Hua Hin is just a short little hop south from Phetchaburi, but it’s a much bigger town. There’s lots of traffic, lots of tourists, and lots of bars. That’s ok, though, because I’m not going to be spending much time in the city. Everything I came to see lies outside the city. It is nice to have a larger variety of restaurants though. There’s an amazing vegetarian cafe a couple of doors down from my hotel and I was able to satisfy my two week long craving for a burger. Thai food is delicious, but I needed a short break.

About half way between Phetchaburi and Hua Hin is the Cha Am Forest Park. It’s really a giant city park with paved running trails for joggers. The cool thing about this park, though, is the gibbons that reside in the trees. Supposedly they’re everywhere, but after walking every inch of that place, I was only able to find one right near the park entrance. Gibbons sing ridiculously loud. That’s the only reason I was able to find this one. I also saw this mystery snake. I have no idea what it is. Is it venomous? Aggressive? I tried not to get too close, but the pics came out pretty good anyway.

My first morning in Hua Hin it was pouring rain and didn’t really stop the whole time I was here. Because of that I didn’t get to do the main things I came for. They closed the cave temples I planned to visit on account of the rain and the big peak with astounding views I planned on climbing is only open on weekends and holidays. My visit was right in the middle of the week. I still managed to find a few things to occupy my time though.

Pa La-U Waterfall was on my planned list and I got to see a little less than half of it. There’s five levels to the falls, but they said the rain made it too dangerous past level two. Oh well, I’ll take what I can get. What I did get to see was really stunning!

This river is also full of fish, I mean really full! I even saw several jumping out of the water trying to swim up some of the falls like salmon. I wasn’t expecting that at all, but it was cool to see.

A very important place for the locals is Wat Huay Mongkol. It’s a giant statue of a 16th century monk named Luang Phu Thuad who supposedly went around performing miracles. The only example ever given is that he turned salt water into fresh water, though, but I guess that warrants a statue.

Hua Hin has its very own peak and lookout point, Khao Hin Lek Fai. This is also where the local scourge of dangerous monkeys hang out.

The monkeys look cute and well behaved, but thank the stars we have these signs to tell us the truth of their evil intentions. Anyway, If you’re willing to walk up here in defiance of the monkey menace, the view of Hua Hin is pretty incredible.

In my looking for alternative things to do, I found something called the Monkey Monument. There’s a small little shrine dedicated to someone on a military base. I never bothered to find out who. They let you on the base to visit the monument, though, and watch the resident dusky langurs in the trees.

It was pretty fun seeing something other than the macaques for a change. Everything I read about this place talked about how friendly and nice the langurs were, but then I arrived and saw this sign. Haha! They didn’t even bother to spell their name right. Poor little guys. So unfair!

These guys were fun to watch. When I first got there they were all just lounging and being boring. I was pondering leaving, but I went to go use the bathroom first and when I came back they were all on the move. They came lower into the trees, almost eye level, and were suddenly full of energy. There was probably twenty or twenty-five of them in total.

The base is right on the coast. For most of it you’re not allowed to stop, but they did have this one spot where you could get out and have a nice view of the Gulf of Thailand.

Finally, on the way back to Hua Hin I stopped at Rajabhakti Park. It’s just a vast expanse of cement with this monument to seven of Thailands most important kings in the middle. King Ram Khamhaeng of the Sukhothai period, King Naresuan and King Narai of the Ayutthaya period, King Taksin of the Thonburi period, and King Rama I, King Mongkut, and King Chulalongkorn.

That’s about it for Hua Hin. The almost constant rain while here really limited my activities and made this an extremely short post, but overall it wasn’t a bad stop. Now I have a very long drive further south to my next stop. I’ll be praying for less rain. Wish me luck…