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  1. #1
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    Pattaya - Hua Hin ferry: Trip report (photos)

    I've been resting for a few days at Max Hotel, in Soi Post Office, Pattaya - a haven of peace and respectability.

    Max Hotel was all good, but I feared the coming week of Songkran, with ice-cold water laced with piss and chilli powder. I needed to get away, but where to go?

    Scrutinising the map, I realised that I could pop over to Hua Hin on the newly-opened ferry service, and spend Songkran in the company of hi-so ladies of the night and probably a few drunken Scandis as well.

    So it was this morning that I checked out of my hotel and took a quick motorbike taxi ride to the ticket office for the Royal 1 catamaran service at Bali Hai Pier.

    The normal ticket price of 1,250 baht (one way, economy seat) is discounted all April down to 1,125 baht.

    I got my ticket, walked up to the ferry and persuaded a Yorkshire guy to take my photo in front of the cat.



    The ferry was due to leave at 10.00am and a bunch of polite security guys saluted me, (but didn't stoop) as I checked my bag through the security x-ray machine.

    I got on the boat and found my seat.



    Since I'm never keen on travelling in an all-enclosed passenger cabin, I had booked a seat near to the emergency exit door, just in case the cat decided to try submarine mode.

    Right on time, the ferry left Bali Hai, starting on the 2 hour trip to Hua Hin



    I took a photo of the passenger cabin



    As you can see, it is almost empty! I guess maybe 15% full. There is no way that this ferry service will survive with passenger numbers like that.

    The sea was calm and the trip uneventful. A safety video was shown as we left Bali Hai, and free coffee and water were served throughout the trip.

    We arrived at the Hua Hin port (not sure of the name, but on the south side of town), about 5 minutes late, and there were maybe 50 people waiting at the port for the return trip back to Pattaya.

    Overall, a very good service, and the price was OK for me. But use it now, because unless a miracle happens, the cat ferry will not last out the low season
    Groping women when you're old is fine - everyone thinks you're senile

  2. #2
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    Quote Originally Posted by Simon43
    persuaded a Yorkshire guy to take my photo in front of the cat.
    Tax Exile has been to Pattaya, the dirty bastard

  3. #3
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    5-6 hours on the boat? mao...

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nicethaiza View Post
    5-6 hours on the boat? mao...
    I've taken 4 different Thai girls on boat trips, all quite large vessels like the one in this post. And every one of them was violently sea-sick, the worst being on a short hop between Hong Kong and Macau where I honestly thought she might die. Never again.

    ps. We took a Chopper back to Hong Kong .

  5. #5
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    The trip was just 2 hours on a calm sea.

    But I know that Thai girls can throw up when sailing on a boating lake. The ferry service also showed a short video in Thai language advising that if you suffered from sea sickness, then take some tablets 30 minutes before the journey (er right..), and stop fcuking stuffing yourself with food cos it will all come back up.

    In the middle of the crossing, when I looked out the window, my view of the sea surface was rocking from below the window up to above the window. I guess if you looked at that view for more than 5 minutes, then you'd probably throw up.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dillinger View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Simon43
    persuaded a Yorkshire guy to take my photo in front of the cat.
    Tax Exile has been to Pattaya, the dirty bastard

    I'm home on the range in the West Riding right now and enjoying it immensely.

    Thailand is a million miles away.

    I had a weekend in Pattaya a couple of years ago, stayed at the Dusit. The hotel was great, but Pattaya was rather grim and uninspiring.

  7. #7
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    Simon I was based on boats for many years, mostly in the 250-350ft range. Jesus H Christ we saw some people get seriously sea-sick who tried every deterrent known to man (including motion sickness pills) with zero success. As best as I could ever figure out, if you convinced yourself you were going to get sick you did get sick no matter what. It was a good way to keep the office based bosses far away from us, or hit them up for pay rises for having to work under such extreme conditions for weeks/months on end once they did visit for the first and only time before swearing to never set foot offshore again. We wouldn't have been anywhere else, it was great out there!. Will never forget one French Geophysicist who heard from his brother - who was in the Navy - that blocking one ear would stop any queasiness. I got a photo of him laying on the back deck in a pool of vomit with an industrial sized earplug hanging out of one ear.

    As the old saying goes, the only 100% proven cure for seas sickness is to sit under a tree

  8. #8
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    Simon you do know that you have headed into Songkran full on in Hua Hin, Pattaya celebrates after the 13th. Have fun and nice report.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Simon43 View Post
    take my photo in front of the cat.



    Crikey, I would have sworn that is John Key, ex-PM of NZ. Maybe John in a couple of years.
    Whaddaya reckon, Kiwis?

    Good idea for a thread, Simon.

  10. #10
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    Simon you do know that you have headed into Songkran full on in Hua Hin, Pattaya celebrates after the 13th.
    I go back to Myanmar on the 23rd, so I didn't want to be marooned in my hotel in Pattaya for the full week of water games.

    The taxi driver in HH told me that Songkran is only 2 days long, (I remember Phuket got it down to half a day last year). I've just been to Villa Market and have stocked up on 2 days of rabbit food (I'm on a healthy food diet right now, as my Adonis body in the photo in my OP demonstrates).

