Hua Hin, the next Pattaya?

[HHADFan]

JAFO,

I think one of the reasons discussion has focused on the bargirl scene is that, to many of us, it typifies Pattaya and the difference between the two cities - HH's bar scene is right downtown, but it's mild enough that tourists bring their kids early in the evening. I've spent more than five years in Thailand, in Phuket and Hua Hin and traveling all over, and I've never been to Pattaya. It always sounded like hell on earth to me.

I like having a Villa Market in town and a few more restaurants, but like everything, they come with a price.

Drive up the northern half of Naebkehardt the next time you're here on a weekend. It will be packed with Thai weekenders. Recently my GF read an article on a Thai website about how HH will be going very hi-so over the next few years. _Maybe_ that will lead to a bit better infrastructure and a cleaner city; we'll just have to see.

I agree with most of your other criticisms. The thing is, it's inevitable. That little fishing village you liked? Lots of other people liked it too. I lived in a tourist town in the US in the mid 70s to mid 80s and saw the same overdevelopment there.

[dozer]

Hua Hin has never been a quaint little fishing village. It is Thailand’s oldest beach and golf resort, the Royal Golf Course was built in 1924.
It has always been and always will be a favourite weekend getaway for the more well to do Thai’s
The “Hua Hin” locals that I know have all benefitted to some degree and I can’t say I hear much criticism from them regarding the rapid expansion.
When I first came here there was no by-pass so all the South/North bound traffic went through the town and add to that there was no railway fly-over at the Southern end, so the traffic and the diesel fumes was pretty bad at times.

[STEVE G]

Another reason why I will stick with Hua Hin is that I think there is a certain futility in moving to a place and increasing it's population, complaining that it's getting bigger and more developed and then moving somewhere else and repeating the experience.
The moment you move to a 'quaint Thai fishing village', you have surely despoiled it yourself already. ( They also smell like Grimsby! )

[richard]

The moment you move to a 'quaint Thai fishing village', you have surely despoiled it yourself already. ( They also smell like Grimsby! )

Coming from Hull I know the Grimsby stink Took many years for Hull ro realise that get rid of the smell of the fleet coming in was to move all the fish processing across the Humber to Grimsby

SG. you are right insomuch as soon as you move to your idyllic little village down the road you have set a trend.

[HHADFan]

Hua Hin has never been a quaint little fishing village. ...

When I first came here there was no by-pass so all the South/North bound traffic went through the town and add to that there was no railway fly-over at the Southern end, so the traffic and the diesel fumes was pretty bad at times.

We really need a sarcasm smiley or I need to write better. I moved to Santa Fe, NM in 1975. To me it was a lovely, quaint artist community and minor ski resort and very old Spanish town in the USA. I'm sure that to those who moved there in 1955 or 1965 it seemed like an overdeveloped hellhole. By the time I left in 1985, it seemed like... an overdeveloped hellhole.

Steve G is right as usual. It's human nature I guess. We find some place that's nice, move there, and expect it to stay unchanged. John D. McDonald made a career out of bitching about development in Florida...

[yselmike]

live long and prosper.

http://www.npg.org/facts/world_pop_year.htm

[Super Joe]

Its quite interesting. My OP was not directed at the bar girl scene specifically in fact I only made a passing comment about what my GF noticed and yet the last 2+ pages and probably over 60% of the overall posts were comparing the Pattaya BG scene to Hua Hin's.

Whether intentionally or not, your opening posts were directed at the bar scene and all that comes with it... the drugs, crime, violence, squalor etc. In 5 years time it's more a case of will the numbers of foreign visitors to Hua Hin 'may' return to what they were 5 years ago. I think they're about 20% down currently, with Thai visitors up

As my GF noticed the sex trade is becoming quite open and obvious now and I see more and more drunk staggering foreigners in public. Like I said it has all the ear markings of a "small" Pattaya and with that will come all the crime, violence, suicides, rapes and girl activity that seems to be the main focus of the comparison. Give it another 5 years and this will be another dirty seedy city just like Pattaya IMHO. It has all the ear markings to be that way

There's far far less drunks staggering around now than in 2006-07, and those that do are staggering off home a lot earlier because of the closing time enforcements. There's far less farang/drink instigated trouble in the late night bars, less property disputes, less drunk farang-Thai altercations over taxi fares etc. There's less seedy bars/establishments... gone are the blacked-out s/t bars, not one now. Gone is the town centres only 'soapy' massage place, not one now. Gone is the town's only katoey show, and there's still not a single go-go bar.

