the staff changed every year, except the oldman-gardener. He is the same.
Wifi is separate by every unit (or one to several - if it is the one owner), switched on by needs.
At the checkout you pay elecrtriciry and water as consumed. We get about 2500-3000 thb a month.

[deptrai]

Yaikka- If you're living there, you must know if there is a place within walking distance to rent a motorbike?

[Taikka]

Not sure there is one in the walking distance - not a high traffic tourist place to have one. There is honda selling point close to 7-11, you can ask there, they should know. I never used bike here.

[Ralfredo]

And yes, what is the water temperature in January? In August it was 31-32C.

I guess it depends on the pool and which year but my experience is that in the end of January and in February it's usually well above 25 and sometimes even over 30. If I have to pin point an exact number I say 28.

[loua_oz]

That is good to hear, thanks. Anything 26C and above is fine. The pool is well laid out, exposed to the sun, no high rises to obscure.
But depending on the year, when fatalities happen in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai due to cold spell (+5C only) may reflect too. In BKK you could see office girls shivering at street crossings, 22C.
One year, January 2007. I think it was, the water temperature at Jomtien Pattaya was 17C, same as Oslo bay in Norway in their summer.

[Big Boy]

In BKK you could see office girls shivering at street crossings, 22C.

Now that I've acclimatised, I shiver at 22C also.

[loua_oz]

You know then.
Between years 2000 - 2008, I was going to Thai every 2 months for at least a week. I remember some days in December and January when short sleeves were not enough to keep you comfortable.

Those are the days that I remember my kid had blue lips after 10-15 mins in a waterpark.