Vintage green

Horizons News - Thursday December 20, 2007

FACES & PLACES

Vintage green

THANIN WEERADET

One of the charms that made Hua Hin a legendary beach resort among the nobles and royalty was revived last weekend when a convoy of rare and vintage cars paraded through the streets of the town.

Hua Hin Vintage Car Parade and Art Festival 2007 was made possible courtesy Sofitel Centara Grand Resort & Villas, which is the oldest hotel in Hua Hin, and supported by the Vintage Car Association and Hua Hin Hotelier's Club which uses the event to promote tourism in the resort province.

All of the 80 participating cars were rare and special. With so many classic vehicles on show it was difficult to appreciate every car that took part in the event. But what really caught my attention was a simple small car: an Austin Morris Cooper S from the 1960s.

Manop and Sasithorn Sa-nguansat drove the olive-green Austin with white roof from Bangkok. It was the first time they joined the annual vintage car rally. The couple said they drive everywhere in the capital and the provinces although the car consumes a litre of petrol every seven kilometres.

When they left Bangkok last weekend, there was a little mishap with the car radiator but it was solved shortly afterward.

"I'm just a mia noi (second wife). The car is mia luang (first wife)," chuckled Sasithorn.

"He loves it so much that he doesn't like me touching his car."

Meeting locals makes your travels even more enriching. If you have interesting photographs of such people and a memorable experience to share with other readers, email them to pongpetm@bangkokpost.co.th. The photos must be sent as jpeg files (at least 1MB in size), and the text doc files. Horizons reserves the right to select and publish the photographs.

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