Why do I mention all this??... because this is what your crime/violence/suicides/rapes etc requires to flourish. The majority of crime in Pattaya is drug-related, the ladyboys along the beach aren't mugging people in order to buy a new pair of slingbacks. Hua Hin doesn't attract the groups of youngsters, the club-scene, drugs, dealers, users needing money, dodgy old bill, mafia/gangs and their turf wars, Russian mafia, relationships being torn apart, domestic violence, debt, depression, suicides, blah-de-blah.

5 years ago imo Hua Hin did flirt with heading off that way but from what I see it's gone back to sleep now. The 'seedier' places I mention above have been replaced by more upmarket places like Blackout 'cocktail' bar, Funky Bar on Hilton Road, the wine bar opp. City Beach, 'Shooters' lounge bar, Retro Bar, McCarthy's wine bar, The Clansmen pub in Soi 80. Not a bar girl to be seen. Plus many other bars in town that had family-friendly facelifts... El Murphy's, JW's, Lucky Shot, Buff Bills, O'Neills, Fortune Bar, Jimmy's music bar, the new J.Gene bar, the whole of Poolsuk Plaza... you now get OAP's ballroom dancing or summit up there

I honestly can't see where a Pattaya-type crime epidemic will spring from

My post was intended to be viewed in a much larger scope. It's about the congestion, the relentless building of houses and condo's, the dirty environment, the polluted beaches, the overpriced food and housing, the poor roads, the addition of malls and super stores. The more "western" it becomes the worse it is.

Yes, Hua Hin has developed massively, has far superior shopping, amenities, services than 7 years ago, and with that has come increased traffic, housing, dirt, rising prices etc... but are you not opting for something very similar here? You're moving back primarly because you are bored here and want activities and things to do. One man's shopping mall is another's race track and all that...
'I am moving back to the heart of California. My reasons for going back are pretty straight forward in the fact that personal and intellectual interaction are important to me along with endless activities. I am not a sedentary guy that can sit for hours and hours everyday in front of a computer or TV. I cant wait to hear the roar of the crowd in a football stadium, Sit at a race track and watch NASCAR, NHRA or AMA, enjoy some gambling and night life, easily find anything I need when I need it, walking into an auto parts store and getting the exact part I need.'


SJ

[JAFO]

Its quite interesting. My OP was not directed at the bar girl scene specifically in fact I only made a passing comment about what my GF noticed and yet the last 2+ pages and probably over 60% of the overall posts were comparing the Pattaya BG scene to Hua Hin's.

Whether intentionally or not, your opening posts were directed at the bar scene and all that comes with it... the drugs, crime, violence, squalor etc. In 5 years time it's more a case of will the numbers of foreign visitors to Hua Hin 'may' return to what they were 5 years ago. I think they're about 20% down currently, with Thai visitors up

As my GF noticed the sex trade is becoming quite open and obvious now and I see more and more drunk staggering foreigners in public. Like I said it has all the ear markings of a "small" Pattaya and with that will come all the crime, violence, suicides, rapes and girl activity that seems to be the main focus of the comparison. Give it another 5 years and this will be another dirty seedy city just like Pattaya IMHO. It has all the ear markings to be that way

There's far far less drunks staggering around now than in 2006-07, and those that do are staggering off home a lot earlier because of the closing time enforcements. There's far less farang/drink instigated trouble in the late night bars, less property disputes, less drunk farang-Thai altercations over taxi fares etc. There's less seedy bars/establishments... gone are the blacked-out s/t bars, not one now. Gone is the town centres only 'soapy' massage place, not one now. Gone is the town's only katoey show, and there's still not a single go-go bar.

