Koh Chang/Lonely Beach

So having left White Sands Beach, we then traveled over to Lonely Beach, in hope of nicer waters and cleaner toilets. I wanted a guaranteed nice place, so I booked us two nights at a resort. I forget the name, but it was around 2,000 baht a night. I took one look at the room, the view, and the beach and said okay. Beautiful beach, and definitely one of the best restaurants I've been to in Thailand. Great rooms, too - when we went in there were flower petals everywhere and there was a garden in the bathroom. A true resort. Spent two days by the pool and on the beach reading and drinking. It's out in the middle of nowhere (thus the name), so it's a good idea to stock up on snacks and beer at 7-11 before you go. Here are some piccies:

The bed. They had formed the towels into a heart and strewn flower petals around it.

(Koh Chang/Lonely Beach)More info and pictures here


Jomtien Beach - Next to Pattaya Beach

2 or 3 kms South of Pattaya and only a 10baht taxi journey away it is well worth the 10baht to get away from Pattaya Beach.

Jomtien Beach is 7km long and is actually quite nice and clean, the Northern end of the beach is for the gays, ie you hit the beach and then turn right, this is a pedestarian area so you have to walk, there is parking right next to the Dong Tan Police Sub Station, if you goto the beach within about a kilometer of this area you will be hounded by touts selling ice creams to sun glasses, if you go about 1 or 2kms South you will be left alone for the most part,hopefully.

They have jet skies, banana boats, windsurf boards, catamarans and parasailing here at this beach for rent, also you can rent a speed boat to take you to Koh Larn Island for the day, but this is better done from Pattaya.

Jomtien has every sort of accommodation you could think of, from 200baht per night fan rooms down the small sois to 3 star hotels at around the 600baht per night and up, restaurants galore, quite a few bars and champions agogo bar where quite a few of the gals cant afford to buy any clothes, the gals aint so nice but the prices,aircon and big projector screens make it worthwhile for a beer or 2.

More info and pictures here


Irrawaddy dolphins in Bang Pakong

Ever want to see dolphins in the wild? Here is my suggestion.

Today, I took the family along with the many friends of my daughter to view the wild irrawaddy in the wild. The plan was to leave by 0700. We left at 0815.

This is what I first observed. Keep in mind that this is only about an hour or so from BKK.

More info and pictures here


Pimalai Resort - Ko Lanta

Earlier this year I went for a weekend break to the Pimalai Resort on Ko Lanta. In order to get there I flew to Krabi, then I took a bus for about an hour to a pier, where I then got on this:

(Pimalai Resort - Ko Lanta)More info and pictures here


Bangsaen Beach

Bangsaen Beach is about 45kms from Pattaya and about 15kms from Chonburi, now this place is nice, this is where all the Thai tourists from Bangkok come for their weekends, it is clean, safe and upmarket, the Beach road is nice and big and has plenty of parking, the hotels are not for your average Euro Trash backpackers, nope all high end stuff here.

The beach side of the road has a walkway which is full of differant food stalls and their tables and chairs so there is plenty of choice on what to eat.

The beach has deck chairs and inner tubes for rent at bargain prices, also being nearly 3kms long you will sure be able to find a quiet spot.

The southern end of the beach has a few fishing boats and local fishermans shacks, there is a parking area here but it is too far away from the main beach area in Bangsaen and too far away from the food vendors.

(Bangsaen Beach)More info and pictures here


Ang Sila near Chonburi

Ang Sila is about 5km from Chonburi and aint really a seaside resort,it is more of a fishing village, well it has sea but no beaches, basically Ang Sila is a couple of kilometers of food and junk places, ie, stoneware and stuff, still quite nice to goto for the food though, during the week most of the places are closed but a fewer of the bigger ones are open, yep you wont starve to death here.

Anyway this is the mongkonfarm restaurant or something like that, there are hundreds of seafood restaurants there so the odds are you will go to a differant one, they are all quite nice in a shack sort of way, 160baht for my yam krung, or spicey Prawn Salad, although that wernt on the menu, no idea why, but that included a proper beer, ie heineken.

(Ang Sila near Chonburi)More info and pictures here


Ban Chang Beaches - Had Nam Rin

Had Nam Rin is probably the nicest beach in Ban Chang, nice sand and nice clean water, what amazes me yet again is how they have public toilets on the beach and yet Pattaya and Jomtien still can't afford them, I mean where the fok is all that tourist money going if some out of the way beach that don't get the big bucks from the tourists can afford toilets every 100meters?

