Hua Hin is changing all the time and sometimes it’s easy to forget how things were before.
No longer the sleepy fishing village it once was, the local authorities have plans to develop Hua Hin into a ‘smart city’ – a sign of how the town has developed.
Go back just over six years ago and BluPort, The Marriott, Holiday Inn, Vana Nava Water Park and True Arena were all yet to open.
A little over a decade ago, Soi 102 was considered by many to be a little out of town, while Soi 112 barely existed beyond the turning for the Banyan Golf Course.
And with the development underway of Hua Hin Airport, which aims to welcome up to one million passengers in the next three years and major improvements being carried out to the train line into Hua Hin, the town is likely to see further change over the next decade.
But while parts of Hua Hin have undergone massive change in recent years, some of the town has barely changed at all.
A series of fascinating photos show what Hua Hin was like well before the resort had aspirations to become a major international tourist destination.
The photos from municipal archives and private photographers, capture moments in time from years ago.
The black and white photos show Chatchai Market, which was originally built in 1929.
While we have not been able to ascertain exactly when the photos of the market were taken, we have been able to document a comparison with how the market looks today.
Meanwhile, a series of colour photos also show the market and the neighbouring sois. These photos are understood to have been taken in 1995.
Both the black and white and colour photos show that parts of Hua Hin haven’t changed all that much in many years, with the obvious exception of the amount of traffic on the roads.
