Hua Hin, the next Pattaya?

[hhfarang]

Could one of the reasons that Songkran is only one day in Hua Hin be the continuous water shortages because of this being the driest region of Thailand? Could the intent be not to waste so much water as they do in the wetter places?

Nah! I must have gone crazy for a minute and thought there was logic in a decision made here...

[STEVE G]

I always thought that Songkran was a one day holiday, it was just that some other areas extended it to attract tourists or whatever, a bit like the Scottish when they have two days off for New Year.

[dtaai-maai]

... a bit like the Scottish when they have two days off for New Year.

That's not to attract tourists, it's to recover...

[Dr Michael]

Talking to a guy who lives in Pattaya and is here for 2 weeks as he is considering moving here.
He visited Phuket last two weeks and found that the crime situation, both organised and disorganised, was almost as bad as Pattaya.

[bill]

what the thai big shots want is 1 town in thailand that is family oriented. hence hua hin. this is a good idea and as you all see it is moving in that direction. a disney theme park would be the next step. then international airport.

[aragon]

what the thai big shots want is 1 town in thailand that is family oriented. hence hua hin. this is a good idea and as you all see it is moving in that direction. a disney theme park would be the next step. then international airport.

Please don't even joke about a Disney theme park, or any other variety for that matter, as that would just destroy the place once and for all
Now an international airport that would cut out the drive to BKK is something that would be very welcome

[Dannie Boy]

what the thai big shots want is 1 town in thailand that is family oriented. hence hua hin. this is a good idea and as you all see it is moving in that direction. a disney theme park would be the next step. then international airport.

Please don't even joke about a Disney theme park, or any other variety for that matter, as that would just destroy the place once and for all
Now an international airport that would cut out the drive to BKK is something that would be very welcome

But the reality is that you probably can't have one without the other, so more likely to be both or neither!!

[aragon]

what the thai big shots want is 1 town in thailand that is family oriented. hence hua hin. this is a good idea and as you all see it is moving in that direction. a disney theme park would be the next step. then international airport.

Please don't even joke about a Disney theme park, or any other variety for that matter, as that would just destroy the place once and for all
Now an international airport that would cut out the drive to BKK is something that would be very welcome

But the reality is that you probably can't have one without the other, so more likely to be both or neither!!

I can only assume that your reasoning is passenger numbers and without the park there wouldn't be enough? You could be right just now, but not sure that will hold true going forward, after all there have been many comments on the forum and in this thread, regarding the upsurge in foreign tourists coming to HH, so maybe it's only a short matter of time before it hits that critical mass. Failing that, an improvement in the availability of domestic services between HH & BKK would be nice; but if it means having a theme park to get either, I'd rather have neither.

[STEVE G]

I think as far as an international airport goes, Hua Hin is too near to Bangkok to make it commercially viable at the moment as it's hard to open one about two hours drive from another and attract enough passengers. That might change if Bangkok becomes massively overloaded in the future and a Hua Hin airport was serving areas to the South of the city as well. ( If Ryanair ever go longhaul, they could call it Bangkok-Hua Hin! )

[hhfarang]

Several small airlines have tried the Bangkok - Hua Hin - Bangkok route in the years I've been here and all have dropped it due to lack of bookings. We met some friends there a couple of years ago when one airline was trying it and there were three people on the aircraft.

It's just too easy a drive to fly that short distance and be profitable. In fact, if you lived or were staying in Bangkok, you could no doubt drive here faster than you could drive to the airport, arrive one hour before the flight (per the rules), check in, sit around the airport and fly to Hua Hin. If driving wasn't faster, it would be a very close race.

Now what may work would be direct flights between Hua Hin and Pattaya or Samui or Phuket or Chaing Mai. In fact that would probably cause more tourists to include a few days in Hua Hin in their itinerary of those other places during their visit.

[Pleng]

I agree. I've often thought that there'd be money to made running flights from Hua-Hin --> Samui/Chang Mai. Doesn't have to be daily, a couple of flights a week in each direction should be enough to start with.

In fact there's no reason those flights couldn't go VIA bkk anyway.

But yea, I'm willing to bet if flights do ever start again, it'll be another doomed-to-failure HH-BKK only affair.

[STEVE G]

I've always thought that a flight from Hua Hin to another SE Asian hub like Singapore would be better than one to Bangkok.

[richard]

Many moons ago I did take a flight from HH to Samui or Phuket but it discontinued.

Rumours then were saying 1) too close to the palace and 2) not profitable

[Frog]

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.

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. Its looking run down. I do not care about the Bar Girl BS, its moot unless you frequent it. My comparison to Pattaya was the direction Hua Hin is heading. 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. We are already reading about the violence and robberies and soon the Tuk Tuk wars will start. I have already witnessed a few altercations near the TMB bank and the Cicada market over the last year. I suspect this will escalate.

As I said this used to be a cool little town. It was NOT a Pattaya or a Phuket which was refreshing. Awesome little seafood restaurants, Everything was still primarily Thai life. It was kind of hidden but yet was close enough to BKK for those needed runs into the city. Its just to bad is all.

I agree with much of what is said but may I ask you what have you done about the dirty beaches and environment of Hua Hin? If you compare here with Pattaya, it is much cleaner on the beaches. Who do you think does most of the polluting here? Do you have a solution or are you only a part time fortune teller?

[Frog]

Long Live the Great King of Thailand. I hope that all westerners here feel a sense of security and safety here. King Bhumidol has a lovely family that will always help with Royal Projects that will certainly help everyone here feel safety and having a cleaner environment. Just remember King Bhumibol has used part of his great wealth to fund many royal development projects, particularly in rural areas of the country; many other projects came about at his suggestion and were funded by the Thai government. In 2006, Bhumibol was presented with United Nations’ first Human Development Lifetime Achievement Award. He has been the only recipient of the award to date. I'm sure his Majesty and the rest of the Royal Family are trying to give Hua Hin a true sense of Justice and Security for all life. So everyone should not worry so much about the future and just try to enjoy your life today as it is..