Asia Summer Series: Hua Hin, Thailand (Part 2)

This is the final instalment of my previously published print articles on Asian destinations. Last post, I ventured onto the streets of Hua Hin, a beach resort town in Thailand. Now I reach the railway station...

The railway station is one of the most attractive I’ve ever seen.

Having been built in an age before air-conditioning, it was constructed as an open-air pavilion in a traditional Thai architectural style, with timber beams supporting a gabled tiled roof.

The whole thing is painted red and cream, with red tiles further increasing its brightness. A neat line of parked motorcycles in front of the structure underlines its sense of neat order.

It’s a pleasant building both to look at and walk through, but the real gem here is the second structure along the low platform. In an even more elaborate style, its roof features multiple peaks and small patterned windows punctuating its walls.

Though now unused, for many years this was the Royal Waiting Room, where members of the royal family would wait to board a train (perhaps reluctantly) back to Bangkok. 

In a continuation of the regal theme, across the rails from the station is the Royal Hua Hin Golf Course, laid out in the 1920s by a Scottish railway engineer. The course is open to the public and has some memorable features, including ocean and temple views from its links.

An unusual hazard, though, is the colony of resident monkeys which have occasionally been reported to make off with balls.

Heading back to the coast, I reach a small cove dotted with fishing boats, and several restaurants with timber decks jutting out over the water on wooden piles. It’d be an atmospheric place to have dinner, seated on the open-air deck and looking out at the sea.

The region around Hua Hin has its own royal-themed attractions, so one day I travel north to the nearby city of Phetchaburi to see the palace at Phra Nakhon Khiri.

This set of hills on the edge of town is famous for its beautiful gardens and the 19th centre palace at their centre. It was constructed by King Mongkut, the ruler immortalised by the musical The King and I.

Approached by a funicular railway which hauls visitors up the hill, the palace is a fascinating fusion of styles, with a large dose of European influence.

As I approach its entrance via a terrace lined by large white flowerpots, I feel it could be a villa in Spain or Italy (if the tropical plants were ignored).

From its windows there are fine views of nearby temples and greenery, and it’s interesting to tour the interior and imagine its original occupants’ life in this intersection of Thai culture and the Western world.

Another royalty-tinged attraction within day trip distance from Hua Hin is Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park, to the south.

Among its highlights are three caves, the most popular of which can be reached by boat. Within it is a pavilion built for the 19th century King Chulalongkorn, who visited it en route from Bangkok.

Back at my hotel, I ask one of its managers, Jutamas Boonrat, what she thinks is most distinctive about Hua Hin, considering that Thailand has so many beach resorts.

"The best thing is the powdery sand," she replies. "The beach is about five kilometres long from beginning to end, so people can enjoy walking or riding horses. You won’t see motorcycles or four wheel drives along the beach. It’s private and nice and quiet.

"I think the expression ‘less is more’ is perfect for Hua Hin."

Disclosure time: On this trip I travelled courtesy of the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Asia Summer Series: Hua Hin, Thailand (Part 1)

To mid-January this year, I'm running a series of my previously published print articles about Asian destinations. This week's focus is on Hua Hin, a Thai beach town with royal connections...

I’m wading into the Gulf of Thailand when I realise that there’s something surprising about the water - it’s as warm as the contents of a bathtub.

Even back home in Australia on a summer’s day, sea water will usually feel cool at first contact; but here in the tropics, it evidently never gets a chance to cool down.

So I’m soon bobbing in the clear, warm liquid, looking along the shoreline to the point where it meets the horizon. Ranged along it are small groups of sunbathers at rest along the beach, a long stretch of sand interrupted by the odd rocky outcrop.

After my swim I make my way back to my room at the graceful Sofitel Centara Grand, a low-lying collection of accommodation wings in the coastal city of Hua Hin, 200km south of Bangkok.

Soon I’m seated at the cafe in the oldest section of the resort hotel, which opened in 1923. 

Open to the air on each side, it’s not just a place to sit and sip tea in the tropical breeze. The cafe also functions as a small museum devoted to the hotel, with a variety of old artefacts dotted about its interior.

One of them, a polished timber letterbox embellished with painted lettering in both Thai and English, hints at the days when vacationers sent handwritten letters to the folks back home, rather than posting a pic to Facebook.

“So what’s special about Hua Hin?” I wonder as I sip a cup of Earl Grey and look out over the swimming pool below.

Maybe it’s the lack of the energetic party atmosphere that’s often associated with Thai beach resorts, particularly those islands on which backpackers eat, drink and socialise at a frenzied pace.

