Hua Hin… the Royal choice
Many deals have been hatched during a golf game but few had the impact of the one that began on the Royal Hua Hin Golf Course on a sunny day in 1932. King Prajadipok of Siam (the country had not yet been renamed Thailand) was on the green when told that an alliance of Bangkok bureaucrats and soldiers was demanding that he replace the country’s 700-year old absolute monarchy with a constitutional one. The king, known also as Rama VII, turned to his golfing partners and said, “I told you so.” Thus began Thailand’s ongoing, rocky road towards democracy.
One hundred and ninety kilometres south of Bangkok on the western shore (the sunrise side) of the Gulf of Thailand, Hua Hin (pronounced “Hwa Hin”) is a dignified escape. Because of its long association with the Thai royal family, Hua Hin has been spared the excesses of other Thai resort towns.
For centuries Hua Hin had been a quiet fishing port. In 1910 Prince Chakrabongse, brother of King Rama VI, “discovered” this serene coast while on a tiger hunt. In the 1920s Hua Hin came into vogue with Thai society when a railway was pushed through from Bangkok and a little Royal Waiting Room was built on Hua Hin station. It’s still there…a uniquely Thai structure that looks like a cross between a temple and a ticket office.
Opposite the station is the Royal Hua Hin Golf Club, the first in Thailand. You can still step from the Bangkok train, cross the tracks and tee-off. It’s an 18-hole championship course although, sadly, caddies no longer have to chase tigers off the fairways. Hua Hin and neighbouring Cha-am (25 kilometres north) have some eleven courses.
Rama VII, Thailand’s last absolute monarch, built his Royal Summer Palace here, calling it Klai Kangwon, “Far From Worries”…and perhaps the place still is, because the current royals spend time here. You can tell when they’re in residence by the protective Thai Navy vessels parked just offshore. Another Hua Hin royal retreat is the vast Maruekatayawan Palace, built in 1923. This restored treasure stands on the beachfront and is open to visitors. It is billed, uniquely, as “The Longest Golden Teak Palace in the World” and is definitely worth seeing.
The sea here is calm (as are the streets). Hua Hin has wide, clean beaches, the least crowded being Khao Takiap, just north of town. Predictably, there are plenty of Buddhist temples, as well as two terrific night markets…one traditional and the other more touristic. Don’t miss dining on fresh seafood and cold beer at either of them.
The blue ranges that separate Thailand and Myanmar, just to the west, frame the inland scenery. Twenty-three kilometres south of Hua Hin is Khao Sam Roi Yot (“Mountain of Three Hundred Peaks”) National Park, with its forests, waterfalls and beaches. The park is a sanctuary for deer, monkeys and many bird species, but its most popular visitor spot is the grand Phraya Nakhon Cave. Meanwhile, to the north is Petchaburi, another old royal retreat, where you can ride a classic funicular railway up to Phra Nakhon Khiri, King Rama IV’s elaborate summer palace.
Hua Hin has a royal flush of upmarket hotels from brands like Anantara, Six Senses, Chiva-Som, Dusit, Marriott and Hilton, plus beachfront boutiques like Asara Villas and the Verandah. The doyen property is still the Sofitel Centara Grand, formerly the 1920’s Railway Hotel…a sprawling seafront pavilion of louvres, punkah fans and armies of gardeners. The old wing was one of the major sets (as the French embassy) in the movie The Killing Fields. The real scene-stealer is the grand topiary in the hotel’s grounds — a wondrous, motionless stampede of green elephants and giraffes.
Hua Hin is consistently nominated as one of the world’s best places to retire, as is evidenced by the number of Western residents that you’ll notice. Don’t be surprised if you’re tempted to join them…they were tourists here once, too.