Bangkok - Hua Hin

It is becoming more popular for visitors to Bangkok to visit Hua Hin. This is not a new shopping mall or night market, but one of the eight districts of Prachuap Khiri Khan Province. By road, it is 199km south-south-west of Bangkok.

There are a few ways to get from Bangkok to Hua Hin, all depending on your level of comfort and budget.

Minibus or Minivan to Hua Hin
Cheapest way is to take the public minibuses. These minibuses or minivans can be found at Victory Monument, leaving approximately every half hour from 4am to 6pm. In practice, the minibus or minivan will depart once it is full. Price is expected to be around 180Baht (S$7), time travel is 2.5-3 hours. One thing to note, if you are carrying bulky luggage, then the driver may ask you to buy an extra seat for it. Each minivan usually accommodates up to 10 pax per trip.

Train to Hua Hin
Most trains leave Bangkok to Hua Hin from Hua Lamphong and Bang Sue Railway Stations, between 8am to 10pm daily. However, the traveling time is around 4 hours, price at 100Baht (S$4). Read on many travel sites, traveling by train to Hua Hin is really not the best option, with longer traveling time and not so comfortable seats, this option is not the best.

Taxi (private cars) to Hua Hin
Private taxis are easily assessable in Bangkok. This is also my personal recommendation for traveling to Hua Hin. Prices ranging from 1,800Baht (S$70) to 3,000Baht (S$116), traveling time is about 2.5 hours. Do your own research, but we hired Mr Toom who is quite well known for his good services, reasonable charges and very reliable.
Mr Toom 081-482-7148 toom@39msn.com.

Chartered plane to Hua Hin
The only way I heard of if you want to fly in from Bangkok to Hua Hin, is to book with InterContinental Hua Hin Resort. The hotel provides a chartered place service for 50,000Baht (S$1941) one-way, which is only a 35mins journey. The plane sits 6 guests, so if you are traveling with friends, that is approximately 8,400Baht (S$326) per pax.

 

So we were staying in InterCon Hua Hin, but we definitely did not chartered the private plane.

A spacious connecting room for our family of four. The girls had their own beds and open concept bathroom.

 

The pool view we have from the rooms.

Kless and my room has a slightly different layout, with a separate living space from the bedroom, this becomes our common space for meals or TV time.

Too bad the bed was queen size but the pillow selections was a pamper.

The bathroom was also an open concept for us, personally I still prefer to have some privacy when I’m taking my bath.

We were housed at the new wing – BluPort Wing. So to get to the main building, we need to cross over via the connecting overhead bridge, which makes the stay a bit more exclusive.

Taking a stroll from our rooms to the beach after a nice meal.

 

The girls prefer the cooler water at the pool, which is also safer cos the waves along the beach was pretty rough.

Thankfully both Kless and I are not the adventurous type, we are happy to just take photos of the people trying out the Para-sailing acts. For the adventure-seeking peeps, this is sure a hit.

We are cool with just a selfie.

A good night’s rest and breakfast beckons.

There are a few note-worthy places to visit in Hua Hin.

Santorini Park Cha-Am
Classic whitewashed buildings with colorful painted windows. (photos from the web)

 

Cicada Market
Art, handmade crafts, all in an open air market. The market is only opened on Friday-Sunday. (photos from the web)

 

Plearn Wan Shopping Village
Plearn Wan is a themed shopping complex located not far from Klai Kang Won Palace. The unique brown wooden building features cafes, shops and some guestrooms decorated in the 1960s Thai style. (photos from the web)

Kless and I visited the Hua Hin Railway Station while the girls spent their afternoon at the hotel’s Kids Club.

Check out the old railway train counter. Seriously, I didn’t think I would see this again ever since the Tanjong Pagar Station was closed in Singapore.

We arrived just in time to see a train pulling in. Surprisingly, there were a lot of people who alighted.

There were a few shutter bugs like us too.

And since you are there, if you are looking for some souvenirs or maybe just a cup of coffee , try out the Hua Hin Coffee Station. Don’t expect gourmet coffee but good enough to quench the thirst or addiction.

 

Traveling back home or to some other places.

Last but not least, is the Hua Hin Night Market. Situated in the centre of town between Petchkasem Road and the railway line, the market encompasses one street and comes to life after 6.30pm.

The fish spa here is only 100Baht for 15mins. It was so good, the girls tried it for 2 nights in a row.

Like mentioned, the night market is not as big as those in Bangkok, but little as it may seems, the products are actually much more unique and we spent more here than the markets in Bangkok.

