Hua Hin, Prachuap Khiri Khan Province, Thailand

8th July – 10th July 2018

After being collected at 11.30 from our room in Koh Samui, the journey didn’t go to plan from there and got progressively worse. We were taken straight to the port, where we arrived just after 12, to be told that the ferry wasn’t until 1.30. This was strange, as we were only on the transfer with one other couple who were on the same ferry as us, so I don’t know why they needed to collect us so early.

The wait wasn’t too bad though, and when 1.30 came we walked down the pier to board. The woman in the ticket office at the pier mentioned that our transfer would be waiting on the other side, at 2, so we thought it was going to be a quick journey, but this wasn’t the case, as it was after 3 when we pulled into Surat Thani port.

Once we were off the ferry, we were ushered into two coaches, depending on where we were going. As it was after 3, and we were told that we would be in Hua Hin by 8pm, we thought this was cutting it fine, as it was still showing as six hours away.

After about an hour and a half on the bus, we pulled into a bus station, where people going to Bangkok (which included us, as we were a couple hours south of Bangkok) had to get off. We had to show our ticket to the woman who gave us some stickers for our next bus, which wasn’t arriving until 7.30pm! Even though we explained that we told her we should be in Hua Hin by 8 (according to the lady who sold us the tickets) and that we had a lift sorted for 8, she wasn’t interested and there was nothing we could do but wait out the next three hours.

In fairness, time passed fairly quickly, although it was boring and the bus to take us up north arrived just after 7.30. We boarded the bus and were finally on our way. We were told that we wouldn’t be in Hua Hin until 2.30am, so we made ourselves comfortable and tried to sleep.

The journey wasn’t the best and we had chosen a seat under an air con vent that didn’t close, so we got very cold, stopping us from sleeping. There was also an English film playing on the screen right in front of us, which would have been great if it wasn’t turned right down, with Thai subtitles – it’s very hard to watch a movie in silence.

Half 2 came and went and we were still on the bus, not arriving in Hua Hin until after 3. We got off the bus and collected our bags, and began our walk to the hostel. The man who was meant to be picking us up from the hostel at 8 had said that he would come back for us at 2.30, but as it wasn’t far and he said it was a safe neighbourhood, we said that we would walk.

Walking through the streets at 3.30 in the morning was a strange experience. It was really interesting to see what happens when the rest of the town sleeps. There were people bringing in their daily newspapers, deliveries of fresh produce arriving and people cleaning up from the night before. We wandered through, looking for our hostel, getting some strange looks from locals.

When we arrived at the hostel, we knocked on the front door, waking the owner, who then showed us to our room. Although we had booked a private room, he told us that they had overbooked and there was another couple in there too. This was fine with us, but the couple didn’t like it as they huffed and puffed as we tried to get ready for bed.

It didn’t take us long to fall asleep, as soon as our heads hit the pillows, which was unsurprising really.

Later that morning, we woke up just after 9. The owner had told us to sleep in and not worry about breakfast times, but we didn’t want to waste our day, and we didn’t really know what to do. Originally, we were only going to spend one night in Hua Hin. We thought that we would arrive at 8, see the town at night, get up early and see the beaches, before catching an afternoon bus to our next stop.

As the transfers the day before messed up, we decided to stay in Hua Hin for a second night instead, to make sure we could actually see the place, although it was a stop put in so that we could get up north without going through Bangkok, as that is our final stop.

Once we were up and ready, we went downstairs, where the man cooked us some eggs for breakfast and we helped ourselves to some cereal. While we ate, we asked his advice on getting to Kanchanaburi from Hua Hin and he said that there is a cheap train that runs there, but he had heard another guest say that it was sold out.

As the train station wasn’t far from our hostel, and it is one of the oldest train stations in Thailand, we decided to pop down and see anyway, to see what our options were.

When we got there, we could see why it was such an attraction, as it was beautiful. We took some photos and got some advice from the tourist information desk. The man there told us that we could get a train to Ban Pong, and then buy another ticket at that station, to go to Kanchanaburi. We thought that this was great, as it was so cheap and seemed so easy. We went to the ticket desk to buy our tickets but were told we could only buy them on the day, so would have to come back. When we tried to confirm what the man had said, with the lady who was selling tickets, we got a different story, but he seemed so confident and even showed us that we could get a train from Bang Pong to Kanchanaburi at 3.34pm, so we trusted him.

From the train station, we nipped into a 7-eleven to buy some non-cheap sun cream. We thought we might have seen the last of the sun in Koh Samui, but it was still beautiful weather in Hua Hin and it wasn’t worth getting burnt again.

Once we had new sun cream, and some fresh water, we went back to the hostel to get ourselves ready for the day, before heading down to the beach.

It didn’t take us long to get to the beach. One of the attractions down at the front, was the pier. It took us a while to find out how to access it at first, but we got there in the end and got views of the beaches either side.

