Pala-U Scenic Park (under development)

Pala-U, which means bamboo forest in the Karen language, is the popular name given to a cluster of eleven scattered villages. It lies in the foothills of the Tenasserim Mountain Range in a neck of land along the Pranburi River within Prachuap Khiri Khan Province. It is almost surrounded by Phetchaburi Province and the south eastern outskirts of Kaeng Krachan National Park. The land is fertile, mainly sandy, and has been farmed for generations.

The Park features decorative gardens, fruit orchards, interspersed by patches of evergreen forest and stands of bamboo. Its water features include seven ponds and stretches of the Pranburi River and a tributary, the Huplakaag Stream; these together with public roads define the boundaries of the Park.

In order for visitors to appreciate the beauty of the surrounding countryside with its hills and valleys the development of viewpoints is under way. From one such, the successive ridges of the Tenasserim Mountain Range are visible for kilometres, all the way, so it is said, to Myanmar.

Though it has no pretensions to be a botanical garden, the Park now holds a major collection of the plants and trees currently under horticultural cultivation in Thailand.

Pala-U Scenic Park comprises three sections:

1. The orchards and gardens west of the river along Soi Fahprataan. This area often floods.
2. The central gardens east of the river and along the Hua Hin Pala-U main road (3219). This section includes Dusita Garden and Restaurant. Across the road lies Bahn Makham (Tamarind Hall) named after the mature trees which surround it, within its own extensive landscaped garden. The hall is designed as the park office and an assembly centre capable of taking up to fifty people. For example meetings, parties and small seminars.
   Four luxury double bedroom suites with indoor and outdoor terraces, housed in separate buildings flank the hall and can be rented short term on a ‘home stay’ basis.
3. Suan Khiri (Hill Garden) surrounds a low hill further to the east which lies outside the National Forest. This garden is noteworthy for its splendid views. To enable visitors to appreciate the beauty of the surrounding countryside with its hills and valleys the development of viewpoints is in progress: the successive ridges of the Tenasserim Mountain Range can be seen all the way, so it is said, to Myanmar. The lower flanks of the hill have decorative areas interspersed with citrus orchards and planted woodlands.
   A hardened ford crosses a section of the Huplakaag stream which flows through a deep ravine. Work has begun on a simple ‘Bird Camp’ for aspiring ornithologists.