A few years back when I first moved to Hua Hin, I was one of its youngest residents as the majority of foreigners here were on retirement visa with a 2nd home to come to during the winter months to get away from the cold winter in there home countries. Since then younger families have been moving here either to work in hotels, start there own company, works as teachers (esp. with the many new schools for international kids opening) or have have a job where they can work anywhere as long as they have a decent internet line.

One service reflecting the trend of younger families moving from other countries or even Bangkok was the recent opening of “Bright Child”, a mother and baby play group.

Here they can meet other mothers in the area, have a support group and make new friends.

Bright child is for kids aged 0-3 in an atmosphere to stimulate children through play with carefully chosen toys. They have a special baby area and for the older ones an area with more challenging games and activities to stimulate the child’s imagination.

Bright Child is owned and operated by an experienced London specialist with credentials.

The center is located on the 3rd floor of the Market Village Shopping Mall and is open daily from 10.30am to 12:30pm and 1pm to 3pm. It is just opposite Kiddy land.

If you need more information, contact Emma at 0870489558.

Happy Playing!

Living in Hua Hin just got even better with the opening of the new “Plearn Wan” museum on Petchkasem road and is open from 11am to 10pm weekday and 9am to midnight on week-ends. It is located a little north from the Palace.

The museum is a mix of attractions with parks, shops, relics and entertainment from days past when times were simpler.

This is a great day out with the kids as the concept of the museum is to “play and learn at the same time” which also translates to “Plearn”, part of the museum’s name.

Visit soon and you and the whole family will have a great time…I would also reccomend it as a place to bring a date!

Recently I took a trip to Phenom Penn, Cambodia for a little getaway with my wife. We had a great time and all went well. However a little event took place which got me thinking as to why it’s so important to use a real-estate agent when searching for a house or condo to rent in a foreign country. We were walking along the Riverside, a popular tourist area, and a young boy came up to me offering to sell me a local paper. I like to read, especially local material with stories and adverts about things to do in a city. When I quickly looked at the paper’s price, it was 80 cents and of course the paperboy had no small money so I just gave him a dollar and said keep the change. I put the paper in my bag and decided to give it a read later as we were planning on going to The Java Coffee house & Art Gallery after our Tuk Tuk tour of the city. Arriving at the coffee house, I ordered what I think is one of the best cups of coffee I have ever had and took out my paper to see what was happening in the city during our stay. On closer inspection, the original price of the paper was actually 30 cents and the boy had used a black marker to add to half loops to make it 80 cents! Little bugger paper boy I thought, he made 70 cents off of me and then I noticed on the news rack at the coffee shop they were offering it for free, double whammy….now I really felt like a tourist! Ok so I didn’t lose my cool and go looking for the boy but it did get me thinking about little tricks like these on a bigger scale that can easily happen to unsuspecting newcomers to Hua Hin, a little naive in how things work here. After the contract is signed and deposits payed, there is no going back and before you know it, your budget is out of whack, leaving you with less money for other activities you had planned to do.

An agent can explain to you what the standard security deposits are depending on the property you will be renting, standard market prices based on the length of contract, municipal vs. development electric & water charges, common area services fees, reasonable pool & garden costs, is there a phone line, how & where to subscribe for internet (TTT Maxnet vs. TOT lines) or cable TV (Hua Hin Cable vs. UBC) connections and the various packages offered for various internet speeds and channels.
We also have local knowledge and will update you on the best and safest areas to live in so as to ensure a comfortable and hassle free stay during your time in this Royal Paradise town.

It just makes sense to use an agent as the service is free to you and our commission is payed by the owner. Because we have relationships with the owners, we are able to negotiate better prices and inform you what is normally included in the price of the rental, reducing the number of possible additional costs keeping more money in your pocket!

Besides the new business we get from our website, about 40% of our current contracts come from re-peat customers or referrals and our testimonials support our commitment to finding great rentals based on your lifestyle needs, matching your specifications and budget.

