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Wish You Were Here: Thailand's Royal Resort Town of Hua Hin

September 6, 2011 at 1:05 PM | by | Comments (2)

Maruekatayawan. Say it three times fast!

This palace—a summer residence built in 1923 by Thailand's King Rama VI—was where we spent our long Labor Day weekend. Kinda. Okay, not technically since we were chilling at the Anantara Hua Hin down the street, but being in the town of Hua Hin and thus nearby the former royal summer palace still counts for something!

In fact, the Thai people have been flocking to this resort town on the Gulf of Thailand since the king roughly drew the outline of his dream palace in the beach sand. Instead of royalty frolicking in the balmy waters, there's now young families down from Bangkok for the weekend, or foreigners looking for an alternative to Phuket and Koh Samui. Their palaces? The lush, sprawling resorts which may not be all teak and open air like Maruekatayawan, but sure boast more pools and fruity cocktails than any palace anywhere (period).

A visit to this stunning piece of vintage royal architecture is no problem by taxi or tuk tuk from the majority of the Hua Hin area. Plus, it's only about 30 THB ($1) per person to enter and walk the grounds, where you will perhaps pass a humid day drinking iced Chrysanthemum tea and pretending to be trapped in a lush Thai version of The Great Gatsby.

To tell you the truth, Hua Hin is only the beginning of our Thailand adventures. Stay tuned for more tidbits leading up to a big Bangkok Week and maybe an additional beach or two.

Disclosure: Our visit to Hua Hin is as a guest of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, but rest assured that all opinions and photos presented are completely our own.

[Photos: Cynthia Drescher for Jaunted]

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thailand

looks beautiful, but these pictures must have been taken on a rainy day, the beach doesn't look as good as i'd expect thai beaches!
dullo1 on September 7, 2011 at 11:55 AM #Permalink

kinda

It is a rainy day, but this beach doesn't look like the Thai beaches of travel porn because it's not used anymore. It was for the royals only and now it's just part of the palace land. No swimming here, but other beaches you can.
JetSetCD on September 7, 2011 at 12:17 PM #Permalink

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