Pattaya - Hua Hin ferry service

[Patexpat]

Not really a gay topic per se but does anyone know of a ferry service between Pattaya and Hua Hin ... the owner of Luxor restaurant swears it exists but can't remember the details. I vaguely remember reading something a while back but no idea if any such service still runs. Any ideas?

There used to be such a service shown on many tourist maps, but I'm doubtful whether it lasted long - if it ever ran at all. It will not be easy to obtain reliable info on this, including from this board. CURIOUS, who claims to live in Singapore, reported that there were still direct flights from there to Udon Thani, but these stopped long ago. Even doing a search will probably throw up a lot of outdated and/or unreliable info.

[Patexpat]

Thanks for that one Fattman - suddenly for some unknown reason I feel MUCH younger! :compress:

[Smiles]

Over the years there have been a number of attempts at making a Hua Hin/Pattaya ferry a going concern. None have succeeded.
At this time the ferry idea is between failures ... perhaps waiting for an enterprising farang to not succeed, again.

I believe they have an annual Gulf Swim, if that interests you.

Cheers ...

[Patexpat]

Thanks Smiles but s I can hardly paddle across the swimming pool ......

[Smiles]

Overheard at the start line of last year's Gulf Swim (Pattaya end): " ... Into the water now folks, chok dee and have a grand stroke ... hahahah just kidding! Make a beeline out to the end of the pier, then make a quick left at the first feces. And make sure you keep your mouth & nose tightly duct-taped for about 10K ... "

Cheers ...

Over the years there have been a number of attempts at making a Hua Hin/Pattaya ferry a going concern. None have succeeded.
At this time the ferry idea is between failures ... perhaps waiting for an enterprising farang to not succeed, again.

I believe they have an annual Gulf Swim, if that interests you.

Cheers ...

I don't know about ferry services Smiles, but I hope you are ensuring that the work being carried out in order for the new helli pad to be completed in time for my arrival next month, is still very much on schedule. http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk216/ThaiRakThai/happy011.gif

Cheers,


George.

[Smiles]

That would be the 'Fairy Service', I assume?

Cheers ...

That would be the 'Fairy Service', I assume?

Cheers ...

:iconbiggrin: Nice one Smiles, LMFAO. Whilst here, I think it only proper of me to say, that you assume correctly.


Cheers you bastard, ;)


George.

[Patexpat]

Thanks John - actually we have clients in Hua Hin, and the idea of a couple of hours on a ferry rather than 5 by car was an attractive alternative. Bruno at Luxor seemed to think some one had undertaken a ferry trip recently, but looks like that wasn't the case!

Thanks to everyone anyway!

[Smiles]

Further to this: I have heard (or read, see below) on occasion that groups of drunken/rowdy/randy Hua Hin (all male!) farang get together here, put some money in a pot, and then rent a large speedboat and driver or something and head over to Pattaya for some real partying. Not sure how long that might take, but for sure much faster than the 5-6+ hours it might take by car or bus.

If you want to peruse a very large and information-rich message board about Hua Hin and environs, you can click on to www.huahinafterdark.com (http://www.huahinafterdark.com) and read all about the place. Somewhere on that board is a long thread about this very topic.

Cheers ...

[Patexpat]

thanks Smiles ... helpful as always !!

[Bob]

Further to this: I have heard (or read, see below) on occasion that groups of drunken/rowdy/randy Hua Hin (all male!) farang get together here, put some money in a pot, and then rent a large speedboat and driver or something and head over to Pattaya for some real partying. Not sure how long that might take, but for sure much faster than the 5-6+ hours it might take by car or bus.


I'm all for it, Smiles, with some conditions. First, we use the Navy boat at the pier and we make sure the torpedo tubes and machine guns are loaded (god only knows who from this board we will first encounter in Pattaya). Second, the boat has a few bunks (one for me to entertain the troops and another for you to lay down for a day or two after having a couple of beers....). Third, George knows how to swab the decks (and, no, "decks" is not the name of the first mate).
Fourth, Pot gets to drive (which means we'll get there safely even if "safely" means somewhere in Malaysia).

Well, from the looks of things - this service looks as though it is going to finally commence.

According to their website (http://thailivingferry.com/), service is scheduled to commence on Friday, November 19th.

We wish them "Chok Dee"

[Beachlover]

Might give Hua Hin a nice boost. Anyone know how long the transit takes?

[jinks]

3 times a week - Smiles would you like a house guest for a couple of days just before Christmas ?

This service has been talked about for nearly as long as the BTS in Bangkok was. I hope it does come about but 3 crossings a week doesn't sound very business like to me, perhaps they don't envision much custom. What's the latest news you and your other half have heard over in Hua-Hin Smiles?

