Hua Hin News: The annual Hua Hin Jazz Festival is back and this year promises to be even better with three days of music at two separate venues. The dates of June 12 to 14 should be penciled into the diaries of anyone that enjoys good music and the ambiance of a beach festival. The lineup includes international artists Shakatak from the UK, Malene Mortensen from Denmark (pictured) and Popsanova from Brazil. Also in attendance will be performers from Japan, the Philippines and Malaysia and fifteen local Thai bands and musicians.

Hua Hin is expected to be jam packed over the festival weekend so it pays to book your accommodation early to avoid disappointment. Previous years have seen overcrowding problems as an incoming tide reduces the beach venue size; this year will be much better as the organisers have reverted back to a two stage event. The main stage is likely to be on the beach at the Sofitel with the second ‘Jazz Royale’ stage at the red cross park just down from Hua Hin railway station. For more information, lineups, schedules and images check out www.jazzfestivalhuahin.com and for discussion on the event take a look at the Hua Hin forum: Hua Hin Jazz Festival 2009.

British man murdered in Hua Hin
BREAKING APRIL 3: Hua Hin expatriate Nicolas Francis Knight, 64, suffered a lethal stab wound in his Khao Tao home on the evening of Wednesday April 1. According to reports by Thai newspaper, Thairath, the incident occurred as the British man confronted a burglar who was in the process of robbing his house. He died later in hospital. Police are currently investigating whether there were any previous connections between the man and his assailant. Further reading: [ Foreigner murdered in Hua Hin ].

Hua Hin Hot Topics - What Credit Crunch? Serenity descended on Hua Hin once more following last weekend’s Bangkok teenage party at the Honda Summer Music Fest on the beach in Khao Takiab. As expected organisation was shocking and the roads in and out of Hua Hin were gridlocked, there were reports of journeys of a couple of kilometers taking as many hours, even on a bike! Takiab beach the following day looked like the Lebanon and the sad fact is that a lot of the plastic discarded by revellers the night before will end up washed out to sea. Thai fishermen are bad enough with their polystyrene contributions to marine habitats, and teenagers with plastic bottles just compound a problem that nobody seems to care about. [ Read more » ]

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Asian PGA Tour comes to Hua Hin
HUA HIN NEWS: Hua Hin will host the Black Mountain Masters golf tournament as the Asian PGA comes to town. The four day competition runs from March 26 to 29 and features all of the big names on the Asian PGA along side many top ranking European players. The field of 156 players will be vying for a share of the 18 million baht prize money on offer.

Thai ace Thongchai Jaidee, a two-time Asian Tour Order of Merit winner who successfully defended his first European Tour title in 2005 to take him to two career European Tour crowns, will spearhead the hosts’ 15 leading golfers in the field. The Hua Hin Hotelier’s club will be hosting evening functions for the tournament participants, guests, and sponsors during the tournament week. The tournament will be broadcast throughout the region on ESPN and Star Sport. Organisers have appealed for volunteers to assist with scoring and marshalling during the four rounds around the 18 hole par 72 match venue.
Find out more [ Black Mountain Masters 2009 ].

Hua Hin shooting sparks bogus blame
Opinion: With almost 120,000 views at the time of writing the news of the arrests of four people in connection with the attempted murder of Hua Hin resident Don Whiting was broken to the English language media on HHAD and Hua Hin Report following its release on the Thai language media website Thairath last Tuesday.

Since then a flurry of armchair detectives, bar stool rumour mongers, and property developer pundits have flooded the board with their own version of events and opinions mostly derived from the writings of a few so called ‘investigators’ on other websites.

Their big question is the whereabouts of a Mr Darren Oxley, the owner of the development and farang husband of the woman arrested for the planning and paying for the shooting. UK media have also picked up on this story and have reported on some of Mr Oxley’s not so spotless past just to add a bit of spice to the story.

The attention shown on HHAD from people with otherwise very little interest in Hua Hin has been quite inexplicable. Also strangely baffling are the ludicrous accusations some of them have been making regarding the forum’s involvement in all of this. This comes about from one of the websites advertisers, a real estate agency, that severed ties with the accused in the middle of last year, well before the incident took place.