Some people may think we are only in the business of finding rentals for our customers but we are a curious bunch working here at Hua Hin Finder and get great satisfaction from sharing all the other things we discover while hunting for new properties to list for you.

A new theme park for dogs has been set up by Mars Petcare at Wat Khao Iti Sukhato in Hua Hin. The pet care company donated some modified exercise equipment for dogs to be trained in jumping, walking, sitting, crouching and crawling. We had heard a rumor a while back that Sing Beer was going to buy a Disney franchise and open it between Hua Hin and Cha-am, maybe this is the test run and the dogs are being trained as a circus act for the possible new theme park in the future. All kidding aside, the main idea is to train the stray dogs to be more obedient before families come to adopt them. The total number of dogs at the center is around 1,800 and it costs over 1 million baht per year to pay for food, equipment and trainers.

The new immigration office is finally up and running located in the old Thonburi-Hua Hin Hospital on soi 23. It will now be more convenient than before as the old immigration office was seriously a bumpy ride up soi 102. The new location will cut your travel time by 20-30 minutes.

Hua Hin is 100 years old and the local municipality will be organizing the Hua Hin 2009 Triathlon to commemorate it. The triathlon will be held on August 30th. It will include 3 categories of competition for the swimming, cycling and running disciplines. First, 750 meter swim, 20km bike, 5km run. Second, 1.5km swim, 50km cycling, 5km run. Thirdly, 2km swim, 60km bike, and 10km run. If you would like to register, contact the Bureau of Tourism at 032-532-43433 ext. 100.

Most of us have placed a classified ad at one time or another, sometimes with quick results or none at all. In 2003 the market for classifieds in the US was $15.9 billion (newspapers), $ 14.1 billion (online) and $100 billion (both print & online) worldwide (Source: Kelsey Research Group). Out of all these billions of dollars of classifieds, how many actually get the results the sellers intended? Possibly before the internet when most households would get the local morning paper, this was a great way to place your ad with a relatively high success rate because the classifieds were reaching the people in the community you lived in and even easier for the buyer and seller to meet up to make a deal. Not so anymore as print classifieds have dropped by 35% in 2009 and internet classifieds have jumped up 42%. If you’re looking to buy or sell you need to be online!

In the past it was easy as most towns or cities only had one or two newspapers to choose from, making it simple to place your classified or possibly find what you wanted. Now with hundreds of sites, some dedicated only to classifieds and others offering a classified section as part of their website, buyers and sellers need to put a little more thought into where to place their classifieds to get results. For instance, some classified websites are only dedicated to advertising cars and nothing else.

The good news is most of the legwork in finding the best sites to sell or buy is done by search engines if you know the right key words to punch into the search box. Google is the most popular by far but other do exist, Yahoo, Dogpile, Ask Jeeves to name a few.

Here is an example of how you may get more results if you are trying to sell some furniture after living in a foreign country for a few years and are getting ready to move on. On our website, www.huahinfinder.com we have a classified section. So let’s say you have a few beds, a dining table, etc.., placing your classifieds on our site may get you quicker results as new clients who will be moving to Hua Hin browse our site for rental properties and may also need an extra bed, they are likely to check out our classified ads as it is right there on the site making it convenient to have a quick browse..It just makes sense.

Other popular classified sites in Thailand are www.bahtsold.com , http://bangkok.craigslist.co.th , www.bkkok.com & http://www.thaivisa.com to name a few.

Dolphin Bay is located about 40km south of Hua Hin and is becoming more popular as a week-end getaway for local residents of Hua Hin, both Thai & Foreigner. If you have never been there, it is worth taking a few days to look around as it has many hidden gems to find and explore.

I have been coming here for nearly ten years and still love the area for its natural beauty and charm. It is originally and still very much is a fishing village where you can still see many boats lit up along the coast in the evenings.