As you drive onto the beach road you have a restaurant on the left which is very good and if you turn right there are 2 big restaurants down there, this time we nipped down to the right, anyway the family ordered the normal Thai stuff and I ordered the chicken satay, now I have to admit this was as good as anything I have had in Malaysia, ok it cost 70baht and would have been a lot cheaper in say Penang, but it was pretty damn good

(Ban Chang Beaches - Had Nam Rin)More info and pictures here


Phra-Ae Beach - Koh Lanta

Also known as Phra-Ae Beach, the aptly named Long Beach is the longest beach on Ko Lanta, approximately 3 kilometres in length and is the second beach south of the pier, after Klong Dao Beach. Long Beach is beautiful, the water slightly deeper than at Klong Dao beach and there are no rocks -- just soft sand fantastic for confident swimmers. Though the entire length of the beach is great, the northern end, up next to the rocky headland is particularly cozy with some shady spots under tall casuarina trees.

(Phra-Ae Beach - Koh Lanta)More info and pictures can be found here


Ban Chang Beaches - Had Phala

Now they have 3 or more beaches in Ban Chang, Which is only about 45kms from Pattaya, Had Phala is the most built up one, this was mainly a fishing village but then they learnt about selling land to farangs and that farangs like things to look nice, so they have sort of split up the beach, the fishing folk have a safe blocked off harbour, ie there is a sea wall there, and they have left the nice bit for people to enjoy themselves.

There are 2 main restauarants opposite the beach with seating on the beach, the "Krug Krun" whatever that may mean and the "Pala Seafood restaurant", No that is not my spelling mistake, they got 20 signs to where Phala beach is and this restaurant decided to spell it differantely.

Now thinking about it it is a million times better than Jomtien or Pattaya as at least they have a public toilet there, so not everybody is pissing in the sea, it does make you wonder though why they can't manage to fit public toilets in the main tourist areas.

If you use the reataurant areas on the beach you will find that you are innudated with ants and other insects, so it's best to take a hungry Issan gal with you to eat these pests. On our first table there was an all out battle between red and black ants, obviously the red killer ants were winning so we changed tables, here on this table the red and black and other ants all seemed to get along.

The Fishing here is good as the water is pretty damn clean, so it may be worth bringing your rods....

(Ban Chang Beaches - Had Phala)More info and pictures here


Ban Chang Beaches - Had Phayun

Had Phayun Beach in Ban Chang is quite nice, nice sea nice sand and nobody to hassle you, Across the road they have a few BBQ stalls and some other Thai food motorbike stalls so you will be pretty much left alone, well worth the 45km drive to get away from Pattaya Beach.

(Ban Chang Beaches - Had Phayun)More info and pictures here


Koh Chang - White Sands Beach

Hat Sai Kaew or White Sands Beach is probably one of the best beaches in Thailand.
The choice of accomodation ranges from from wooden shacks on the beach to luxury boutique style hotels.

(Koh Chang - White Sands Beach)More info and pictures here


Sattahip Naval Base - The Port

Now this is where Thailands famous aircraft carrier the H.T.M.S. Chakrinaruebet is kept so at least Sattahip is well protected, unfortuneately as their budget doesn't afford them to buy fuel it has rarely been used and has now been turned into a tourist attraction for the Thais, Farangs are allowed to look at it from the outside but you need permission from the Thai Royal Navy to board her.

More info and pictures here


Hat Nang Rum Beach/Sattahip

Hat Nang Rum Beach, or dancing women beach which it roughly translates to I think, has no dancing women, well I didn't see any of them dancing, nor might I add did I see any chrome or stainless poles for them to dance against.

To get there from Pattaya head towards Satahip then onto Kilo Sip which just happens to be 10 kilometers past Sattahip, just before you get to Sattahips port take a left and follow that road.

Now this place is nice, although as it was a Sunday it was packed out, I really don't think I have seen so many Thais on a beach at the same time, I think if you went on a weekday you would be on your own, they got a couple of speedboats with the old inflatable thing and thats it, nobody bothers you every few minutes trying to sell you some useless junk, the water is nice and clean and the sand nice and fine.

(Hat Nang Rum Beach/Sattahip)More info and pictures here


Pattaya Sea Sand Sun Resort and Spa

This place is classy, obviously not for the likes of the TEFlers, it's about 12km South of Pattaya and has it's own half a kilometer of private road with security guards to get to it, yep no riff raff here, anyway I wiped all the mud off me flip flops and shook the dust off of my bumbag and I was in, yes I also was called "Sir" and saluted.

