Living In Hua Hin After Living In Samui

[UmpaLumpa]

i am considering a move to huahin - how does it compare to samui in terms of cost of life, friendliness of the locals, schools, immigration procedures, crime?

any feedback will be greatly apreciated

[maccaroni man]

i am considering a move to huahin - how does it compare to samui in terms of cost of life, friendliness of the locals, schools, immigration procedures, crime?

any feedback will be greatly apreciated

i live in samui but over the last 5 years i have been in HH about 1x per mo. and my take on samui is it is more user friendly for a person who does not speak thai. the movies in samui are more for westerners where as they are aimed for thais in HH, the cost of land and housing is much lower in HH than in samui, HH is much closer to BKK and it is easy to travel by land in all directions however the airport is no longer in service (i have been told the noise bothered it's neighbor) so this may change in the not too distant future, schools in HH on an internatioanl standard fall behind samui (i'm told due to it's closeness to BKK) food and clothing can be had at a better price than in samui but international restuarants are lacking compared to samui, from what i have seen the working girls are about twice the age of the girls in samui, there are more golf courses in HH than in samui and much better, Palm Hills is a great location to build but it is priced on par with samui i.e. 40k to 45k per sq. mtr. If you want to build i have land in 3 very different locations priced from 1.2m to 6.2m per rai pm me if you want to take a look.

[UmpaLumpa]

thanks for the info, im still not at the 'looking for land' stage

any more feedback?

[maccaroni man]

i did fail to mention health care; the hospitals and med professionals in HH falls way short of the quality health care available on samui.

[a10ams]

i did fail to mention health care; the hospitals and med professionals in HH falls way short of the quality health care available on samui.

I think if you are trying to sell land in Hua Hin mate, you should be painting a better picture!

When I decided to move to Thailand, my choices were Bangkok, Chang Mai, Samui and Hua Hin.

Bangkok was dismissed as too busy, hot and smelly.

Samui (Chaweng) was also way too crowded and full of neds. Blackpool with sun.

Chang Mai was nice and almost made it.

Hua Hin eventually clinched it. Easier access to (busy, hot and smelly) Bangkok if need be, seaside town with nice breeze and super restaurants. Shopping is fine, very rarely are we stuck for anything. Also a fairly big police presence due to Royal family residence. The locals are very friendly indeed. I don't see or hear of much in the way of crime but I'm sure it goes on, mainly housebreaking I'd guess. There are a few schools in town but I've no idea about their good or bad points.

Edited July 19, 2009 by a10ams

[BEENTHEREDONETHAT]

It has been a few years since I was in Samui but the people in HH seem friendlier to me. Don't think I talked to anyone in Samui who was from Samui.

The King having his summer palace in HH makes for good security and less problems than the average.

Immigration has always gone smoothly for us and they are friendly, if you are friendly.

Hospitals are not to great but you are only a couple of hours from BKK where you have a huge selection.

Rent for a year or so and you will be able to decide what area you like and if you change your mind about HH no big hassel.

[blackcountryboing]

Going to Hua Hin for my first time in a week or so. looking forward to it. I live up country but still like the break away and explore a bit of Thailand when I can.

From what I have read here, the things you are looking for are all the european refinements.

I have been to Samui already it was ok for a few days but not my idea of Thailand, its over influenced by European style.

Hopefully HH will be a bit of a change to this.

[The Vulcan]

You'll be amazed when/if you make the move to HH from Samui. I was.

Everything is so much better here. Total infrastructure in place. Banks, Immigration, Post office are all superbly efficient. Shopping, dining, relaxing is so much easier.

Noise - none. No blaring tuk-tuks and all night parties here.

Nice roads, easy access to almost everywhere.

Cheaper in most respects to Samui.

Higher quality of life for sure.

But if you're looking for action and thrills it may not be for you.

I spent 7 years on Samui and hated the last 5 years! I then spent 6 months and 12,500 kilometres travelling around the Country.

Hua Hin stood out a mile.

Edited July 20, 2009 by The Vulcan

[PatinBKk]

I can definatly say that HH beats Samui/Phuket/Pattaya hands down in every respect..previous post about health car...HH has a brand new hospitol and it is fantastic...I live in Cha am which I find better than HH but that is my opinion...Samui isnt situated very well...flights are dam_n expensive and taxis are 500-600 baht whatever, from the airport..trains and buses take an eternity and the theft on them is prevalent. Flooding is a major problem in Samui, I lived there almost 3 years and the only decent climate is Dec-April, forget the rest of the year...you wanna drive your Honda wave through 2 feet of water everyday...go there, just about everything is cheaper in HH compared to rip off samui...also you are not an an Island so travelling anywhere is so easy...many times in Samui I wanted a weekend away...couldnt do it unless I flew to BKK...a bus to Phuket takes almost 12 hours with all the messing around in Surat...I go to a restaurant on the beach in Cha am 3 adults, 2 kids, we have fish, prawns, crab, drinks and everything, cost about 900 Baht...**** in Samui that would be about 3,000....dont waste your time, Samui is a sick old sow, get yourself to HH Cha am and Pranburi, can promise you wont look back...and the bar girls in HH are not that old...it has a real buzzing nightlife now...actually superior to Samui

[Gary A]

Too many farangs there. Cha Am is quieter and cheaper.

