Thailand’s royal retreat
Their king has reigned even longer than our Queen and his ‘Balmoral’ is all palm-fringed beaches and bubbling hot tubs, says ROB CROSSAN
The whitewashed walls of the king’s palace are reminiscent of a colossal Spanish hacienda. They are barely visible through the thick canopy of trees — and the palace itself is closed to the public. This tantalising glimpse is probably as close as I’ll get to an audience with a king whose reign is of such extraordinary duration as to even outdo our own Queen elizabeth II.
King Bhumibol of Thailand has been on the throne since June 1946, and here in hua hin, on the northern coast of the Malay Peninsula (around three hours’ drive south from Bangkok), is where he lives.
Now 87 years old, he became king at a time when Stalin still ruled Russia, the Nuremberg Trials were taking place and cinema audiences in the U.S. were flocking to see the newly released It’s A Wonderful Life.
he is loved by his people with a reverence that seems ubiquitous; indeed, many believe that it is his continued presence on the throne that is single-handedly holding the country together.
hua hin itself — a small, low-rise town with sprawling food markets, dozens of hotels and with a markedly more local feel than Phuket, attracts Bangkok dwellers in droves for weekend stays.
As voluminous pillows of cloud skate across the cerulean sky, market traders selling coconut milk, herbal remedies and skewers of barbecued pork gaze out to the sea, whose choppy, frothing waters slurp against the vanilla-coloured sands.
This is a town that few foreign visitors bother with, preferring to push on, straight to Phuket.
But they’re missing out. Fishing boats still bob lazily in the harbour and the night market comes alive after 8pm, with local couples feasting on freshly-made ice- cream and bartering over everything from spray-painted T- shirts to hand- stitched handbags and retro lamps.
The Amari hotel exudes tranquillity from the moment you step into the rich, bluewalled lobby, complete with a lounge full of leather chess sets and rattan chairs. The hotel’s seafront restaurant serves mountainous plates of fresh lobster, clams and crab, and there’s an outstanding spa where I had seashells placed against my ears so I could hear the sound of the ocean during my massage.
The hotel can also arrange trips
to the Hua Hin Hills Vineyard, just 18 miles away, where some surprisingly fine local wines are being produced — its Chenin Blanc and Colombard Monsoon Valley varietal recently won a gold standard award from Decanter magazine.
And there is another royal element. Maruekatayawan is a palace built by King Rama VI in the Twenties, which directly overlooks the beach.
Now vacated and open to visitors, its long, teak-floored galleries are a cross between a seaside pier and an M. C. Escher picture, stretching seemingly endlessly across the beach front. Surrounded by coconut groves and mangroves, it was here that the unfortunate king, who named his home ‘ Far From worries’, was staying when a coup against his absolute monarchy was launched in 1932.
After registering my commiserations, I headed to Khao Takiab, a wooded outcrop jutting out into the sea like a clenched fist just on the edge of Hua Hin. Home to hundreds of macaques, es, the indolent beaststs sprawl, sleep, bickerr and play at the foot of a flight of steps so steep p as to look like theyy come straight from an Inca fortress.
A sweaty climb to the he top brought me to a Buddhist temple where,e, brandishing a bunch of daffodils bought from a vendor outside, I entered the smalll prayer room, dominated by an altar upon which perched a small model of a rather skinny-looking Buddha. a.
Following the example ample of locals, I placed myself on my knees, pushed my head and hands to the floor three times and inhaled the pungent smell of the burning joss sticks.
I felt suitably becalmed. And why not?
The king still sits on his throne in the palace nearby, the fresh lobster still crawls into the fisherman’s nets and the sun continues to beat down on this royal, and utterly beguiling corner of Thailand.
TRAVEL FACTS DOUBLE rooms at the Amari Watergate Bangkok from £64 B&B and at the Amari Hua Hin from £51 (0066 3261 6600, amari. com). Emirates (0344 800 2777, emirates.com) offers economy return fares from London to Bangkok from £492. Businessclass returns, including chauffeur pick-up and drop-offs, start from £1,899 if booked by September 21.