This is actually a holiday resort for families and that so I wore one of my nicer TShirts, they don't like the Singha Beer Vests in these sort of places, I didn't bother asking how much the Bungalows were but I don't reckon you would get much change out of 4,000baht per night so none of us lot will be taking out vacations there.

(Pattaya Sea Sand Sun Resort and Spa)More info and pictures here


Sugar Beach - Jomtien

This is in between Pattaya and Jomtien, just travel up Pratumnak road and turn down into Soi 6 and follow it to the end.

There are a few big condiminums there so I imagine over long weekends it probably gets busy.

They got half a dozen jet skies so the noise level shouldn't be too bad, there are a couple of Thai shack type restaurants and thankfully no touts trying to sell you junk every couple of minutes.

A nice map of Pattaya and Jomtien

It is actually quite nice there, there was about 20 tourists sunbathing and not too much litter on the beach.

(Sugar Beach - Jomtien)More info and pictures here


Ao Krathing Beach - Chantaburi

This beach is about 10km away from Tha Mai, we got there at about 3pm and there was one set of foot prints in the sand and absolutely nobody there
You have to park at the top of the mountain and then walk down to the bay, the walking down isn't so bad, but the coming back up made me realise I was getting old.
Some of the trees have signs on saying what type of tree they are so thats a good excuse to stop for a few seconds rest, also watch out for the wild monkeys.
At the top where you park is an office, I think this place might be part of a national park, there were no signs saying you had to pay, but there was a sign saying you was only allowed there between 6am to 6pm.

More info and pictures here


Parknam Khaem Noo Beach - Chantaburi

Park Nam Khem Noo Beach.
Now this place aint somewhere where you would go for your holidays, but as it is part of the Thai coastline I have included some pictures of it, actually the only reason I went there is that it is where my galfriends sister lives, basically all the people in this area are to do with the fishing and seafood trade.

More info and pictures here


Ao Yang Beach - Chantaburi

Ao Yang Beach is on the otherside of the mountain to Ao Krathing Beach and is about 9km from Tha Mai.
I should think this beach gets relatively busy during the weekends as it has about 5 small Thai type restaurants at the North end of the Beach and one classy Thai restaurant at the Southern end of the beach, yesterday though only one of the small Thai restaurants was open and they had 2 customers, absolutely nobody on the beach, no deckchairs, no umbrellas and no touts
The island you can go out to and has a fresh water pond which is supposedly drinkable, maybe drinkable for Thais but not for me that's for sure.

More info and pictures here


Pattaya Park Beach - Jomtien

This Beach is outside the pattaya Park Hotel, the good things about the hotel is the water park and slides, the bad things are the 2 revolving restaurants on the 52nd and 53rd floor, the Panorama and the Pinnacle Revolving Restaurants, both these practice double pricing, the food is supposed to be bland at best, but the view should be pretty impressive, it also has 730 rooms of which a lot of them are occupied by blond Russian birds.
If you aint staying at Pattaya park Hotel then you can either hit Jomtien and walk north past the gay beach to get there, or cross some fields from the other side of the beach to get there from the south, but most people don't bother, it really aint a popular beach, the main things it has going for it are that there are only a couple of touts selling steamed Prawns and Crabs, and quite a lot of blond haired tottie from Russia, they got a shack that sells Thai food and beer, try to get the Thai prices although there really aint much differance in prices and it aint worth dieing for.

(Pattaya Park Beach - Jomtien)More info and pictures here


Wat Khao Ta Kieb Beach - Hua Hin

It is a 10baht, 7km journey by sangthaew from south Hua Hin, the taxi will drop you off at Chopstick hill, walk past the restaurant and you will be at the beach, or you can go and see the standing Budha and all the wild monkeys on the hill.

(Wat Khao Ta Kieb Beach - Hua Hin)More info and pictures here


Pattaya Beach

Now if you have travelled half way round the world to see the beach in Pattaya you maybe slightly disappointed, the only improvement in the beach and sea here in the last 15 years is that there is slight less raw sewage floating around, what never ceases to amaze me is that people still go in the sea, yep swimming or jet skiing and stuff like that, anyway believe me that the only reason to come to Pattaya is for the night life, the odds are if you walk along the beach side of beach road in the evening you will be mugged by a ladyman, are you willing to get a police report for that to submit to your insurance agent? Would you tell your friends you got mugged by a ladyboy?