The area has about 5 local restaurants where you can have a seafood feast at a minimal expense. If you prefer dining in a resort, you can choose Dolphin Bay Resort, Angsana, Blue Beach Resort, and Privacy Beach. All offer Western and Thai menus. Either way you don’t need to spend a lot to eat well here.

Activities are numerous for all ages. You can rent bicycles or motorcycles from several resorts or shops on the main road, and bike or drive to the national park, Sam Roy Yot, just a few km away and either go hiking to the many caves or hire a kayak and paddle through the fisherman’s canals while seeing over 200 species of birds or monkeys nestled along the lime stone mountains along its waterways. And of course the long white sandy beaches are great for leisurely walks and to collect a few seashells as mementos. You can also hire a fishing boat for the day and bring home your catch and have your own seafood BBQ right on the beach. As well a mini putt golf course has opened. Maybe practice your putting there before trying out the 9 hole municipal golf course. The fees are ridiculous cheap!
If you fall in love with the area as I did and consider having a holiday home here the choices are much better than before. Already built is Talay Tara with units available to rent or buy. As well a new Eco friendly development, Barefoot, will be building its first show home in August 2009.What makes this project unique is the homes are moveable should you want to re-locate on let’s say a mango farm nearby or build there to begin with. Another one of my favorites is called Dolphin Bay Pool Villas. They have one unit left in Phase 1 and will be building an additional 4 units in Phase 2.As well some re-sell houses are now available and they are definitely great value for money at the moment. They will definitely be worth more in the next few years.

The local people in the area, both Thai & foreigner are friendly and laid back and will go out of their way to give you a helping hand if needed or a simple smile saying hello. This area exemplifies the term “Land of Smiles”.
If I have sparked any interest or curiosity in you, please contact me anytime to have a chat if you are planning your next family vacation and want more exact details about the area and its places to stay or have any questions about owning a house from a local himself.

In our ongoing quest to update you on the newest and best events and activities in Hua Hin, here are some of my picks for you to possibly enjoy on your own or with friends and family.

New Places to Eat Out

-Costanera Tapas Bar located in the new Soho area of Hua Hin, 53/5 Naresdamri Rd.

-Madame Nu Vietnamese Restaurant on corner soi 88/1 for an inexpensive noodle and beef dish for only 95.00THB. The atmosphere and all white decor are pleasant and very clean. I also like there Air Plus concept, serving breakfast in airline trays as a new idea…its fun with the kids!

-Pizza Casa Mia is the best pizza in town at very affordable prices. Located on Nongplub Rd. (aka pal-u rd.) About 2 km heading west form the 3-way intersection. You can also call for delivery, 032-535-332. You can visit their website for more, www.casa-mia.asia I highly recommend the Campagnola pizza or meat salad entree. They also offer homemade ice cream!

Shops

-Hua Hin Thai Antique Shop located down Hua Hin Soi 55 all the way down to Naresdamri Rd. You can find such things as silver jewelry, old train and bus tickets, Old Thai bank notes, (original souvenirs!), toys, lunch boxes, furniture, and a bunch more treasures to hunt for!

-Vintage Shop in Cha-am just opened. Turn right at the first set of lights to go down the beach Rd. (East) and drive down about 1km and it is on the right hand side.
Places to Visit

Secluded Beach Area:

This secret beach is normally known by Thais but not foreigners. Suan Son Pradipaht Beach (Sea Pine Tree Garden Beach) is owned by the Army Welfare Office and is open to the public. It is at Km 241 south (8km) of Hua Hin.

Wellness

Physio-Therapy & Sport Massage:

There are many massage shops to choose from in Hua Hin but very few offer unique sport massages to work out repetitive muscle stains from sports. Down Soi 88/1 is the Hua Hin Physiotherapy Clinic to get you back in top form to play the sports you love at reasonable rates.