Why do I mention all this??... because this is what your crime/violence/suicides/rapes etc requires to flourish. The majority of crime in Pattaya is drug-related, the ladyboys along the beach aren't mugging people in order to buy a new pair of slingbacks. Hua Hin doesn't attract the groups of youngsters, the club-scene, drugs, dealers, users needing money, dodgy old bill, mafia/gangs and their turf wars, Russian mafia, relationships being torn apart, domestic violence, debt, depression, suicides, blah-de-blah.

5 years ago imo Hua Hin did flirt with heading off that way but from what I see it's gone back to sleep now. The 'seedier' places I mention above have been replaced by more upmarket places like Blackout 'cocktail' bar, Funky Bar on Hilton Road, the wine bar opp. City Beach, 'Shooters' lounge bar, Retro Bar, McCarthy's wine bar, The Clansmen pub in Soi 80. Not a bar girl to be seen. Plus many other bars in town that had family-friendly facelifts... El Murphy's, JW's, Lucky Shot, Buff Bills, O'Neills, Fortune Bar, Jimmy's music bar, the new J.Gene bar, the whole of Poolsuk Plaza... you now get OAP's ballroom dancing or summit up there

I honestly can't see where a Pattaya-type crime epidemic will spring from

My post was intended to be viewed in a much larger scope. It's about the congestion, the relentless building of houses and condo's, the dirty environment, the polluted beaches, the overpriced food and housing, the poor roads, the addition of malls and super stores. The more "western" it becomes the worse it is.

Yes, Hua Hin has developed massively, has far superior shopping, amenities, services than 7 years ago, and with that has come increased traffic, housing, dirt, rising prices etc... but are you not opting for something very similar here? You're moving back primarly because you are bored here and want activities and things to do. One man's shopping mall is another's race track and all that...
'I am moving back to the heart of California. My reasons for going back are pretty straight forward in the fact that personal and intellectual interaction are important to me along with endless activities. I am not a sedentary guy that can sit for hours and hours everyday in front of a computer or TV. I cant wait to hear the roar of the crowd in a football stadium, Sit at a race track and watch NASCAR, NHRA or AMA, enjoy some gambling and night life, easily find anything I need when I need it, walking into an auto parts store and getting the exact part I need.'


SJ

Point take and noted.

I guess I will split my time in the US and here as it seems like the best way I can get my fix of the things I need and then return back to relax for awhile until I need the Cntrl-Alt Delete reboot process but it will be much further down south and Hua Hin will only be what I read about in the news.

[richard]

Well I guess if you are a developer or estate agent you are going to play down the downside issues

[medsai]

unfortenatly i think it can never be. just c this with songkran, bussiness to important so can only play 1 day. can thaT

[medsai]

be next pattaya? no never! tourists wants more when that!normal songkran is 3 days! hua hin can not think they can buy away the thai traditions! will never be a tourist metropole like pattaya!

[Pleng]

wow somebody really likes their songkran!

[medsai]

yes songkran is great! i dont understand how hua hin can set rules can only play 1 day bcz of business! they think they get tourists that way maybe!!! 555555!!!

[Bamboo Grove]

i dont understand how hua hin can set rules can only play 1 day bcz of business! they think they get tourists that way maybe!!! 555555!!

medsai, Hua Hin will get those tourists, who think Songkran is great for one day. Thailand is a big country and Songkran is celebrated for several days in so many other places. Something for everyone, eh?

[johnnyk]

HH and Pty were both fishing villages once upon a time. The Royal family took a liking to HH when the railway was put through.
They came, they saw, they liked.
They built a getaway residence and a golf course came about the same time.
Because of the Royal presence Hi-so Thais were drawn to HH.

Pty was a few huts and boats until the late 60s then moved from fishing to sex for sale when the market appeared in the form of military leave.
The present-day city was built on bargirls and sex is still the city's raison d'etre even as it evolves toward the family market.
Sex for sale was never HH's mainstay and never will be.
It's well to remember that every place in Thailand bigger than a mooban has a bar area with sex for sale. Beyond the main falang tourist areas Thai men are the mainstay of the industry which is geared to them 90% and largely invisible to falangs.