(Pattaya Beach)More info and pictures here


Sattahip Coastline - Chonburi Province

Sattahip is about 30kms South of Pattaya and cannot be classed as a beach resort, it is quite a small town with a few sea food restaurants overlooking the sea, not really worth going out of your way for.

(Sattahip Coastline - Chonburi Province)More info and pictures here


Bali Hai Pier - Pattaya

Bali Hai Pier is at the southern most part of Pattaya Beach, most of it is enroached by the 101 busineses on Walking Street that should have been demolished years ago but are willing to give loads of money to bribe their way out of being demolished, for at least the last 10 years every new mayor has promised to demolish all these rubbish buildings, they go and have a look at them, then tell everyone they will be demolished, then they some how forget to demolish them, whether they are demolished or not it will not improve Pattaya in anyway at all, well apart from less turds going into the sea from the restaurant dinners there.

Bali Hai pier is the area for the Thais to get their boats into the water, there are only 3 reasons a farang would go there.

(Bali Hai Pier - Pattaya)More info and pictures here


Ao Railley, Krabi province

I have finally started getting ticked off with ChiangMai Songkraans, so this year, after putting up with the first day, we decided to go on a trip down South.
i love krabi province and hadn't seen the sea in the past 2 and a half years.
On the recommendation of AO, we decided to go first to Ao Railley.
The boat from Krabi takes about an hour, and costs some money although i don't remember how much.
This is a picture of the boat that we arrived on.

(Ao Railley, Krabi province)More info and pictures here


Ban Phe - Rayong

Ban Phe is 14 kms from Rayong, this is the place to catch your ferry to Koh Samet, you can get a sawngteaw from Rayong bus station to here, or if you drive there is secure parking in Ban Phe to leave your car overnight etc.
There is a 7/11 to stock up on stuff and also a couple of farang style bars and restaurants, also some guest houses etc.
Anyway here are some pictures of the market right next to the ferry point, here they sell every dead animal from the sea you can think of, and yep, they are all sun dried.
The ferry leaves from Ban Phe Pier everyday, from 7am to 5pm, sometimes later during busy periods, they goto three piers on Samet Island, which are Thadan Pier, Praw Pier, Vong Duen Pier which takes between 30 and 60 minutes.
You can hire also a speed boat from Ban Phe Pier to Koh Samet , which costs around 1,000 Baht one way.

(Ban Phe - Rayong)More info and pictures here


Hat Sai Torng - Golden Beach

Golden Beach or Hat Sai Torng is about 15km from Pattaya, it's the next beach along from the the Ambassador hotel where for the last 15 years rumours have been going around that this will be the first casino in Thailand, these rumours I might add were started by Indians who knew of people willing to sell land near there very cheaply anyway 15 years on and this may actually become reality, every month now in the papers there are talks of opening casinos.
Looking at the the Ambassador it does seem to have a hell of a lot of wasted floor space and would probably make a good casino, anyway let's get back to golden beach.
Well after a nice picture of the hotel with 5000 rooms that they aint even bothered painting the outside of yet.

More info and pictures here


Koh Chang - Bang Bao - The Fishing Village

Bang bao is supposedly a traditional fishing village on stilts in Koh Chang, in reality it is more of a souvenier and scuba diving place full of shops selling this stuff, I really doubt whether any of these families that live there actually rely on fishing for an income, 8am all the boats go out carrying scuba gear and farangs for the scuba diving, the best thing you can say about this place is that they have a 7/11 and only charge 10baht for car parking.

(Koh Chang - Bang Bao - The Fishing Village)More info and pictures here


Koh Chang - Ao Bangbao Beach

To get to Ao Bangbao Baech by road you need to drive to the Grand Lagoona Resort, They charge 100baht per person on entry and this is refunded if you have a meal in their restaurant, the rooms here are in the 2,000baht to 6,000baht range per night.
When I went the beach was absolutely deserted, nice and clean and defineatly no touts to disturb you.

(Koh Chang - Ao Bangbao Beach)More info and pictures here


Koh Chang and Trat - The Ferry crossing Point

From Trat there are 4 ferry terminals to get you and your car to Koh Chang.
Laem Ngob to Ao Sapparot pier on Koh Chang is one choice and isn't somewhere where you would spend the afternoon sunbathing.
The Trat side is sign posted the Koh Chang Ferry Pier or the Tammachard Ferry
Laem Ngob to Than Mayom Pier on Koh Chang, here they have what is commanly refferred to as a thriving market, this I believe is a pedestrian ferry.
There are 2 centerpoint piers in Trat going to Centerpoint in Koh Chang.
All these 4 piers in Trat are quite close to each other, and the 2 main piers on Koh Chang are quite close, Centrepoint is the main one for cars.

