We visited Hua Hin on our way down to Ko Tao. It’s about a 3 hour ride from Bangkok. Our guidebooks made it out as a summer getaway for the Royal Family and Bangkok’s elite, but we found it to be an old fishing village converted heavily (and only in the past 5 years) into targeting European grey hairs. According to a local we met the fisherman are none too pleased but the town continues to expand.
Of course, there were a few well-targeted Western restaurants with some good fresh veg and also a gaggle of ladyboys (Thailand’s cross-dressing men) spilling out of the bars not a stone’s throw from where all these grey hairs were enjoying their pasta. So it made for some good people-watching.
But the beach was a wreck of restaurants and high-end hotel chains. The flood waters have also brought so much trash and fresh water that we found a bunch of dead fish and squid on the beach. Two weeks ago it was much worse, with locals picking up the washed up seafood to take home (which can only remind one of the 2004 tsunami).
So while we can’t say so definitively from our 24 hours there, Hua Hin’s secret may be long gone.
