why should i move to hua hin?

[jasperblubber2006]

over the years i have been making my plans to move to thailand, pattaya has always been at the top of my list, that is until last year, then i started looking at what a tipical day would consist of and what i seen was not what i had in mine ten years ago when i started my plans.
pattaya is a fantastic city to visit, two, three weeks even a month and you will have memorys that will last a life time, but regardless of your age you can boink for so long then the novelty wears off, i don't want to go on and on about pattaya but to make a long story short, the magic of pattaya is not there. i thought chang mai might work for me but once i was there i felt like i was in the middle of kansas, just no feeling at all, udon thani was not much better, i guess if i was settled down i might look at these cities in a different way the people in those cities are very nice but i can find nice here in the states, which brings me to hua hin, some of you have been there and seem to like this place, i on the other hand have never been there but would like to find out about it.
the beach and the ladyboys are obviously important and i would really like to hear what you have to say, its distance to bangkok, close to the water are big pluses for me and unless i am wrong less tourist than cities like bangkok and pattaya.
jasper

[Guest]

Bumping this 'till Stogie wakes up....he loves it there!

never been myself, sorry......

[stogie bear]

Pattaya is for the holiday makers who are starved of decent chicks to fuck and need cheap beer. It's not for the natives. There's no decent beach to speak of unless you go further afield.

Chiang Mia is just too far from civilisation and so is everywhere else like Phuket, Chiang Rai, etc...

Bangkok is just a smelly city that never sleeps, or washes or shuts the fuck up either! But it's very exciting so you don't want to ever be too far away!

Hua Hin is a quieter and more laid back city. There are lots and lots of fine restaurants at great prices and after a short while you can find a few favourite places to call your own local.

Property here is still quite reasonable too and (if you shop around) 3 million will get you something nice to shack up in. It's safe, peaceful and comfortable...

This is where I'm gonna settle down (if it doesn't change too much in the next 5 years!) - I will get my retirement visa then when I turn 50!

Pop down there for a few days and let us know what you think...

More than two days of Pattaya would drive me bonkers!  

[dummy_plug]

More than two hours of Pattaya would drive me bonkers.

I've never been to Hua Hin, but look forward to checking it out this coming August. I think HH is slowly becoming more built-up as I've heard there are some new hotel and resort constructions under way, including a brand new Starwood property set to open this fall.

[jasperblubber2006]

thanks stogie, living in the san francisco/bay area you get used to being close to water, after a couple of visits to bangkok i knew that thailand would be where i would retire to but i wasn't sure of the city until my first visit to pattaya it seemed like it had it all, the water, the ladyboys i thought i had died and gone to heaven but last year it hit me hard, after beach road and 2nd road what the hell is there, jomtien?
i went to a couple of expats club breakfasts and got up and spoke about my future move to thailand and asked what they do with there time, the expats for the most part stay busy or at least there wifes make sure they stay busy but you could tell none of these guys are into ladyboys so what the hell do i have in common with them/, nothing.
last week i got my one year retirement visa from the portland oregon consulate office (they made this so simple) and the loose ends should keep me here another eight weeks then its off to thailand for the next year, my second week there will bring me to hua hin and i will be more than glad to write about it.
"thai visa" website has a hua hin forum and lately i have been hitting them up for info also, thanks stogie
jasper

[mardhi]

(jasperblubber2006 @ Jun. 12 2006,06:23)
over the years i have been making my plans to move to thailand, pattaya has always been at the top of my list, that is until last year, then i started looking at what a tipical day would consist of and what i seen was not what i had in mine ten years ago when i started my plans.
pattaya is a fantastic city to visit, two, three weeks even a month and you will have memorys that will last a life time, but regardless of your age you can boink for so long then the novelty wears off, i don't want to go on and on about pattaya but to make a long story short, the magic of pattaya is not there. i thought chang mai might work for me but once i was there i felt like i was in the middle of kansas, just no feeling at all, udon thani was not much better, i guess if i was settled down i might look at these cities in a different way the people in those cities are very nice but i can find nice here in the states, which brings me to hua hin, some of you have been there and seem to like this place, i on the other hand have never been there but would like to find out about it.
the beach and the ladyboys are obviously important and i would really like to hear what you have to say, its distance to bangkok, close to the water are big pluses for me and unless i am wrong less tourist than cities like bangkok and pattaya.
jasper

When I was working full time in Bangkok, I wanted to get a weekend place either in Hua Hin, Pattaya or Koh Samui - Basically somewhere I could go to on a Friday evening and come back on a Monday morning to get out of the pollution of Bangkok.

