Hua Hin and Thailand's Ancient Kings

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Hua Hin was a good place to stop after six hours on a bus. We've been there before and it wasn't our favourite destination, but even in this situation we try to make the best of it and find interesting things to do. We stayed at the Prinz Garden Villa, which was very comfortable. On our first night we think we were the only guests and on the second night one or two other rooms were occupied. It did mean that once again we had a swimming pool to ourselves when we made time to use it! The hotel seems very new but we suspect it had just opened when the pandemic struck and therefore has hardly been used rather than being new. We were so impressed that if we have to visit Hua Hin again we would definitely stay there.

On arrival we had about an hour to unpack, refresh and get ready to go out as we had plans. Russ had arranged to meet former Brighton, Tottenham and England footballer, Gary Stevens, who lives nearby. Gary had spent a couple of years coaching in Azerbaijan and, as much as we wanted to talk about football, we also wanted to compare experiences of living in such a different country. We were there in 2008 and 2009. We had a great evening and Gary was such a gentleman that we were very at ease in his company. After initially posing for photos for Seagulls Over Spain, we went out for dinner at a fabulous beachfront restaurant. Let's Eat was a great choice but we had to abandon our shoreline table and go inside when it started to rain. The food and the company were superb and we are so grateful that Gary took the time to meet up with us.

The next day we did some touristy stuff! A taxi took us out to Rajabhakti Park where we learned all about seven of Thailand's ancient kings. Each of them is represented by a 14m high statue and together they are a very impressive sight. They are King Ram Khamhaeng (reigned 1279-1298) of the Sukhothai period, King Naresuan (1590-1605) and King Narai (1656-1688) of the Ayutthaya period, King Taksin (1767-1782) of the Thonburi period, and King Rama I (1782-1809), King Mongkut (1851-1868), and King Chulalongkorn (1868-1910) of the Rattanakosin period. From the visitor centre we were taken out to the statues on a bus and then collected again once we had finished looking around. We ended up getting a taxi back into Hua Hin where we had a walk along the beach before relaxing by the pool for the afternoon.

In the evening we caught a songthaew to the night market. We had been there a few years ago and it is one of the unmissable sights of Hua Hin. Everything is very tastefully done and all it's lacking is visitors. It was so quiet that we had our pick of the tables at the Bird Chilli restaurant which was excellent once again.

Leaving Hua Hin for Phetchaburi, we took a Bolt taxi as it was only a little more expensive than a minibus and provided door to door service. We've gone soft!

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

7 Kings
Sounds like you enjoyed the area more this time around. Keep traveling.