Wandering at Hua Hin

Me and 4 of my friends went to another city last weekend. We left Phuket at 1 am of Saturday and drove a total of 650km towards Hua Hin.

Hua Hin is nearer to Bangkok and is situated less than 200km. It is one of Thailand's premiere beach resort towns making it one of the most popular weekend getaway destination for the city residents. A friend of ours stayed in this place for months and fell in love with it. She speaks highly of it and suggested that we go and visit the place.

Thailand mostly has wide and nice concrete roads because cheap transports are thru buses, mini vans and trains. On our trip, I saw that there were several gasoline stations every 10 kilometers and these are surrounded by convenience stores and food joints open for 24 hours. Although there were parts of the road which was very curvy or no streetlights and very foggy, the drive was pretty much ok. 

We arrived at Hua Hin at around 9am and as our hotel did not allow us to have an early check in (and the staff was quite rude), we went straight to see places we planned to visit while in there. So here's what we did while in Hua Hin:

1. Viewed the Railway Station
     Entrance fee: 0

This station is one of the oldest railway station in Thailand. It's most striking feature is the Royal Waiting Room in Thai architectural design. It stands adjacent to the station and is a favourite spot for picture taking for locals and tourists. The station itself and the place provides a Victorian like feel to anyone walking through the halls due to its concept and design.

Directly opposite the common waiting area is a display of a 305 Unit Baldwin Steam Locomotive. This might be what the first few trains looked like when the railway station was just starting.

This railway station is still active and while we were there we saw people waiting for the next train with their luggages. Bangkok to Hua Hin journey by train is 4 hours, longer than the usual bus but cheaper and with a bit of culture.  Unfortunately, we must have missed the earlier train when we went. I sat and waited patiently for it to come but it didn't. 

2. Had fun at Santorini Park
    Entrance fee: 150THB

Situated in Cha Am, Santorini Park provides the feel and vibe of the picture perfect Greek island. The place featured classic whitewashed buildings, stone paved paths and domed towers.

The buildings housed gift shops and restaurants which were fully air conditioned and a great way to beat the heat from the outside. The rides and games occupied the landscaped grounds. We saw a 40-metre high Ferris Wheel, G-Max reverse bungee and more. These rides had a separate fee. 

Aside from all the rides and (window) shopping, we had our fair share of photos from the picturesque designs and dainty features of the park.

3. Fed sheep at Swiss Sheep Farm
Entrance Fee: 120THB

Just a few kilometers from Santorini is another interesting place to visit: Swiss Sheep Farm. As the name says, it houses a lot of sheep as well as horses for the people to view and feed.

Other activities in the farm include horse (pony) back riding, bull fighting simulation, swing rides, archery and a lot more.

The walkways are not covered and while we were then the sun was burning so hot. I guess it would also be a problem when rain comes. Nevertheless, there were a lot of nice places to have good photos. 

4. Explored Plearnwan
Entrance fee: 0

Before going further, we ate lunch and rested in our hotel. After regaining our energies, we headed to Plearnwan.

Plearn Wan is a unique wooden brown building that has a two-storey courtyard style layout. It houses a lot of stores that offer either food, drinks, shirts or souvenirs. This is where we bought our gifts for our friends back in Phuket.

Aside from food and other stuffs, it also features some fun games which would get winners a chance to own some big and fluffy stuff toys. 

But as losers, still get a lollipop!

5. Shopped at Cicada market
    Parking fee: 0

The night was still young and so we headed to Cicada Market. It was a busy and big market full of trinkets for sale. It is said that this market is all about art, hand made crafts and good times.

I bought my kitty headband there and my friend found a cute casing for her phone.

We were busy taking a look at the different stalls and ended up getting a henna tattoo.

We were so busy and amused with all the market has to offer we didn't realize it was already near closing time. On our way out, we found local bands still playing their songs, artists displaying their artwork and this little boy who was able to make these bottles stand in difficult positions. 

I was not able to take a photo of the boy as he was busy making more of this bottle art.

6. Experienced Venezia

    Entrance fee: 180-480THB

It is another themed shopping mall which is a replica of Venice. It has St Mark's Square, the Bell Tower and gondolas. It was really sunny when we went there which was good for our photos. There was no big crowd when we were there so we had little or no photo bombers.

There were 3 packages to avail upon entrance. We chose package A which consisted of entrance to the mini zoo, mini train ride..

entrance to the 3D art Gallery, Mini Europe and Fontana Di Trevi Park and King + Queen Picture. I don't have a partner when I grabbed the queen's clothes, so this photo only shows me boredly waiting. (hahaha!)

7. Window shopped at FN Outlet Store

     Entrance fee: 0

This was not on our itinerary. The store had advertisements and banner all over the streets of Hua Hin telling people of discounts and low prices and this made us more curious. They offered a lot of brands: Roxy, FN, Quiksilver,Superdry and many more.

The place had 2 buildings and in between this was a bridge with some fountains on it. Feels like a forest in between a big shopping place.

8. Dined at the Beach
    Parking Fee: 20THB

We were hungry after the window shopping and on the way home we were looking for a restaurant on the road side. We tried to search for one and it brought us here in Hua Hin Beach. There were a lot of people and the tables were almost full as it was a Sunday. Lucky we got one table and we ate our hearts out with the delicious Thai food they served.

We had the tastiest Fried Rice with crabs and Tom Yam with chicken.

The atmosphere was so laid back and it would have been nice to lounge on the beach chairs.

There were still a lot on our list that we wanted to do however as we had responsibilities, we sadly bade goodbye to such a lovely and serene place. I hope to come back soon to see and enjoy more of Hua Hin. 

Thank you and 'til my next blog!