By contrast, this hotel and Hua Hin itself possess a calmer atmosphere, and it’s clearly a destination for those looking to relax rather than party.

As I walk through the hotel’s gardens on my way to explore the town, past elaborate topiary in the shape of animals, I reach a shrine dedicated to the King of Thailand, featuring a full-length photographic portrait with flags standing to each side.

This royal connection has been a key factor in the Hua Hin's recent history.


When the hotel opened as the Railway Hotel in the 1920s, it attracted Bangkok’s well-to-do to what had previously been an unexceptional fishing village.

Impressed with the new seaside resort and the contrast it provided with the busy capital, King Prajadhipok ordered the construction of a palace here, aptly named Wang Klai Kang Won (“Far from Worries”).

The current monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, has kept up the tradition of frequent visits to this summer palace, and there are side benefits for the locals.

Twice a day, the king allows visitors to walk in the palace grounds as exercise; as I’d entered Hua Hin by road the previous day I’d seen numerous people doing just that, walking in brisk circuits through the gardens.

There’s also a shop near the palace, Golden Place, which sells organic fruit and vegetables which have been grown on the king’s farms.

If Hua Hin is regal, it’s also relaxed, something I notice as I walk along Thanon Damnoen Kasem away from the waterfront, toward the railway that the hotel was once named after.

It’s mid-morning and the street has yet to fully wake, but there are people wandering here and there, looking into shops or sitting outside restaurants.

Then I arrive at the railway station...

[Next: The royal waiting room, monkeys on the links, and a palace linked to a musical...]

Disclosure time: On this trip I travelled courtesy of the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Thailand 2: Rails Into History

Over the past few days I've been travelling with a group of travel writers through Thailand's Kanchanaburi province, northwest of the capital Bangkok, then to the resort town of Hua Hin on the Gulf of Thailand.

As trains and railways have formed a big part of the experience, I thought I'd share some images with you here.

First up is the famous bridge on the River Kwai, constructed by Allied PoWs and Asian labourers under appalling slave labour conditions as part of the Death Railway in World War II.

It was later made famous by the 1957 movie of the same name. Only it turns out that a) the film's plot was a load of inaccurate hearsay, and b) the river was actually called the Mae Klong, though the Thais obligingly renamed this section the Kwae Yai later on when tourists showed up to take photos.

The bridge is sturdily attractive. Note the squarish sections in the middle, which later replaced the sections bombed by Allied planes during World War II.

As you can see from the above image, you can wander across the bridge, even though it's still part of a working railway. There are only two trains a day, so there's plenty of time to get off the tracks. There's also a small tourist train that shunts visitors back and forth across the bridge at regular intervals for 20 baht (A$0.70).

At one end of the bridge there's quite a big tourism operation, with stalls and restaurants ranged around a large circular plaza. The above sculpture is part of a piece indicating the nearby 'war wall', which bears details of the bridge's back story.

The next day we visited Hellfire Pass, one of the most backbreaking sections of the railway for those who worked on it. The above image shows the rail bed as it appears today. This is beyond the railway's current terminus at Nam Tok, so there are no rails here; they were ripped up some decades ago.

This is approaching the heart of Hellfire Pass. The workers had to excavate a huge cutting from the rock here, using handheld tools aided by explosives. The Japanese overseers had the men working around the clock at this point, so the worksite was lit by kerosene lamps.

The lamp light on the exposed red rock, and the hellish working conditions, led the PoWs to name it Hellfire Pass. The short section of track you can see above has been laid as a reminder of the past.

What's notable is how peaceful the pass is today, green and shaded. The serenity provides some quiet mental space to reflect on the horror of the conditions under which the men lived and died. Some 13,000 Allied PoWs died in the course of the railway's construction, and some 90,000 Asian labourers.

On the following day we examined this viaduct, originally built as part of the Death Railway and still a going concern. It was a hard object to bomb from the air, as the rock wall afforded a certain amount of protection.

This is the view across the river from the viaduct. Apparently the river once flooded almost to the height of the viaduct itself; bye bye buildings on the opposite bank!

Finally, an image unconnected with the Death Railway but still related to the theme of historic Thai railways. This is the former royal waiting room at the beautiful timber train station at the coastal resort of Hua Hin. Thai monarchs would relax here while waiting (reluctantly, I imagine) to leave their seaside summer residence behind for the hustle and bustle of Bangkok...

Tim Richards travelled courtesy of the Tourism Authority of Thailand.