Some not so bright sparks have even made a fabricated connection between the colour schemes used for the agency and the website which only displays the galloping stupidity of individuals with too much time on their hands. HHAD was established in 2002 and the agency several years later in 2006, these keyboard cops could at least do a little research. They’ll be blaming local weekly paper AWOL next for carrying a HHAD logo on its front page!

Naturally other websites that have nothing to do with Hua Hin will open their doors (or web servers) to all kinds of rumour, hearsay, gossip, scandal and online bitch-fights to bump their own readership up and belittle their competitors who, being based in the town in question, need to show a little more consideration when publishing anything regarding local crimes that could be used in a court of law at a later date.

It is good to see that the police have finally swung into action following directives from the new PM (and three months of thumb twiddling) however, as the law dictates, everyone should be entitled to a fair trial, guilty or not … whether they show up for that trial remains the hot topic. [ More details and discussion ].

Arrests made over Hua Hin expat shooting
Hua Hin News 27 Jan: Hua Hin police have arrested three people in connection with the shooting of Hua Hin resident Donald Whiting last year. The brothers Yuthana and Samart Arisawat were reoprtedly connected with an un-named foreigner over a property desupte involving Mr Whiting. Ekanun Jitmahuma was also arrested as the driver of the getaway vehicle.

Latest: The wife of Hua Hin property developer Darren Oxley, a UK citizen, has also been arrested in connection with the crime. Junpen Yangyu, 31, was aprehended trying to cross the border into Cambodia. The Arisawat brothers fingered her for paying them 200,000 baht to carry out the shooting.

ASEAN summit moved to Hua Hin
Hua Hin News 8 Jan: The 14th Asean Summit will be held from February 27 to March 1 in Hua Hin. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday said threats by anti-government protesters to jeopardise the summit had been a key factor in deciding to move the meeting venue from Bangkok to here. It will be easy for relevant agencies to provide security in Hua Hin, he said. Abhisit said the Hua Hin summit would be limited to only the 10 Asean leaders, while follow-up meetings with dialogue partners, including the East Asia Summit, would be held in April.

The impact on the town remains to be seen, some are predicting traffic chaos and bar closures, others forsee a red shirt invasion and violence. One outcome is that Hua Hin will get greater international media coverage which can only be a good thing. [ Discuss this article ].

Hua Hin suffers as Thailand’s tourism collapses
Opinion: December 2008 - The festive season this year will not be so for many as the impact of recent political disturbances in Bangkok sends destructive ripples throughout Thailand’s tourism industry. TAT are predicting up to a 50% decline in the numbers of western tourists visiting the Kingdom in 2009, their figures have always been on the high side but there is no denying that this will be a long, quiet season where high turns to low.

Many observers have predicted price drops to encourage tourists to return but Hua Hin seems to be carrying on as usual. Some of the major hotels are suffering from occupancy as low as 25% yet still they are tripling their standard room rates for a ‘peak season’ that will not come this year. Prices across the board for things such as taxis, eating out, drinking and touring are still on the high side despite the recent fall in fuel costs. Greed maybe another nail in the coffin of the many Hua Hin businesses that cater to tourists.

The government are making things worse by clamping down on visas again right at the time when they should be encouraging foreigners to travel to Thailand. 30 day tourist entry stamps have now been reduced to 15 for border crossings, a move that surely baffles every one of the estimated four million local people working in the tourism industry in Thailand.

The hypocrisy of the battling yellow and red factions in Bangkok knows no bounds; the government and the protesters have collectively done more damage to Thailand financially than has been seen in recent years. Yet they both claim to be ‘for the people’. Thailand’s reputation internationally has been tarnished possibly beyond repair, and those in power still make life difficult for foreigners wanting to spend money in Thailand. One has to ask the question if anyone up there making the decisions really cares.

Hua Hin expat gunned down on doorstep
Hua Hin News 28 Oct: A US citizen permanently residing in Hua Hin has been shot on his own doorstep in what appears to have been an attempt on his life. Donald Whiting opened his front door on the evening of Friday 24th to investigate a suspicious looking vehicle, later described as a bronze coloured Toyota Vigo, outside his house when the gunmen struck. He was hit twice in the chest, one bullet puncturing his lungs, the other going through his stomach into his spine.

He was rushed to hospital to undergo surgery and on Sunday moved to Bangkok where his situation was described as critical several days later. If he survives the surgery he is likely never to walk again.