Just right up the market street, we found a tucked away little room that sells drinks. Fruit juices and various types of cocktails. A prefect place to rest the tired legs and enjoy some quiet time.

In fact, the girls spent their resting time talking about their school lives like a couple of adults.

It was a great trip again to Bangkok and Hua Hin. Any trip with the family is always a blessing.

Comeback Run

So it was, on a random night out with friends, one of them casually mentioned about a railway race, and I thought it would be interesting to give it a try. The following day, a group of 4 runners were formed, whatsapp group created, we submitted our particulars. Viola, the race is on!

Winding the clock back almost 4 years to the year 2012, when I ran my last race before I gave up due to a knee injury. I was 38 then and had a dream to complete a Full Marathon before 40. I have done 3 Half Marathon races, a couple more 10km runs, so I thought I was on track to fulfill the dream. Never a person to run for personal glory (aka best timing), but if I can just finish a 42km run, the achievement will be something.

However, age caught up faster than I expected. My knees, especially the left knee has been giving me problems and pains for a while. To cut the long story short, after a MRI and several physio sessions, my doctor advised me to stop running totally. I can still play certain sports but running will bad for my knees, and in the worst case scenario, surgery is needed. So end of running, end of dream. So I thought.

Coming back to just last Sunday. I overcame the hurdle of my knee injury and completed my first 10km race in the last 4 years. Thanks to Benjamin, Yong Siang and John, we bashed through the Compressport Rail Corridor Run 2016.

To be honest, I was enticed by the idea of running along the Rail Corridor route. I have been to the stations at Bukit Timah and Tanjong Pagar for photo shoots, but never travel on foot along the former railway tracks. It could bring back memories of the past when we were still kids, taking the train from Singapore to Malaysia.

Among the 4 runners in the group, I am probably the only one who has not been running as much, but the irony started right from the race pack collection day. All 3 of them totally forgot to collect their race pack. Only me who is the most excited (like a child), did the collection.

The race pack is a simple one, with the usual drawstring bag and some pamphlets inside. The new thing was a pair of Compressport socks. This will be my first pair of running socks, so pro.

 

Since the day we signed up for the race, I have been running pretty regularly, 2-3 times per week, each run is about 4-6km. During these runs, my stamina is still okay (thanks to the gym workouts and spinning classes), but the worrying thing were  the knees. Every time I ran, the pain will slowly surface when I reach the 5km mark. But amazingly, the last 2 runs 2 weeks ago, I was able to complete 5km without any pain, and break in between each run was only 1 day. I think I have cleared the psychological barrier.

Final week before the race. I was planning to keep my routine runs simple and light. Then on Tuesday, I was down with fever, flu and cough. It dragged on till Saturday night. I was even contemplating to skip the race. How can I complete the race with fever and a cough?

Well, the fact was, I recovered from the fever and flu in time for the race. But the cough is still my biggest challenge.

Super charged up just to see the thousands of runners getting ready. From the host, we knew that there were a few Kenya runners and Singapore’s own best Marathon runner, Mok Ying Ren were all present. So what he was trying to tell us was to give up on the podium places. Of course right? What a joke?

The weather was great, in fact too hot for a run. Starting at 9am was not a good plan. Organizers, please take note.

Starting point was at Bukit Timah Railway Station and the ending point was at Tanjong Pagar Railway Station. So all who brought along bags will have to deposit at the “truck” stations, where it will be transported to the ending for us.

The before flag off photo. We looked fresh and ready to go.

 

Starting Point. Can you see the muddy roads? That was what we are going to run on for the entire 10km race. I pity myself and my shoes, becos I will be washing it after the run.

 

The first 3km was the toughest. I seriously thought of quitting when I reach the half way point. The heat was merciless and adding on my constant cough, I was running with heavy breathing right from the start. But the word “discipline” popped up in my mind and I knew immediately that was the purpose of this run.

Taken nearing the 4km mark.

Slowly the hot sun relented a bit and we had some wind. Just when I thought everything will be fine now, the course started to show us its true self. Little did we know because of rain 2 days before the race date, the road will be so muddy and ponded. Needless to say, my feet were soaked with mud water for the last 3km.

Along the way, we passed by some shelters like under the bridge or roads, and this particular under bridge shelter had a very nice wall graffiti. Pardon the tired face.

After 1 hour 33 mins 11 secs, I completed my 10km run. According to my Runkeeper app, the total distance covered was 10.99km. So that means I reached my target of running 10km within 90mins!

Oh, did I mention that my knee started to give me problem on the 6km mark? Guess, I have to do more strengthening in future. On to the next run!