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Mike Currie

THE SECRET IS OUT. The previously little-used airport of Hua Hin is about to reopen with a new passenger terminal and an extended runway that could bring hordes of foreign tourists to this sleepy Thai seaside town.

Within a few months, international charters could be flying in direct, allowing tourists to enjoy the seafood, golf courses and beaches in the Gulf of Thailand without having to first endure the traffic snarls and pollution of Bangkok.

Bangkok Airways plans to hop from the capital to Hua Hin in less than 30 minutes, then on to Ko Samui. Air Andaman may also operate a Phuket to Hua Hin service.

But international carriers are eyeing the resort town too, as the runway is now long enough to take 737s carrying around 150 passengers.

Developers are licking their lips, hoping empty condominiums that were being built behind the beaches of Hua Hin and neighbouring Cha'am when Thailand's economy hit the rocks, will at last find buyers.

Hua Hin, which is only around three hours drive south of Bangkok, has long been a favourite with domestic tourists, but is gearing up for the expected influx of visitors from abroad.

A Hyatt Regency is being built in traditional Thai style just behind the 5km-long beach. The 204-room hotel will open in October. Other top hotels include the Marriott, Hilton and the Sofitel Central on the site of the former Railway Hotel, the town's first and most prestigious hotel, which was built in 1923.

The railway was extended to Hua Hin in 1922 to give Thailand's royal family better access to their palace just outside town. The king still resides at the palace for several months each year. At weekends Thais flock in to relax, play golf and enjoy the local seafood, but the pace is still unhurried.

Although there will be change, hoteliers in town don't believe it will become a centre for sex tourism, such as Pattaya. They say that as Hua Hin has been a royal retreat for more than 80 years, the authorities will not allow this to happen.

When the royals are in town, tourists must show respect. Though some rooms of the palace, just north of town, are open to the public, all types of boats and water sports are prohibited within 5km of the building.

At a small, family-run hotel, the Thipurai, the landlady says to my wife: 'In Pattaya you can't trust your husband. In Hua Hin, he can come here by himself and you can trust him.' Nothing personal, I'm sure.

What better way to visit a place that's fit for a king than by the mode of transport that brings the royal family here, the railway. There the parallel ends. The royals have their own train. There is no first-class carriage as we leave Bangkok's Hualam-phong railway station. The choice is second or third class.

We book the Thipurai through an agent at the station, and feel pleased it is a good low-season deal at 1,000 baht (just under HK$200). The Thipurai even has a swimming pool, we are told. The train fare is only 140 baht each, less than $30 for a four-hour journey.

It turns out the 'Thipurai' swimming pool is at the top of the street, and is shared by several other family-run hotels, but the beach is only two minutes walk away, the rooms are clean, the staff friendly and helpful, and the street quiet. The Nilawan guesthouse opposite offers some of the best Thai food in town.

But don't book through an agent. When we decide to stay a few more days, the owner readily agrees to a hefty discount, 600 baht a night. It is the off-season [May to September] after all.

The train journey, though far from comfortable in second class, as the ceiling fans do little to alleviate the oppressive heat, is packed with interest. Few foreigners travel to Hua Hin by rail but it offers a good close-up of life for the average Thai.

Air-conditioned coaches that leave Bangkok's Southern bus terminal about every hour, are nearly as cheap as the train, and reach Hua Hin in about three hours. However, we had heard horror stories about road travel in Thailand.

'Slow but sure,' agreed the receptionist in our Silom Road hotel as we asked to book a taxi to the railway station.

The train takes a long time to escape the sprawling Bangkok suburbs, and poverty creeps right up to the side of the tracks. Vendors jump aboard at each station throughout the journey, selling food boxes, fruit, packets of dried fish and meat, and bottled water. But there's only so much one can eat. Further down the track theirs is a lost cause.

At the front of the carriage, a girl sleeps on the floor. Her father has given her seat to the family's pet dog, which is in a bamboo cage.

The capital eventually gives way to a vista of lush rice paddies, and later, in Phetburi province, where monks come aboard and shuffle along the aisles, the mountains of Kaeng Krachen National park, which straddles the Burma border, dominate the horizon.

Hua Hin is so small it can be explored on foot in a day. But if you want to relax, then it is worth stopping for a few days. Many foreign visitors are middle-aged, attracted by the nearby top-class golf courses, markets, quiet beaches, above-board massage parlours, a plethora of local seafood restaurants, al fresco cafes run by expatriates and gourmet dining at five-star resorts. Take a tuk-tuk to the town centre if you wish. We decide to stroll along the beach to get there, where local masseuses press and pound flesh outside resort hotels, ponies trot along the water's edge and beach boys offer umbrellas, deck-chairs and seafood menus.

There's cheap seafood everywhere in Hua Hin, but the best local restaurants are around Naresdamri Road. The Chao-Lay restaurant is among them. Most seafood in Hua Hin is displayed on ice, but at Chao-Lay, if you arrive early in the evening, live lobsters and crabs can be bought and they'll net the garoupa or snapper of your choice before you climb the steps to the pier restaurant.

Try the pineapple rice. The area is the world's second-biggest producer of the fruit. Some travel agents offer tours of pineapple plantations as well as boating and fishing trips and day-long jungle excursions.

After eating, wander the narrow streets to browse the souvenir shops, craft shops and tailors who offer made-to-measure suits, shirts, trousers and dresses at a fraction of the price you would pay in Hong Kong. A suit will be ready in a couple of days. You'll see the seamstresses cutting and sewing in the back streets. You can also have leather or crocodile shoes made. If you have a good eye for jewellery, then gold and diamond rings, bracelets and earrings can be a lot cheaper here.

There are night markets, too. The best, we are told, is near the Grand Hotel, outside the San Paulo hospital, but it is only open on Fridays and Saturdays.

I ask to try on a pair of trousers. No problem. Oops! There's no changing room. Change next to the clothing rail, the stall-holder says, no one will mind. She promises to turn the light down a little, and I'm standing in my underwear in the middle of a crowded market. Try doing that in Temple Street.

Fine, until the sales lady notices the waistband is about three inches too small and bursts out laughing. I'm surrounded by giggling Thais and have to wait until they've had their fill and wander off before I can get back into my own trousers.

The following day, the oom-pahs of a slightly out-of-tune jazz quartet draw me to their source, the perimeter wall of the local Buddhist temple, where a shaven-headed youth is held aloft. He's being carried to the temple under a bobbing ceiling of colourful umbrellas, his family jiving out front in celebration. They invite me to join them. This is a day to be proud of. Their son has decided to become a novice monk, which has given them a lot of face.

The procession comes to a halt outside the open temple doors and inside two rows of monks in saffron robes are waiting to receive the new student. A youngster offers me a glass of amber liquid. Ceremonial tea? No, the fumes are overpowering. This is Mekong whisky. A few metres away, a man in a worn-out suit stands smoking under a giant portrait of the king of Thailand. This is the kickboxing arena. There'll be fighting tonight.

Hire a motorbike to explore the beaches that are dotted with empty condominiums on the way to Cha'am, 25km north. Mine costs only 100 baht a day. Here you can have white sand beaches virtually to yourself, eating at quiet seafood restaurants as fishing boats bob just offshore.

We intend to go back to Bangkok by train, and want to buy a first-class ticket a day in advance, but the station master warns us: 'Get your ticket tomorrow morning. Sometimes the trains for Bangkok arrive in Hua Hin three hours late.'

So we decide to take the dreaded air-conditioned bus, which gets us safely back to the capital almost without mishap. A few kilometres from the city, a tyre blows out and we limp in at half-speed. Next time, we'll fly.



Waking a sleeping beauty