Off The Rails in Hua Hin

You probably know that Hua Hin would not exist without the railway, and it was the construction of the southern line that created the need for a grand railway hotel to accommodate passengers overnight here before sleeper carriages were attached to long distance trains in around 1925. I’m lucky enough to be staying at it, now named the Centara Grand, but still owned by the SRT on a recently renewed long lease. It’s gloriously preserved, so much so that I can very much imagine myself sipping a drink in the Elephant Bar after a long and dusty steam train ride from Bangkok.

I have been talking about rail adventure whilst I have been here. Everyone seems to have ideas for future trips, but whilst I’m used to how to make it happen, I forget that most people need a bit of help to get started. It’s satisfying work. In fact it’s not work at all, it’s a pleasure. Any more fun and railway adventure planning would be declared a cult!

I’ve also discovered on this trip that the Inter Continental hotel down the beach has taken on a franchised model railway. Fun, but without purpose, as it doesn’t even transport passengers to the beach, however a ride around the gardens is great for the Insta generation. You even get a souvenir ticket that turns into a key ring.

It’s my first time in town seeing the new railway station in action, which looks good from afar – you can’t get onto the raised platform without a ticket, so the community feel has long gone. I am sad to see that what isn’t so good is the old station, now boarded up, bare and without purpose. There is a newly placed steam locomotive behind the now redundant tracks, but nothing else to keep it going as what was the biggest tourist attraction in Hua Hin. Urgent thinking is needed.

The biggest rail problem for me are the timings of the trains from Bangkok. The rather uncomfortable diesel rail cars can make the journey about an hour quicker than this time last year, but it’s an early start or a late finish. How can you persuade tourists to leave their hotel, taxi to the station, wait for their train, get their luggage onto the train, and find a taxi at Hua Hin station when a trip by road is about half the time and there is no issue with luggage? This needs sorting out as well if the run between Bangkok and Hua Hin can become better utilised. If you are headed back to Bangkok and don’t mind an early start the overnight trains from Hat Yai can be good, but be prepared for delays.

Life in Hua Hin is slow and relaxing, and I have quickly settled into a routine of train talks, massages and sessions of ice cold beer. Heaven!