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Three hours' drive south of Bangkok - on a typically terrifying journey of
near-misses - is the town of
Hua Hin, little more
than a shop-lined wide spot in the road for most tourists. But though the
islands of southeast Thailand are becoming a clutter of beach bungalows and
you are likely to run into your neighbours in formerly quiet islands such as
Ko Samet and Ko Chang off to the east of Bangkok, Hua Hin is coming into its
own.
The area has all the cliches we love about Thailand - friendly people,
beautiful beaches, temples, cheap bars and good restaurants. But it also has
something more - a lack of sleaze and a royal blessing.
Hua Hin, with a population of 35,000, was where the Thai royal family
built their summer palace in the 1920s. Even now the King and Queen spend
much of the year in area.
Although Hua Hin is no longer a quiet fishing village, there is still
something of an undiscovered quality about it.
I'd never heard of it until I turned up to wander its beaches and streets
and luxuriate in one of the finest hotels I've ever enjoyed. I came home
having achieved very little other than a tan and a working knowledge of
elephant polo.
This being the domain of the King, a moratorium has been placed on
high-rises. That's good, because the Hua Hin area which is next to
Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park, is to be treasured for the leisurely
pace.
Hua Hin is the kind of place that slows you down. The town itself isn't
much, just the usual aggregation of cheap tailors and electronics shops,
restaurants and a market that comes alive at night. And there are still
plenty of modest accommodation options. Comfortable mid-range
hotels
go for $30 to $40 a night, but the high end is particularly well catered
for.
The Anantara Resort and Spa, the new Veranda Resort and Spa, Springfield
Village Golf Spa, the Hua Hin Golf Village, Casa del Mare and others aim for
those who have the money to luxuriate in secluded and quiet rooms, often
with a private pool just outside the door.
For $1500 a week you can get a luxury two-bedroom serviced apartment with
a pool and cable television, and only 50m from the beach. For those who want
to get just that little further out of Hua Hin, there's the beach-kissed
Evason Spa and Resort, 40 minutes south. Here you can idle away your days
beside the huge pool, swim in the warm ocean, and watch the squid boats at
night. And although there are 145 guestrooms, the tropical setting of
gardens and pools, wooden walkways and spacious dining areas make the place
quiet and restful even when fully booked.
No cars are allowed past the main gate. From there, small and silent
electric vehicles take guests around.
The Evason chain is scrupulously environmentally friendly. Even the
flowers you see on the tables and in your room are not plucked from the
trees but picked up from around the property.
In the holistic Six Senses Spa, where ancient Ayurvedic principles are
combined with modern knowledge, you can be pampered and massaged, given
facials and beauty care, and experience herbal remedies that get that jaded
and battered body back in balance.
This resort has an extensive wine cellar, a DVD movie library, and three
extraordinarily good restaurants.
The Evason is also child-friendly. The Just Kids area has its own
swimming pool and entertainment programme for little ones, and supervised
sleepovers can be arranged.
Should you wish to tone up or get physical, there are sailing,
windsurfing and snorkelling trips, plus mountainbike and hiking adventures.
I never made it to the royal palace. But I couldn't imagine the King and
Queen could live much better than I did at the Evason.
My suspicion is that people mostly go to the Evason to do what I did -
lie around, swim and then, at the end of the day, sit on the upper floor of
the open-air bar and gaze vacantly at a blue ocean turning turquoise then
black, while someone brings you drinks.
The genial manager liked my idea of a writer-in-residence scheme as the
hotel's point-of-difference in the luxury market. But unfortunately I never
heard any more about it.
The Evason Hua Hin Resort and Six Senses Spa defines itself by its
exceptional service and attention to detail. You find yourself taking
photographs of small things, like lotus plants in the corners, the shimmer
of clouds reflected in the pool, and lizards sunning themselves or under the
lights at night waiting for a fly-by meal.
The extraordinary thing is that while this kind of sumptuousness is
indulgent and discreet, nearby is a newly opened and even more private
Evason spa that is is one step further up the ladder in luxury.
If that is possible.
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