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Hua Hin Recap: Palace and Night Market

Posted by Stuart at 06:07 PM on August 03, 2004

My little trip to sleepy Hua Hin is over. Even though there wasn't much to do there, I still would have enjoyed another few days.

It was the Buddhist Lent holiday weekend, so most of the hotels were sold out. I did manage to find two different hotels for the two nights I was there, and can recommend both. The first is called Peony Hua Hin Hotel. It is across from the historic Sofitel. As opposed to the Sofitel, though, it is very affordable at only 1000 baht (US$25) on a regular weekend. That price includes ethernet jacks in every room and free breakfast. Can't beat it.

The second night I stayed at the Jed Pee Nong Hotel, across from the taller and (again) more expensive City Beach Hotel. Rooms there were also 1000 on a regular night, with free breakfast, but no Internet. Oh well. Still a pretty good bargain.

One highlight of the weekend was visiting the sprawling Maruekkhathayawan Palace just north of the town of Hua Hin. Built entirely of teak wood in 1923 by King Rama VI, it is a raised structure with lots of long walkways and open rooms which allow for the ocean breeze to keep things cool.

Finally, no trip to Hua Hin is complete without a trip to the Night Market. Being a holiday weekend, the daily street fair was packed. We had to wait quite a bit to get our orders of pad thai, but it was well worth it.

So, all in all it was a great trip. It was definitely worth a few-hour drive to get away from Bangkok and visit someplace a little quieter and a little slower, even on a "busy" holiday weekend.