Hua Hin is known as a beach town. It is the main holiday destination for locals from Bangkok. After the First World War in the 1920s, Hua Hin was the only holiday place in Thailand and was enjoyed by many locals during the weekends. Its rise came when the train station was built, giving access to people in the south too. Shortly after, a resort was built and it developed from there.

From the pier, we walked along the front, trying to find a nice area on the beach. At first, we came to an area filled with sunbeds and umbrellas and it looked a little too touristy and set up for our liking, so we carried on.

Around the corner, the beach was much nicer. It was lovely and clean and the sand looked much better. We noticed a sign for a 100,000 baht (£2275) fine and a year in prison if you smoke on the beach, so they are obviously serious about making it look nice. We found a nice shaded area under a tree and got set up.

As soon as we sat down, I felt the wave of tiredness come over me. I rested my head in between my knees for a minute and before I knew it, I was asleep! I don’t think I fully fell asleep as I could still hear people around and horses galloping up and down, but it was a much needed rest.

Once I was awake again, we decided to go for a dip in the sea. We were still in the Gulf of Thailand (like at Koh Samui) but the water was so much warmer! We paddled for a little bit, but didn’t want to get too hot in the sun, so soon got out to dry off.

Although beaches were the only thing to really do in Hua Hin, I just didn’t fancy spending a whole afternoon sat there, so once we were dry, we got moving. We had seen on the map that there was a fresh market near our hostel, so we made our way there, hoping there would be some fresh fruit.

On the way, we got distracted by an ice cream shop and ended up in there instead. It was the first proper ice cream we had seen in Thailand, so it would have been rude not to! We chose our flavours and sat on the little porch and enjoyed them, watching the town of Hua Hin pass by. We also managed to dodge the rain too, so that was a bonus.

Just after 3, we left the ice cream shop and continued to the fresh market. When we got there, it wasn’t quite what we expected: there was lots of fish and veggies and it smelt quite bad, so we quickly turned around.

As we had run out of things to see, and out of energy, we decided to head back to the hostel to try and organise the final part of our trip, while we had time. We didn’t see the point in wandering around aimlessly, especially as it was so hot.

Back at the hostel, we had a few hours to chill out, freshen up and sort bits out, which was needed after the short sleep the night before.

For dinner, we had decided to head to the night market, which was a few streets over from our hostel. We went at about 5.30, and although it was meant to open at 5, there wasn’t an awful lot open when we got there. We wandered up and down, looking at the souvenir stalls and trying to find somewhere for dinner.

As there wasn’t much on offer in terms of food stalls, we decided to maybe try a restaurant by the market instead, as there were loads of those. We priced up a few places, before deciding on one. I ordered the massaman curry, again (it’s the only thing I’ve ordered recently) and Joe ordered a spicy chicken salad, which was not a salad at all, but just a plate of chicken and onion, in a sauce.

After we paid up, we wandered around the market again, as there were lots more stalls open. I found a cute little Hua Hin patch, before we turned around and made our way back to the hostel.

It wasn’t a particularly late night, but we were both so tired. When we got back, we got ourselves ready for bed and I think I fell asleep before 9, but it was needed!

Although we were leaving the next morning, and were going to attempt the train journey, it didn’t leave until 11.46, so we had the whole morning to ourselves. We woke up around 8, after a fantastically long sleep, and got up shortly after.

Once we were ready, we made our way to the train station to buy our tickets. We thought it would be best to check we could get tickets before just turning up with all of our bags. The tickets to Ban Pong only cost us 30 baht each (68p), but it was a lengthy three-hour journey. We tried again to confirm that we could get another train from Ban Pong to Kanchanaburi and were told no, only buses go there, but we thought we would risk it anyway.

Tickets in hand, we went back to the hostel, where we got some breakfast. Although it felt like more wasted time, we then spent the rest of the morning packing up and chilling out in our room, waiting for the train. I’m not a fan of mornings like that, but there was only one train time and we had already seen all of Hua Hin.

Just after 11, we set off from the hostel, with all of our bags, towards the train station. It wasn’t a long walk, but it was more of a struggle with all of our stuff.

When we got there, we found out that there was a twenty minute delay which was expected, as I had read that no Thai train runs on time, ever. While we waited, Joe nipped over the road to the shop, for some lunch, to keep us going on our long and uncertain journey.

The train arrived twenty minutes late, as expected. When it got there, we boarded and were ready to head to our next destination, excited to be on something different to a bus!

Although we had to stay longer than planned, Hua Hin was a nice little surprise with its pretty beaches. As mentioned earlier, it was a stop we put in, as a stepping stone to get further north, without going via Bangkok and it was definitely worth it, although it was more expensive than most places we have already visited in Thailand. With less than two weeks to go, it’s time to head to our next Thai stop, Kanchanaburi.

To travel is to live, Katie x