Accessible holidays in Amazing Thailand 3

Accessible hotels in Hua Hin, Thailand are booming business. In the previous post I talked about a beautiful 5 star hotel where we have stayed 5 years ago.

The hotel in this post is new. It opened its doors in winter of 2010. It is located between Petchkasem Road and the beach, opposite Soi 98.

We have visited this hotel once and it is wheelchair accessible till you come to the swimming pool and beach area. The beach cannot be reached and also the beach / swimming pool bar and restaurant is out of reach for wheelchair users. The deck chairs are near the restaurant. So your companions can not have a sun bed.

Never the less it is a beautiful hotel and it has excellent service. The price is around 7.000 Baht for a double room ex breakfast, 7,7% vat and 10% Service charge.

The hotel has no medical equipment and does not offer wheelchair accessible transfers or transport for disabled.

Compare this to the pool villa Coconut Grove.

Disabled friendly transport for night game drive.

13 November 2010
Sunset Game Drive Kruger Park, Skukuza Camp, South Africa

This morning we get up early again. You would expect people to get grumpy. But only our care taker / nurse from Thailand, Asia got up on the wrong side of the bed. After tea and teeth breaking biscuits we leave for a morning game drive of three hours. The scenery, the wildlife, the atmosphere is overwhelming and puts our mind to ease. The peace and quit when they shut down the engine of the car can not be found in The Netherlands. At night when we go to bed with the windows open we only hear the sound of nature.

After breakfast we go for a walk over the camp, some shopping, checking email and checking out the game drive vehicle we go back to our wheelchair accessible cottage. We have to prepare for our sunset game drive.

Around 5 pm we are present at the safari vehicle. It has a wide entrance but no lift or ramp. Alfie is using the lift of his truck to bring the wheelchairs to the same level as the game drive vehicle. Some disabled people can move over, others have to be lifted. Let the fun begin. At the start the sun is still shining but is going down in one hour. When it is dark we have lights to look at the scenery and hopefully we will spot some game. And yes we are succesful. We see lions, wild dogs, hyena, warthols, antilopes, etc. And here are the pictures.
During the drive Jan's back is hurting. He is not sitting in his own wheelchair but on a normal car seat. With the humps and bumps this is not very comfortable. He also has trouble to look to the sides. And his legs can not touch the floor. So this game drive is very tiring. Therefore he decides not to join another night game drive.

Around 8 pm we are back. Aflie helps everyone out of the truck and Charles is preparing diner. We talk about our experiences during diner and slowly another day comes to an end. So far so good. Tomorrow we leave for one of the next accessible resorts.

To be continued.

Shopping and entertainment

Shopping in Thailand and shopping in Hua Hin is something different. Big shopping malls in Bangkok offer all brands you are looking for. Small shopping centres in Hua Hin are much alike. The only thing Bangkok and Hua Hin have incommon is the food and drink stalls. Eating and drinking is very important to Thai people. It is their way to come together and meet with friends and family. So in shopping malls, big or small, is always a place to meet, eat and drink. And most of the time these shopping malls have entertainment too.

One of these malls is Plearnwan in Hua Hin near the Index. Build by a Thai man whose father is disabled and uses a wheelchair. So with his father in mind he made his shopping mall accessible for wheelchair users. Perfect. Thank you very much. I'm very happy with this initiative. So I made a little movie to show the accessibility of Plearnwan. Take a look here.