Hua Hin, A Little Heaven in Thailand

This is my first time writing in Kompasiana with English version. I still need to learn, please forgive if there are so many mistakes on grammar.

My idea to write about Hua Hin because I was just spent my 28 days on that area. Hua Hin is a resort place with seaside on Gulf of Thailand, which part of Prachuap Khiri Khan province. It takes 3 hours from Bangkok if you take a travel bus from Suvarnabhumi airport. Generally it looks like Kuta in Bali (even though I've never been in Bali, just from opinions and watch TV). One of the reason why it looks like Kuta is so many foreigner around the street, we meet them everywhere. 

I can say that, Hua Hin has more beautiful coast line than Pattaya, and heaven for shopping. Maybe it's not that famous as Phuket or Krabi, but very good enough for people who wants to spend time with beautiful scenery. There are so many beautiful places besides the coast line for tourist destination. Even Hua Hin is the most favorable destination for retirement community in Thailand (ages around 50-60 years old), because of its beauty and calmly scenery, also friendly local people.

Speaking about shopping, there are so many places for shopping lover, from of night markets until big shopping mall. First time I went around the markets, I was just sightseeing and later I felt like all the things in markets were cute and not really expensive. Then I went to two famous shopping malls, Bluport and Market Village, just like usual, I was just sightseeing. But, there was time when they made sale time. Somehow it made me want to buy everything, lol. Not forget about the food.

 So many places you can choose to enjoy Thai food. For me, as a Moslem, it was not hard to find halal food around this area. My Thai friends were very nice showed some food that still I can enjoy, same taste just different ingredients. They also informed me about the process to cook the food, so that I can eat peacefully. 

Not only the scenery from Gulf of Thailand that you can enjoy, but also another destinations you can explore such as some markets like Cicada market, Plernwan, and Floating market; Khao Takiab, Klai Kangwon Palace and Phraya Nakhon Cave are some holy places for Thai and have very beautiful view.

Speaking about how beautiful Hua Hin beach is like never ending topic. Beside those places that I mentioned before, there're still so many others. The tourist actually not only come from Europe or around Asia, but also local tourist like from Bangkok or another province whom always make Hua Hin full of people, especially on weekend days. Traffic could happened in some areas, but don't worry traffic in Hua Hin is not that crowded as in Bangkok. That's why it would be more comfortable if you could enjoy the area by using public or small transportation, or even walking.

Another plus things from Hua Hin are the safety. Maybe because of there are some private places belong to Royal Thai, I could say that Hua Hin district is safe for tourist. In Soi 61, we could find police office, even in the gate of the rocky beach there's also office for tourist police. Beside the police, there's also coast guard, who works keep the tourist safe from danger in the beach. Did I write danger? Yes, in the high tide the tourist couldn't see about the rocks (with the barnacles on its surface) on the beach while walking or playing on the beach. 

Jellyfish also may appears occasionally especially after heavy rain. They have warning system for the tourist to remind about danger. Some warning towers and flag are located in some area not only on the beach, but also in the middle of the waters (about 500 meters from the beach). The flag has three colors, if it showed yellow, it means the beach is safe for swimming, but if its red means danger or restricted for doing activities especially on the water. Meanwhile green flag means its moderate.

For people who likes to go activities like snorkeling or diving, unfortunately the area mostly is not for those activities. You need to go to some islands around Hua Hin, such as Kho Talu, Koh Singtoh, or Kho Kulam which provide for under water activities. I went to Khlong Wan, Mueang Prachuap Khiri Khan District, a place behind the mountain which use for marine aquaculture, like milk fish, abalone, giant clams, sea horse and sea cucumber. The culture aims to conserve the animal, after they succeed culturing the animal will release on the lagoon beside the mountain. Those places also have very beautiful view and good place to learn about aquaculture.

So, if you want to spent holiday in Thailand, Hua Hin could be one of the alternative. I write this article like I promote a lot others country but mine. Lol. Next time I will write again about another beautiful places in my country, Indonesia, I just want to share some stories of mine. Hope the information could give some recomendations.