Mr Whiting was very vocal about troubles he and his wife, also a US citizen, had endured with property developers and the construction of what was to be their dream home in Hua Hin. He often sought media attention to highlight some of the problems foreigners can have with developers in Hua Hin and in doing so attracted a lot of attention. Earlier this year he suffered a firebomb attack which gutted his Honda Jazz (as reported on Hua Hin Report).

A legal case with one well known Hua Hin developer was reported by the local Thai Rath newspaper to be approaching. Whether the incidents are connected remains to be seen however all of Hua Hin’s foreign community should be hoping that the authorities are doing all in their power to bring the perpetrators of this tragic incident to swift justice.

There is a growing list of messages of support on the Hua Hin Forum.

Political turmoil torments trade and tourism in Hua Hin
Hua Hin News: Recent political events have created ripples in Thailand’s tourism industry which is one of the Kingdom’s primary sources of revenue. Towns such as Hua Hin have also felt the squeeze as many visitors have cancelled holidays fearing clashes between pro and anti-government protestors will spill out onto the streets of tourist hot spots. This view is not helped by hyped up western media reports.

What little violence there has been was limited to the odd skirmish on the odd day in the capital city, Bangkok. The protests have been largely peaceful. One or two domestic airports were closed in the south by anti-government protestors but Hua Hin has seen no evidence of anything amiss … on the surface.

The big impact to a town such as Hua Hin is loss in revenue due to a slow decline in tourism and business in the area. Despite statistics touted by TAT figures are definitely down as confirmed to Hua Hin Report by a number of local and expat business owners and managers. Many support the PAD fearing that the current administration will continue to do all it can to restrict both locals and foreigners doing business with their often draconian, ever increasing, and regularly shifting bureaucratic regulations.

A number though are against the anti-government movement and ‘bad for business’ is a phrase we often hear describing the current situation and its likely outcomes. From a tourist’s standpoint nothing has changed but for those trying to make a living in the bustling little hub of Hua Hin the struggle continues.

Hua Hin's expats get fired up
News In Brief: The current theme of the moment in Hua Hin appears to be violent crime as news of yet another attack upon a foreign resident comes in. Earlier this month it was reported that a vehicle was set ablaze in a quiet residential area in the middle of the night. According to local police it marks the first incident of this nature to occur in the otherwise serene city of Hua Hin. The victim, a US citizen, was startled by his dog barking alerting him to the burning car, his Honda Jazz (pictured). Calls to the local police and fire department were fruitless due to communication problems so the victim doused the fire himself with a garden hose fearing that the petrol tank would ignite.

A number of reports also indicate that the incident could be connected with an on-going dispute between the victim and another foreign national over a property deal, details of which have been posted on a number of local and national forums and other overseas websites, however their authenticity can not be verified.

Hua Hin: Thieving flourishes on falling economy
Hua Hin News: We reported on climbing crime in Hua Hin a couple of months ago and are sad to report that the trend is still increasing. The number of reported break-ins and burglaries are up as opportunists become more desperate to fight the rising cost of living. Economic woes are the worry of many as fuel and rice prices continue to climb with little light at the end of the financial tunnel.

Foreigners are often seen as a soft target in Hua Hin as home security measures are occasionally overlooked, many homes are left vacant, and the potential bounty for the would-be thief is far greater. For many years seen as a “Paradise City” Hua Hin is rapidly becoming a haven for brazen bandits looking to make a quick baht from the pickings of prosperous foreigners. Sadly the local constabulary tends to offer very little in the way of assistance to foreigners who are often seen as being far enough above the bread-line not to worry about a missing laptop or jewelry. 

This leaves us pretty much alone in the battle against burglars. Increasing our general awareness and home and personal security seems to be the only measure in a town where the law offers little comfort to the alien.

Crime is not limited to burglary though; the canal road heading north of Hua Hin has become a recent hot-spot of activity where several people have been attacked by teenagers on motorcycles late at night. The stick brandishing thugs tend to target foreigners so be on your guard if you have to travel along this road which is lined with local karaoke bars often entertaining those that should be ‘protecting and serving’.

With office break-ins, personal attacks, house burglaries and even a car firebomb attack all happening in the last month it seems that this insidious trend is rising as quick as the prices that maybe fuelling it.

Hua Hin News : On The Grapevine