[stevehaigh]

Too many farangs there. Cha Am is quieter and cheaper.

agreed, and the girls are younger than HH and the locals friendlier (if you speak Thai).

the big problem i have with that part of Thailand is the long dry season, i like green and for that you need rain. but you can't beat 3 hours drive to BKK versus the nightmare trip i have every time i leave Ko Phangan

[barryofthailand]

Does Hua Hin have a Cinema with English soundtracks? I am also curious if they have a bowling alley. We moved to Korat a year ago from Pattaya. The wheather is very good, but no Bowling, or English language movies. The two things I really enjoy.

Barry

[d0ndela]

Bowling alley: Yes, and it's a decent one.

English movie soundtracks: no! and it really pisses me of, I complained to them in there several times, and sent mails to their HQ in BKK, without luck needless to say

[maccaroni man]

Bowling alley: Yes, and it's a decent one.

English movie soundtracks: no! and it really pisses me of, I complained to them in there several times, and sent mails to their HQ in BKK, without luck needless to say

agree, one of the highs and lows for my family i.e. when the cinama was built and when we saw what they show; b movies and no english soundtrak but hey bkk is only a 2hr drive away.

just another example of how hua hin is the ugly step child to bkk.

[BEENTHEREDONETHAT]

Gary, Patin & Vulcan come on guys don't tell everybody about Cha Am pretty soon it will be like HH and all the places with to many farangs. Can't ya keep a secret? :D

[d0ndela]

They do show "proper" Hollywood movies, as in Terminator, Transformers, etc.

I just received the following in an email today:

Hi there,

In case you haven't seen it, AWOL is starting a campaign to try and get Major Cineplex to regularly screen the original soundtrack versions of movies at the Hua Hin Market Village cinema. There is an online petition to add your signatures to at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/English..._Hin/index.html

, so if you agree this should be pursued, please sign the petition and let everyone you know know about it - the more support the better.

Whether it will change anything who knows, but we have to try. More details can be found on the link above.

Many thanks and apologies for disturbing you, Steve

[hhfarang]

They do show "proper" Hollywood movies, as in Terminator, Transformers, etc.

I just received the following in an email today:

Hi there,

In case you haven't seen it, AWOL is starting a campaign to try and get Major Cineplex to regularly screen the original soundtrack versions of movies at the Hua Hin Market Village cinema. There is an online petition to add your signatures to at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/English..._Hin/index.html

, so if you agree this should be pursued, please sign the petition and let everyone you know know about it - the more support the better.

Whether it will change anything who knows, but we have to try. More details can be found on the link above.

Many thanks and apologies for disturbing you, Steve

They are currently (started yesterday I believe) screening the new Harry Potter movie in the original soundtrack several times a day on one of their screens. I believe this is an experiment by the management to see if people will go see an original English language soundtrack movie and if they get enough business on this one, they will probably keep it up. Unfortunately, show times, or even the fact that they are doing this is not advertised... info is by word of mouth only, so I suspect they will have mostly empty seats and say "there's no interest in original soundtrack English language movies here" and go back to movies dubbed in Thai.

So if you like original sound track movies and if you like Harry Potter movies, I suggest you make an effort in the next few days to get to the mall and see this one and just maybe they'll see that there are enough people here that want it to keep showing them in English.

[d0ndela]

That's just silly, but so typical

They shouldn't go all out and air several shows pr day in English, once a week or something would be fine by me, as long as it's the same night every week so we knew when to go to the cinema.

[maccaroni man]

That's just silly, but so typical

They shouldn't go all out and air several shows pr day in English, once a week or something would be fine by me, as long as it's the same night every week so we knew when to go to the cinema.

when the cinima first opened it had 1st run movies but that changed very quickly and then they began dubbing everything into thai. a very long time res of hh told me that as it is the second home to the big family that thai language is a sign of thai nationalisim. soooooo i guess that means the finns and sweeds are not as patriotic as all there movies are in english sound tracks of course they do seem to see the world as being something beyound their own boarders

[CDNinKS]

I was in Samui for a total of 6 months......that was how long I had prepaid for a house. Could not get out of there fast enough. Traffic, ferry, high prices, crowded, flooding, bad roads, ONE road. HH is far more civilized, but if you are into the wild night life scene then HH is probably not for you. Try Pattaya or Phuket.........

Edited August 13, 2009 by CDNinKS