[Smiles]

Last April Bob, his boyfriend, and mine and myself ... took a touristy boat ride on a fishing boat out into the briny waters off Pranburi (about 15 miles south of Hua Hin).
The guy owning this business had two large boats and after we got back ~ 5 hours later, fish and/or squidless ~ we sat around chatting with him. He said that he was on the cusp of starting up a Hua Hin/Pattaya ferry service ~ and yes, he was talking catamaran ~ and hoped to have it up and running by the end of 2010 . . . so I think that is the one (i.e. linked above) which now looks like having it's start-up next week.

I didn't post too much about it then because plans for such a ferry service have come and gone many times in the past. One was actually running for a very short time a few years ago, but went belly up.
So it's a wait and see on this one as well, although when we were talking to our fishing boat guy he certainly sounded very positive (and very knowledgeable) about his prospects.
The website quotes 1200 baht (but as a 'promotion', no mention of what the regular price will be) and does not say whether that's one-way or return. I suspect one-way.

[pong]

as has been said above-all trials failed-so miserably, that there must be hardly any demand.
For now: the trip buy bus is much easier as many of you think:
1.there is a 1/day DIRECT (=no change) Bus, which actaully runs Rayong-Pattaya (sukh. vit road)-bypass BKK-HUa Hin-Chumphon-Surat or Phuket. But times TO Patt. from HHin are very bad-mid of night.
2.the 48 AC blue bus runs not only to Ekamai or Mochit in BKK (Busstation North Rd) but also-ev 2 hrs. DIRECT to SaiThai Terminal in BKK, via the new southern bypass road. That makes en easy connect.
3.as the nr of those minivans is jumping by the minute-takeany to the Vict. Monumnent in BKK and get another to HHin from there. There appear now to be at least 3 different companies from PTY.

Yes I was in Hua Hin 2 weeks ago, as much as I tried I could find nothing worth going to the gay bars for, itтАЩs as if there was a funeral about to happen, why any one would want to live there I have no idea. Unless it was to hide, no one would bother to find you there.

Yes I was in Hua Hin 2 weeks ago, as much as I tried I could find nothing worth going to the gay bars for, itтАЩs as if there was a funeral about to happen, why any one would want to live there I have no idea. Unless it was to hide, no one would bother to find you there.

Bars are not what life is all about, what you might want out of life is not what others might want. There are many, many beautiful places to live and visit in Thailand without being surrounded by commercial sex bars and workers.

Well I'm very sorry I was going there for a view to live there when I retire soon and some semblance of gay life would be nice, but sadly a ghost town is all I had seen, when I was there, as I find Pattaya to dirty its ok there for a few days, but to live there, No Way, the guys I met all said the good times have gone, and I like to be near the sea. Phuket is my next choice for viewing soon.

[Beachlover]

But does anyone know how long the ferry takes to get from Hua Hin to Pattaya? 2 hours? 5 hours? If it's 4 hrs or more than the only thing it's got going for it is price and maybe comfort/enjoyability. It's cheaper than taxis but probably not cheaper than a bus.



Yes I was in Hua Hin 2 weeks ago, as much as I tried I could find nothing worth going to the gay bars for, itтАЩs as if there was a funeral about to happen, why any one would want to live there I have no idea. Unless it was to hide, no one would bother to find you there.

Bars are not what life is all about, what you might want out of life is not what others might want. There are many, many beautiful places to live and visit in Thailand without being surrounded by commercial sex bars and workers.
Totally agree... sometimes people forget there's a difference between the gay scene and the gay commercial sex scene.

Having said that, is there anything in terms of gay nightlife other than the 2-3 boy bars in Hua Hin? I read there's a couple of discos there. These are primarily straight discos but do they have a bit of a gay section or attract gay boys like lots of straight/mixed discos do?

[quiet1]

But does anyone know how long the ferry takes to get from Hua Hin to Pattaya? 2 hours? 5 hours? If it's 4 hrs or more than the only thing it's got going for it is price and maybe comfort/enjoyability. It's cheaper than taxis but probably not cheaper than a bus.
The site has been updated since the first time I looked. It now includes:

The crossing will take about 3:15h
Departing from Pattaya 08:30
from Hua Hin 13:00
However, they still don't say which three days per week it will operate. It's starting on the 19th, so I presume Fridays will be one of the days?

Their press release (http://www.thailivingferry.com/Media/?dir=&download=Press+Release+English.pdf) further states:

The catamaran will be running between Pattaya (Ocean Marina) and Hua Hin (Pak Nam Pra) initially 3 times every week. Customers will get transportation to and from the piers with minibuses collecting and dropping of [sic] at central points in the cities.

The one way trip fare will be 1600baht and for return 3000baht.
In November and December there will be promotions from 1200baht.
Where is "Ocean Marina" in Pattaya? Is that the name of the pier at the end of Walking Street?