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Simon43
    The taxi driver in HH told me that Songkran is only 2 days long,
    But if you are in the town, it is total gridlock around "the loop"

    Have fun, Cheers TP

  12. #12
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    where are you staying in hh?

    kow takiap is much nicer than central hh these days, and has a nicer village feel to it.

    the new blue port shopping mall has an excellent food court and will be packed with bkk minge over the hols if you like that sort of smartphone selfie barbie doll type.

  13. #13
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    I'm staying in a shithole on soi 29 for just tonight, and then over at the Taphouse for tomorrow night (Taphouse seems to be in the middle of the fray, but I can hack a couple of nights of this).

    When I stay alone, (which is my norm), I'm a tight-fisted git, and a basic guesthouse rooms suits me fine).

    If you can suggest a part of town/outside town that is good for relaxing, jogging, countryside, I'd appreciate this. I'll stay in HH until the 17th, then back to BKK to have my ears and teeth cleaned, and over to the Myanmar embassy to get a long stay business visa (my school wants to get away from the 70-day business visa on arrival, presumably to save themselves the expense of paying for flights to/from Myanmar every 70 days).

  14. #14
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    not much countryside left in the hh area now, but towards the hills that back the town you will many good trails for hiking and jogging, and some nice viewpoints from up there, take a stick though, lots of dogs around.

    just behind the town, behind the railway station, high up at hin lek fai, there is a popular jogging track, its a very steep walk up there though.

    if you want to be based in a more rural setting then move south of the town to the southernmost part of kow takiap or even further to kow taaw about 5 or 6 kms south.

    the long beach that runs along the army golf course at kow takiap is good for walking or jogging.

  15. #15
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    Thnx for the trip report, Simon. You look very Adonis-like, indeed. Why didn't the pic include your legs? I'm a leg girl meself, so am not *too* impressed. Cheers!

  16. #16
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    the guy who took the photo did him a favour by hiding his sandals and white sport socks

  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Maanaam
    I would have sworn that is John Key
    John Key has man boobs?

  18. #18
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    Ive spent days on a ferry/crew boat similar to the one pictured, but smaller. Held about 50 passengers total.

    Too much swell to get alongside where I needed to go, so had to stand-by getting bounced around for days.

    They also have a ferry terminal in Singapore to go to several islands in Indonesia. Runs like clockwork.

    Went scuba diving with the wife once on a dive boat in water so calm it looked like glass & she barfed the whole time.

    I don't get seasick thank god, but Ive seen some guys that do, and they look downright horrible.

  19. #19
    Thailand Expat klong toey's Avatar
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    Near to where we live in England the ferry goes to France in any weather, taken quite a few year's ago in a force 10 just outside the harbour entrance.




  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Simon43
    I got my ticket, walked up to the ferry and persuaded a Yorkshire guy to take my photo in front of the cat.
    It would have been nice to have been able to see the cat. He must be small to be able to hide behind you. Was he sea sick ? Is he on a lead ?

  21. #21
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    ^ was that the old Towmnsend Thoresen ferries, KT. I think one sank. thats the illest ive been on a boat, on one of those to Zeebrugge.That chunnel seems a lot more appealing

  22. #22
    Thailand Expat klong toey's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dillinger View Post
    ^ was that the old Towmnsend Thoresen ferries, KT. I think one sank. thats the illest ive been on a boat, on one of those to Zeebrugge.That chunnel seems a lot more appealing
    No that was the Valency leaving Newhaven harbour.

    http://ournewhaven.org.uk/page_id__1487.aspx
    Last edited by klong toey; 11-04-2017 at 07:35 PM.

  23. #23
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    no, this is the one i meant mate






    [QUOTE].MS Herald of Free Enterprise was a roll-on/roll-off (RORO) ferry which capsized moments after leaving the Belgian port of Zeebrugge on the night of 6 March 1987, killing 193 passengers and crew.[1]

    The modern 8-deck car and passenger ferry, owned by Townsend Thoresen, had been designed for rapid loading and unloading on the competitive cross-channel route, and there were no watertight compartments. When the ship left harbour with its bow-door open, the sea immediately flooded the decks, and within minutes it was lying on its side in shallow water.

    Although the immediate cause of the sinking was found to be negligence by the assistant boatswain, asleep in his cabin when he should have been closing the bow-door, the official inquiry placed more blame on his supervisors and a general culture of poor communication in Townsend Thoresen.

    The vessel was salvaged and put up for sale, and on September 30th 1987, was sold to Naviera SA Kingstown, and was renamed Flushing Range. Then on March 22nd 1988, she was taken to Taiwan to be broken up.

    Since the disaster, improvements have been made to the design of RORO vessels, with watertight ramps, indicators showing the position of the bow-doors, and the banning of undivided decks.



    [QUOTE]



    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_H...ree_Enterprise

  24. #24
    Thailand Expat klong toey's Avatar
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    Funny thing is Gert gets sea sick on most ships but put her on one of those inflatables towed by a jet ski or speed boat and she is fine. They bounce around more than most ships.

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    Thailand Expat klong toey's Avatar
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    Yeah I remember that there was an anniversary of the disaster a month or so ago.

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