I spent many weekends in Hua Hin & Pattaya (Samui got the chop pretty quick due to having to fly there) looking around trying to size the place up. I liked Hua Hin a lot but the thing that did it in for me were a couple of factors:

1. The infrastructure sucks - there were no supermarkets, no cinemas, no shops other than tourist stuff, no decent medical treatment such as a hospital.

2. The road journey for me at least was a nightmare - 3 hours + to where I lived in Sukhumvit and the roads are pretty unsafe.

3. The town was good for a quick visit, but I got really really bored on about the 5th visit - just nothing to hold you there.

I hated Pattaya the first time I went there - I subsequently avoided the place for over a year until I was looking on a website for property and decided to go and have another look. I discovered Pattaya was really two towns. The beach side which everyone knows and then another world, just across Sukhumvit.

For all its negative sides, Pattaya has a far better infrastructure than Hua Hin and ironically, it has a far larger professional expat population working in Thailand than most people would imagine for the simple reason that they are all working for the big multinationals located along the Eastern Seaboard. However for the most part you wont find these guys in the city centre (well ok you might find the guys but their wifes and kids are back at the house !!!!).

Just consider in Pattaya you have:

3 International standard private hospitals
2 cinemas
10 supermarkets/hypermarkets incl foodland, Villa Market, TOPS, Tesco lotus, Carrefour, Big C,
Countlesss home interior stores (HomePro)
2 big shopping malls
A dedicated 5 floor IT Mall

So in terms of infrastructure Pattaya is streets ahead of Hua Hin. Perhaps you might want to think about one of the outlying areas say 15 minutes away from Pattaya proper - means you have everything you could need nearby but your not in the centre of everything.

I admit that since deciding on Pattaya, I have not been back to Hua Hin but I do know it has a Tesco Lotus these days and I'm sure its grown a bit more than when I was last there - but for sure it has nothing like the infrastructure of Pattaya.

Cheers
Mardhi

[stogie bear]

Things have changed big time in Hua hin, mardhi. there is a MASSIVE Tesco-Lotus complex with every fast food chain and shop known to Thailand right slap in the center of town. The roads are great driving to and from Bangkok.

But if it's excitement you want and a supply of young ladyboys then Hua Hin is not gonna do it for you!

It's much more low-key and certainly does NOT have the electricity of Pattaya or Bangkok... which suits me fine! I wouldn't miss the Nana shit-pits and I certainly can't stand Pattaya for more than a day or two about 3 times a year.

For boring ol' farts like me with lower levels of energy, then Hua Hin is a pretty good choice!



More pics...

[bottomfeeder]

Good thread jasperblubber, Stogie, Mardhi et al. I'm in the same boat as Jblubber. I live in San Francisco, so I don't think I can re-locate to the middle of nowhere. I must be near the sea, preferably with a seaview. I'm in Pattaya now for my 8th and final day and I'm burnt out. It's just too much! I'm not 20 yrs old anymore. I'm on my second year of my retirement visa.( and it wasn't easy at the L.A consulate. It was a motherfucking pain in the arse) I've considered Hua Hin, but I do require some occasional "action". For all the reasons mentioned by Mardhi, I think maybe within 15 to 30 min. from Pattaya may be the ticket. I can't be TOO far from debauchery and degradation!

[mardhi]

The thing that struck me about Hua Hin was the fact that its a small town with a small town outlook. You cannot hide in Hua Hin if your up for a little bit of fun - its amazing but everyone seems to know everybody else. Pattaya is far easier to 'blend in'. For some people that may not be important, but I would hazzard a guess that its fairly high up the list of priorities for people on this board. Plus if your looking for LB action - I would assume, Hua Hin is about as good as finding a virgin in a short time bar.

Incidentally, I cannot 'do' Pattaya for more than 2 days in a week - I can easily understand how guys get 'burnt out' when they on the lash every night of the week - its for that reason that my house is about 20 minutes drive outside Pattaya and when I go out, I just stay in a hotel.

Cheers
Mardhi

[Mai-Kee]

"Why should I move to Hua Hin?"
.... well, you shouldn't! It's boring and the beach sucks.

