There is a ever increasing expat population in Hua Hin. Many expats from Europe and England have retired here while others have second homes. This has made what was a sleepy little fishing village a much busier place. While still mainly a tourist resort for Bangkok Thais, there is more and more an international flavor to Hua Hin. The Thai elite began building second homes in Hua Hin when the railway station was completed in 1923 and subsequent generations began buying condos in the 1990's. The expats really started moving in after the tsunami in the Andaman Sea in 2004. There are many housing estates, luxury condominiums and real estate agents that cater especially to foreign buyers. Prices range from around $100,000 through well over 1,000,000 depending on location and amenities.
With the influx of Farangs (Thai for foreigner) there are more and more services aimed at the Farang community. There are local foreign language newspapers, usually owned by real estate agents, Internet forums for Hua Hin residents, usually supported by real estate agents, Italian, German and British delicatessens. There are English language radio stations taking requests, even by SMS, and local cable TV offers British, German, Italian, French, Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Murdoch takes on the news.
Scandinavian Visitors and Residents
One feature of Hua Hin is the extraordinary proportion of Farang of Scandinavian origin, either tourists, snowbirds who are here for the winter months, or full time residents. We have people from Sweden (Sverige), Finland (Soumi), Norway (Norge) and Denmark (Danmark). At times when you see the number of Scandinavian oriented business, you might think you were in Helsingor, Helsinki, Hammerfest, or Helsingborg rather than Hua Hin! Many menus sport the likes of Gravad Lax, Sandwich Cake or Smörgåstårta, Kottebullemacka, and Panbiff. One of the most cheering sights in town is the girls from Findressor and Golden Orchid tours setting out on their rounds with clipboard and briefcase. Why do we have so many Scandinavians, probably because in the early '90s Scandinavian tour companies were very active in providing holidays in the newly opened large hotels such as the Melia, now the Hilton.
STOCKING A HOME
The days of Villa Runs to Bangkok are pretty much over, though it appears Visa Runs to Singh Khon are back on again. Now that Villa Market has opened in Hua Hin there's less and less reason to travel to Bangkok for provisions. The Market Village Mall has a Tesco/Lotus and Home Pro and many restaurants and bakeries. Gee's Market and the tried and tired Hua Hin Shopping Mall stock many necessary items and are often easier to get in and out of than the Malls, especially on weekends. With another Tesco/Lotus and a Makro (with a huge selection of spices and restaurant goods) 20km south in Pranburi and Big C 60km north in Petchburi, just about all bases are covered.
There are several specialty furniture stores in Hua Hin now offering teak and other exotic wooden furniture for a premium. Unless you're interested in traveling to Chiang Mai and having your goods shipped back to Hua Hin, you'll probably not mind the premium. The Index Living Mall can outfit an entire home from bedroom to bathroom to kitchen and their discount sibling, Winner, is just down the road from Index. Home Pro is a DIYer's delight with everything from lighting to paint to tiles to alarm systems.
One area lacking in Hua Hin, and pretty much in Thailand in general, is a source for kitchen gadgets. If you're looking for various pans for baking, digital kitchen scales, or other new goodies you see on the cooking shows, you'll end up going to Bangkok and probably be disappointed even then. Time to start saving the Baht for a trip to Singapore.
EDUCATION
For those with children, there are International schools using an English curriculum. There are also Webster International University and Stamford International University offering BAs and MBAs. These schools do not yet compete with the better international schools in Bangkok but standards are improving each year as demand increases and the schools mature.
There are also schools offering Thai language lessons and other schools offering courses in everything from Thai cooking, fruit carving, Yoga, kiting, TEFL, Thai massage, Muay Thai, Kung Fu, Thai Chi and driving on the left.
Bookazine and Megabooks both have outlets in Hua Hin, offering English and European language books and magazines. International newspapers in several languages are available as are The Bangkok Post and The Nation for those attempting to keep up with the escapades of the powers that be in Thailand. There is a large bookstore at Market Village which has a large selection of books and magazines in Thai and a smaller selection of foreign books. There are smaller booksellers along Petchkasem Road near the market offering some international papers and news magazines. Most of these shops also have maps of Hua Hin and Thailand.
BANKING
Bank of Ayudhya 032 511-120
Bangkok Bank 032 511-717
Thai Farmer's Bank 032-530-501
Krung Thai Bank 032 511-812
Siam City Bank 032-511-203
Siam Commercial Bank 032 532-421
Bank addresses will be listed shortly. In the meantime, this map shows the location of many banks. I will not attempt to list ATMS as they are everywhere. Every convenience store, service station, mall and market has several ATMs, not counting the ones on virtually every corner downtown.
