Hua Hin traffic chaos as thousands flock to HM's birthday

[buksida]

Governors of provinces in the upper South have been instructed to prepare for heavy traffic on Phetkasem Road ahead of the King's birthday on Dec 5 as many people are expected to travel to Prachuap Khiri Khan to celebrate His Majesty's 86th birthday.

Prime Minister's Office permanent secretary Tongthong Chandransu yesterday held a teleconference with provincial governors nationwide about the King's birthday preparations.

He asked authorities in the provinces along the southbound Phetkasem Road to prepare traffic plans to help travellers heading for Prachuap Khiri Khan's Hua Hin district on Dec 5.

Phetkasem Road will be partially closed to traffic on Dec 1 to ease the travel of royal guards to the Klai Kangwon Palace in Hua Hin district. They will rehearse an oath-taking ceremony, to be held on Dec 5.

Full Story: Bangkok Post

[oakdale160]

Happy birtday your majesty. Its going to be a nightmare, I wish I knew a start and finish date to it all. I wonder if this is why they spent all that money on fixing up the klong road.

[usual suspect]

The extra carrigeway expansion on the Klong road has had no work done on it much for 3 months now!..it is now just a nice cement area for noodle stalls etc..I would presume work will kick-off again next year after the rain has gone..? (But don't count on it).

[oakdale160]

Oh I thought that it was completed. I hear that it will be congested for almost a week.OK if you have a m'bike

[fft100]

The army has warned the public not to panic if they see troops on the move between Dec 1-3 since they will be travelling to an oath-taking ceremony for His Majesty the King's birthday in Hua Hin.

A total of 12 battalions of royal guards from Bangkok, Prachin Buri, Chon Buri, Nakhon Nayok and Lop Buri will travel to the Infantry Centre in Prachuap Khiri Khan province on Dec 1 ahead of the Dec 5 ceremony, 1st Infantry Division commander Maj Gen Vara Boonyasit said.

One cavalry battalion of royal guards will travel from the 2nd Cavalry Division headquarters in Sanam Pao to the same destination on Dec 2.

The royal guards will take part in a rehearsal at the site of the ceremony in front of the Ratchapracha Samakom Pavilion of Klai Kangwon Palace in Hua Hin district of Prachuap Khiri Khan province on Dec 3.

The real ceremony will take place on His Majesty the King's birthday on Dec 5.

The royal guards will return to their bases after the ceremony.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews ... g-birthday

[Big Boy]

Confirmation of the chaos that will hit Hua Hin next week Signs like this one are being errected advising that Petchkasem Road will be closed on 5 Dec'13.

20131130_105031b.jpg (130.19 KiB) Viewed 2365 times

[zeitgeist]

'Petchkasem Road will be closed on 5 Dec'13' any idea from where, to where?

[Nereus]

'Petchkasem Road will be closed on 5 Dec'13' any idea from where, to where?

A total of 12 battalions of royal guards from Bangkok, Prachin Buri, Chon Buri, Nakhon Nayok and Lop Buri will travel to the Infantry Centre in Prachuap Khiri Khan province on Dec 1 ahead of the Dec 5 ceremony, 1st Infantry Division commander Maj Gen Vara Boonyasit said.

Kown Thai Army battalion numbers vary between 500 and 800 soldiers, so if the above is true, a damn big section of it!

[oakdale160]

First week of DEC,, count on PK being a no-go area, if you can't get there on the back roads, which will be horribly congested, then don't go.

[russ]

pk road closed for 1 day the 5th dec not 1 week

[Big Boy]

Petchkasem Road will be closed on 5 Dec'13' any idea from where, to where?

The sign I photographed was by the field come car park in front of Citin Loft.

First week of DEC,, count on PK being a no-go area, if you can't get there on the back roads, which will be horribly congested, then don't go.

Is there any foundation to that statement?

[richard]

One can therefore presume all back roads will be congested too

[STEVE G]

I seem to remember that even last year when HM was in Bangkok, they closed the road on the morning of the 5th December and had a parade outside the Palace. For a long time afterwards you could still see the paint marks on the road where they had lined up the guard. ( I've been in quite a few military parades some years ago and notice these things! )

[oakdale160]

I don't mean that it will be closed all the time but it will not be a road to be relied upon.

[hhfarang]

It was already bad today. I needed to go to a business on Nebkahardt road and I used the back road over Hin Lek Fai to get to west Chomsin intending to cross directly to Nebkahardt at the Phetkasem traffic light. There were cones not allowing cars to cross Phetkasem at Chomsin and forcing everyone to turn left so I had to go some way north on Phetkasem and then U-turn to get back to east Chomsin and to Nebkahardt, all the while stuck in Bangkok style traffic.

I'm not going to venture more than a few blocks from home again in the next week. Thankfully, I am close to a supermarket and several restaurants and 7/11s that are not on or near Phetkasem.

And people intending to use many of the back roads need an SUV or pickup. The road between west Soi 94 and west 102 has a 100 meter long lake that goes up to the bumper of my SUV (and many other back roads are like this since the big storm). There are six ways out of where we live to Phetkasem and my wife's Civic is not safe (or even able to make it) on five of them now due to deep holes, construction, and running or standing water.