Day 19 : Bangkok to Hua Hin, Wednesday 26th June 2024
Cloudy/Rain/cloudy, 30°
NZ$1 = THB22
THB1 = NZ$0.04
Up at 8:30 and down to the breakfast at 9am. Today is a travel day; heading to Hua Hin on the 2:50pm bus ( $17 each, 3 ½ hours, from the Southern Bus Terminal, which is west of Bangkok ).
Check out is 12pm so back to the room and relaxed / packed. Checked out at 12pm and walked along the road to the Coffee Club, had a burger and drinks for lunch.
Ordered a Grab to the Southern Bus Terminal ( 18km, THB370/$16 ) at 1:20pm. The Grab arrived after 15minutes ( crazy traffic around the area today ) and we headed south and west through Bangkok and then out across the river. As we travelled we ran into another heavy rain storm, which continued until we arrived at the bus terminal. It is often the case that intercity buses in Asia leave from outside of the centre of town ( to reduce the time taken for the journey ) but they are normally close to some form of transport. But for this one we had no choice but to use a Grab ( and the driver complained to us about how far it was and how little grab paid him; felt sorry but we didn’t set the rules! ).
Into the bus terminal at 2:15pm ( more of a shopping mall than a bus depot ) and found our way up to the Sombat ticket desk and got our tickets ( we had already paid when we booked through Bookaway, so we were just collecting the tickets ). Back downstairs to the buses and found gate 14, and our bus was sitting there. The driver arrived at 2:40pm, and he signalled for us to load our bags and we jumped on board. Nice bus, 3 seats across in a 2 and 1 configuration, with usb ports for charging, air conditioning, foot rest etc. Quite a change from wooden bench seats on the train to Kanchanaburi.
Left at 3pm, still raining. Headed south then west ( the rain stopped after 10 minutes ) through what felt like endless shops, office buidings, roadworks and traffic. After an hour it felt like we had left the city and then passed through lots of fields, shrimp farms and factories. Mainly heading west on Route 35 we turned south at 4:30pm onto Route 4, and then followed the hills south on the 4 to reach Hua Hin at 6:05pm ( early ). It was an interesting drive through the countryside, and a reminder that most of Thailand is rural with scattered villages and towns. And lots of temples.
The bus stopped south of our accommodation at 6pm in the centre of Hua Hin, so we jumped off and grabbed a tuk tuk, negotiated THB100/$4.50 and jumped in for the 5 minute ride to our hotel ( BTC Boutique Resort, 1 room villa with private pool, $248 for 2 nights ). This was nice little room, very Thai in style and pretty basic, but perfect for what we wanted. And very quiet with the resort ( only 8 rooms ) being down a little cul-de-suc off an already quiet residential street.
From what we have seen Hua Hin is more of an area than a town; it spreads for quite a few kilometers along Route 4 between the railway and the coast. It is still quite small and doesn’t have a lot of malls etc but does have a number of large resorts.
We checked in and dropped our bags, then got the reception lady to order a tuk tuk to go back to town (where the bus dropped us off ) to look at the night market ( this time the tuktuk was THB150/$7 ), at 6:30pm
We walked through the market, which was mainly on 1 street ( Hua Hin 72 ) but with smaller side markets down alleyways and in courtyards. We had tea at a the Steam Train Seafood restaurant ( 2 dishes and 2 beers, THB440/$16 ), sitting upstairs in the breeze.
Carried on walking through the market, Liz bought a ceramic pot ( THB150/$6 ) and a pashmina ( THB100/$4.50 ). Back down to the main road then to the 7Eleven for supplies then got a Grab back to the hotel (THB67/$3 ) at 8pm. Another reminder that Grab is a good option ( THB150 for the tuktuk into town, THB67 for the trip back )
Quick dip in the pool then relaxed.