Opticians have taken over the niche of shops opening for no earthly reason why in Hua Hin. There are dozens of opticians here already and one national chain seems to be opening a new branch each month. It's like they're competing with 7-11 to see how many branches they can have with 100 meters of each other. Sort of like Starbucks in some western cities.
Chokechai Optical 081 378-2333
Pro Optic 032 511-117
Time Optic 032 511-360
TAILORS
HOSPITALS
PROPERTY IN HUA HIN
There are many agents in dealing in property in Hua Hin. If you're interested in property in Hua Hin, they'll probably smell your money and meet you at the airport in Bangkok. There are luxury condominiums for sale with ocean views, luxury estates with ocean or mountain views. There are pool villas, garden estates, gated communities, golf course communities. If you want Balinese style, Mediterranean style, Mexican style luxury villas; they're all here. If what you want isn't here, someone will agree to build it for you.
Only problem is Non-Thais cannot own property (land/dirt--houses and condos are a different matter) in Thailand. Period. There are those who will sell you the house and lease you the land. A thirty year lease is doable, if done correctly. There are those who will give you a renewable lease on the land and this is tricky. If the lawyer is a friend of the contractor, the papers will look good but if push comes to shove, the legality of the contract may prove questionable.
Many buyers of Hua Hin property have set up companies and have bought the land and house in the company's name. The use of nominees in business has been a hot item in the news for a few years now and the legality of this method of purchasing property in Hua Hin is very questionable.
When it comes to property in Hua Hin, watch your back, be careful, and CAVEAT EMPTOR. Don't put your money down before you're absolutely certain as to what you're getting. Promises in real estate are made to be broken. If there's a chance you're going to get in a legal battle with your agent or contractor, be forewarned that he very likely already has some large and not so nice friends lined up and is not afraid to use them.
There are horror stories galore about problems encountered purchasing property in Hua Hin or simply getting a house built to the original and agreed to specifications. Many of these stories can be found on the various forums about Thailand and Hua Hin. That is, those forums where the topic hasn't been banned by affected advertisers.
This is not to say that there are not honest and reliable property agents and contractors in Hua Hin. It's just that what they say about lawyers holds true and in this case, you're going to need both a lawyer and an agent or contractor so...watch your back, be careful, and CAVEAT EMPTOR...
INTERNET
Internet service is readily available in Hua Hin. TOT, CAT and TT&T all offer various ADSL promotions for those with land lines and satellite service is available at a price for those without phones. In addition there are numerous Internet cafes and many coffee shops, bars and restaurants offer free Wi-Fi for their customers.
It has also been reported that Wide Access Co, an Internet service provider startup, is
introducing Thailand's first free city-wide Internet access in Hua Hin under a five-year investment plan of 75 million baht. The open wireless network will offer broadband to all Hua Hin residents and tourists, covering the area of one square kilometre, to be expanded to
eight square kilometres over the next three months. This service is up and running in the central business district but the signal is very weak. I've attempted to log on several times but have only seen the log on screen once and that timed out after I entered my userID and password.
A good site, reasonably well up-dated, for information on free Wi-Fi access throughout Thailand, including Hua Hin, is Stickman's Guide to Bangkok.
Anyone bringing a laptop or netbook to Hua Hin should also bring along a copy of either Netstumbler or Inssider which are very useful for finding Wi-Fi outlets in your vicinity. Linux distros usually come with utilities similar to these. Mac users are on your own.
EMERGENCY NUMBERS
Fire 199
Police 191
Tourist Police 1699
Highway Police 1193
Hua Hin Police Station 032 511-027
Hua Hin Tourist Service Center 1155
Hua Hin Hospital 032 511-743
Hua Hin Red Cross 032 512-567
Hua Hin Railway 032 511-073
TEACHING ENGLISH
The English teaching community is a visible part of the expat community, employed at the two local Universities, the Goverment schools, some private schools and the commercial college. The teachers meet socially in a few favoured bars notably the Boat Restaurant on Srasong Road. TEFL/TESOL teaching (Teaching English as a Foriegn Language/Teaching English as a Second Language) is a sizeable enterprise in Thailand. CELTA courses are held mostly in Bangkok, but also in Chaing Mai, Phuket, Pattaya and Koh Samui. On occasion TEFL courses are held in Hua Hin.
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