Sukkarsart Institute

Interested in Chinese medicine? The Institute offers Chinese Traditional courses in alternative medicines. The course outline includes; basic Ying & Yang Concepts, the five phases of transformation, basic diagnosis methods, essential Chinese acupuncture, major Chinese herbs, basics of Chinese nutrition and simple medical Qi gong.

As well they offer Therapeutic Bodywork. This is a multi-level healing treatment, combining gentle assisted stretching and compression through meditative rocking movements. To get more details, prices for both the Chinese Medicine and Bodywork courses, you can call 081-858-3823.

One of the biggest yearly party events in Hua Hin is just around the corner, The Hua Hin Jazz Festival from 12 to 14th June 2009. Two stages will be erected, one in front of the Sofitel on the beach and the other at Phon Kingpetch Memorial Park. In addition to the live jazz, an exhibition to commemorate His Majesty the King and his jazz ability will be set-up at the local Hua Hin Train Station.
The Hilton has come up with what I think is a more than usual creative idea here in Hua Hin; Thailand’s First Poolside Cinema. Once a month the hotel will opens its doors to allow guests to come and watch some of the latest films at the box office. It will officially be called “Cinematic Splash”. See Hua Hin Hilton website for when the next cinema party happens.

Recently I was driving down soi 94 and took notice of a new business with an eye catching name, “Let’s Go Potty”. The owner, Ghan, got the idea to open her shop when she went back home to the far east of Thailand to visit her family. Nearby, on the Cambodian Border, a small family business was making handmade pots and statuettes from local natural resources. Ghan was inspired to open the shop as she had never seen anything like it, “they are like having pieces of art in your home”. The pots and sculptures are very reasonably priced between 1000 to 3000THB. Definitely worth driving by and having a look sometime.

Finally the Putahracsa Boutique Hotel on Naebkehard Road will be featuring and Art Exhibition by Jackie B. On Thursday the 7th of May from 7-9pm in the Conference Hall. The works focus on color theory, morphology and space.

Each day I meet with owners needing some guidance in setting a rental price for their houses or condos during this economic town turn to attract long term lessees. Essentially our role as brokers is to create deals where both parties are satisfied and currently owners need to make more concessions to attract long term tenants.

One immediate concession is to ask the owner to reduce their prices. At the present time, prices have dropped by 25-35% on most rentals. So let’s say a house was renting for 45,000THB, it is reasonable to ask for 8-10,000.00THB off in price on a one year lease.

With many houses available at the moment, the competition between owners to get good tenants on a long term lease is much more than before and owners need to include additional amenities to ensure the deal closes.

Normally when renting a house, it would be up to the tenant to pay for UBC cable, internet, gardening or pool maintenance if any, and cleaning services to name a few. As it stands, all tenants must pay for their own water and electric usage.

More clients are asking for free internet and cable in addition to the rent decrease than before and owners are agreeing. As for pool and gardening, most owners pay a yearly fee to a management company to do the needed maintenance and this is often already included in the rental price.

Many owners in the past would rather let their house or condo sit empty until they got the price they wanted but this is no longer a feasible possibility with more supply than demand at the moment in Hua Hin.

Some other points owners should consider in attracting more clients is to really fully furnish the house and upgrade old appliances or electronics. Make sure 2 sets of sheets are available instead of just one and add a few extra pillows, a new crockery and dishware set will make a world of difference, as well as a coffee maker or kettle, toaster and microwave. Two items clients really like are a flat screen TV with DVD player and a washing machine. These small investments by the owner will keep the tenant happy and may help in keeping your tenant from looking elsewhere.

In conversation with an owner last week, he said he had 2 new houses, both fully furnished, for sale but was considering renting them out as no one had approached him for quite some time to buy. I said it is better to have the house occupied than vacant to make sure the house does not deteriorate. This is also a very good reason why owners should get a tenant as quickly as possible; to make sure the house does not get the “Abandoned Orphan” look which makes it even more difficult to sell later.