I hate Pattaya in general, Hua Hin is a bore, Samui and Pukhet are islands (and I hate islands!) and far too touristic for my taste.
The only thing - again it wouldn't work for me - but when you like the action in Patty and want to live a bit quieter, then go to Jomtien. Just 5 min drive to Walking St. and you are in the middle of those vomiting hooligans, fat Germans and the noise they call music there.
Get a condo with a pool in BKK - much better!

MK

[katoeylover]

Just my 0.02cents.

Having been to Samui, Phuket and Pattaya recently I found Hua Hin to be such a change.

Yes, it made a difference having a fab villa to stay in, but the town itself was nice. As stogie says ther eis all the chain restaurants, a decent Lotus and Great restaurants (if you want them) in the resorts.

Yes its quiet, but there is a small bar scene, and you can also bring company with you from Bangkok.

I will be back in August and am definitely looking to get a place down there as a holiday place and also as a rental unit.

[Guest]

..just curious, what's this 'retirement visa' thing, since I'm over 50 & will be retired from work the end of this month (JUN) I'd like more info on this because i will be in Portland next month & can pick one up there. How long are one of those 'RV's good for time wise?

Oh and Hua Hin, i read on Yahoo the King of Thailand likes to go there to play jazz with his musician friends!

[jasperblubber2006]

anicon
you have a couple of options when applying for a visa in thailand, for myself, i'm over 50 and just retired, this allows me to put in for a retirement visa which covers you for a period of one year, if you choose to go this route the portland office is great, extremely helpful and  e-mails are usually answered within 48 hours.
for myself, i sent to the portland office the following:
passport
a)medical certificate (your doc will fill out)
b)memo from your local police (showing no major crimes)
c)letter from my bank (showing 20,000 in my account, along w/current bank statement)
d)next year the money will have to be in a thai bank
and a money order for $125 dollars which gives me a multi-entry visa, this allows me to come and go as often as i wish during that one year
there has been some real good comments here its good to know that i'm not the only one who can take a limited amount of time in pattaya, one thing i should bring out, and no one should take offense to this comment, is that i live in a city where tourism is its main source of income, if i am going to move to thailand one of the last things i want to be around a ton of tourist, for this i can stay here in san francisco
some tourist, some expats=good
too many tourist, too many expats=no good
best way to explain it, by the way the condo in jomtien was my original game plan until i found out that dogs are not allowed in the condos along jomtien, every realtor and private owner has told me, so i believe it, thanks for the suggestion
jasper
jasper

[stogie bear]

best way to explain it, by the way the condo in jomtien was my original game plan until i found out that dogs are not allowed in the condos along jomtien...

Wow... Now I'm thinking about jomtiem... As a dog-hater of biblical proportions - all dogs and mosquitos should be exterminated for my peace of mind and no other reason - I'm now gonna look closer at Jomtien!

Thanks for that nugget of information...

Actually almost all apartments and condos ban pets (especially dogs) so good luck in your search for a condo. You'll have more freedom in a house if you want to keep animals. Although why a human would want to keep a dumb animal in the same building as he lives in is anyones guess. Still - to each his own!

I certainly wouldn't buy a condo in a building where they keep dogs.

[Guest]

I was just in Hua Hin a few weeks ago. There is indeed a mall now with a cinema complex. The beach is not bad and a short 5-10 motorcycle ride south will get you to almost virgin beach. The ladyboy scene is very small, I think I know most of them personally already after 6 visits in the last year. There are two competing Cabarets with ladyboys, both of which are barely hanging on financially. Most if not all, of the Cabaret ladyboys will go out for ST at least. They are a rocky road however, too much plastered on makeup and rough behavior potential. There are some sweet ladyboys which I will keep secret for now. The tourism aspect to the city is Scandinavian and European with too many package tourists. They often come as couples and really hang to the block that parallels the beach. Step back a block and you are into to a nice Thai town than keeps the streets clean and is the summer residence of the King of Thailand. The inland area is pastoral and beautiful. There are housing complexes going up and it is true that about 3 million bhat will get you a 3 bedroom house or condo. The city is small and claustrophobic yet comfortable and has at least one of everything you need. It is not a rat hole of beerbars and nightlife--but it has enough to keep you busy. 2 and a half hours by minivan from Victory Monument in Bangkok is a real plus. As is the divided highway, safe from ya ba drivers doing headons like the old days. Just go there and check it out and see if you like it. It is the best place close to Bangkok that is still small and civilized.