The main topics for most of my recent articles have been about places to eat or activities to do in Hua Hin, Thailand. Living in an area with fun activities and great places to eat are important but today I want to share with you something I’ve been overlooking, the long stayers coming here to live for 3 months to a lifetime from many different countries.

Maybe you are already living in Thailand and thinking about moving to Hua Hin or your reading this from your computer in one of the 191 countries in the world (possibly 192 if you consider Taiwan) thinking about a warmer climate, a slower pace of life, (insert reasons here).

In the decision making process, you have a good idea as to why you want to move here. The next smart question to ask would be, besides living with Thais, not including tourists, who are the people that may be your neighbors or future friends and what would you do here for a living if you’re not a retiree or recent lottery winner?

Because I have the good fortune of operating a rental agency, I get to meet the people who are coming to settle here and during the tours to view homes, they share their stories with me. Maybe a few of these stories may inspire you in making the move to Hua Hin, Thailand and give you some ideas as to what you can do here for work.

Andre, a computer programmer from Norway contacted us with a few selections from our website to give us an idea of what he was looking for and we met with him to discuss possibilities. His girlfriend, studying in Bangkok during the week, would be coming to visit him on week-ends so it was important to be near activities, restaurants and shopping as he did not want to drive a motor bike. One vital detail was: he needed a house with a great internet connection to do his work in the evenings. Andre works for a bank in Norway and writes bank codes for on-line banking and the internet speed needed to be a minimum of 2 megabytes and reliable. Well any houses with a TOT line had to be eliminated as the service often goes down or is just too slow. The house had to have a TT&T line to apply for TT Maxnet Internet service, a more reliable service at a reasonable price. The best is CAT Telecom but it comes at a hefty price compared to the other providers. Andre would begin his work around 2pm and finish his on-line shift around 10pm. We found him a rental matching all his specifications, in town, on the beach within his budget. I am meeting more and more people who are working from there rentals in Hua Hin with a good internet connection.

Charles owns a company called Stylus Sounds and builds luxury home cinemas all over Thailand. He could really live anywhere in Thailand but chose Hua Hin because of its up and coming status as a really great place to sell his products and services (he recently opened a showroom on Petchkasem Rd.), raise his young family, activities, and proximity to Bangkok for business. As well he loves driving so if needs to go to Phuket or Samui to meet clients as well, it’s basically one road to both. Imagine that, selling high end stereo equipment and building the best home cinemas in Thailand as his job.

I met Liz & Tony about a year ago and they were coming to Hua Hin from Miami to begin teaching at what is probably the best Bilingual English/Thai School in Hua Hin, Yamsaard. They have 2 young kids and needed a safe house, not too far from the school at a very good price as they were on a budget. Foreign Teachers make a very good salary compared to Thais but need still need to budget carefully, especially with two young kids. Still with both of them working, and the school subsidizing their kids school fees, they were able to get a nice 3 bedroom,2 bath, near the beach, fully furnished house and buy a car. To live as most Thais do is very inexpensive but to live a full foreign lifestyle is not cheap, most of us make a compromise in the middle and have a great lifestyle. If you live within your means, Thailand is very easy to get by with some monies left over to save.

Jacques use to own a furniture factory in France, sold it and moved to Hua Hin. As he was still too young to retire, he decided to open a furniture shop. For the first year he lived in a furnished condo until he found a very reasonable un-furnished house on our website for only 25,000.00THB with large garden and pool. Being in the furniture business it was easy enough to furnish and also display his home as a show room for potential clients who would choose to furnish their entire homes with him, dramatically reducing their costs. Jacques loves to travel across Thailand searching for unique items to offer and include in his interior designs making him truly passionate about his work. Most buyers who come to Hua Hin, only spending 4 weeks a year here would rather have a professional do all the work so that they can enjoy their holiday. Why would you go on holiday to work?

These are just a handful of stories of the neat people I meet in the rental business. Depending on the response I get from our readers, I will continue to write brief stories about our clients and how they find happiness in the land of smiles all within there budget.