(Koh Chang and Trat - The Ferry crossing Point)More info and pictures here


Sri Racha - Chonburi Province

Sri Racha is about 30 kms from Pattaya and about 40 kms from Chonburi.

Most defineately not a holiday destination but has a few nice seafood restaurants over looking the sea, also has a Robinsons which is quite nice, and of course "Tuk.com" which is the big IT Shopping Mall in Sri Racha.

Sri Racha is famous for its Fish Sauce, also the Khao Kiew Open Zoo which is actually very good, and the Tiger Zoo which is one of those places that rip off the farangs, ie they charge a load more depending on the color of your skin, You Can Also Drive Across The Bridge To Koh Loy To Visit The Temple and Turtles

(Sri Racha - Chonburi Province)More info and pictures here


Suan Son Beach - Rayong

Just out of rayong and is inbetween Ban Phe which is the boat terminal to get to Koh Samet and Laem Mae Phim Beach, this place is basically deserted.
Basically the folks here fish for a living, it's a long beach that nobody goes to.
There are a few food vendors dotted along the road but nothing worth stopping for.
The first picture is a squid trap, the bit of plastic inside entices the squid to enter, the second picture I have no idea what these are for trapping, these ones were up for sale.

(Suan Son Beach - Rayong)Nore info and pictures here


Wong Amat Beach - Naklua

This is the next beach North of Pattaya, sometimes called Wong Amart Beach, this area Weiner Snitznal is more popular than Fried Rice in the local restaurants.
Actually the German restaurants are extremely good around this area and well worth a visit, plus it's only a 10baht taxi ride into Pattaya for the more wilder life style.
Anyway the first beach is really nice and secluded, no touts here to annoy your day, there is one big main restaurant on the beach which looks quite nice and a couple of Thai food stalls set up on the beach sidewalk, the second beach is the pits, as you walk the nice clean sandy beach to the rocky bit on your left, you will find another nice cove, but as you get closer you will be disgusted by all the trash in the sea and on the beach.

(Wong Amat Beach - Naklua)More info and pictures here


Jao Lao Bay - Chantaburi

This tiny little cove in Chantaburi Province is nice and secluded, nice little beach and generally nobody there.

More info and pictures here


Park Nam Beach - Chantaburi

This defineately aint a tourist beach, got a few Thai fishermans houses there and that's about it, got to admit I was tempted by the prices, the galfriends sister lives there and there was like 100 farang wah for 100k baht, but not like the proper land paper, got to learn more about that stuff as the Thais seem quite happy with it.

More info and pictures here


Laem Mae Phim Beach - Rayong

Laem Mae Pim Beach is about 20kms east of Rayong and is really quite nice, Lot's of nice restaurants overlooking the beach and also a few high end resorts and low end bungalows.
They have a couple of canoes and a couple of banana boats and a couple of jet skies for rent and that is about it, no touts so you can have a nice peaceful day at the seaside, or you could paddle over to the Islands of Koh Mun.
The three Islands off of Laem Mae Phim Beach are called, Koh Mun Nai, Koh Mun Klang and Koh Mun Nok, They are about 5kms from the beach and supposedly have lovely white sandy beaches and clear seas.
There are a few Vendor stalls on the roadside selling drinks, fruits, seafoods dried and fresh.

(Laem Mae Phim Beach - Rayong)More info and pictures here


Bang Saray Beach - Chonburi Province

Bangsaray is about 20kms South of Pattaya and is a real quiet beach, ie no touts or anything at all, hell you might even get bored here, the beach is ok and the sea is clean.

(Bang Saray Beach - Chonburi Province)More info and pictures here


Khao Sam Roi Yot Beach - Hua Hin

Other than the resorts there are a few restaurants where you can buy the usual selection of Thai dishes, sea food as you would expect is fresh and fairly cheap.
The beach itself does not seem to get much use and as it is in a partialy enclosed bay does not get the same regular cleaning by the tides that more exposed beaches do. This means that when the tide is out and you want to swim, you will have to walk through about a 100m of ankle deep sticky mud before you reach deep enough water.
Apart from swimming eating and laying around the only other attraction I found was to hire a longtail and take the trip round the bay tour to admire the outlying islands and possibly spot the dolphins from which the bay gets it's name. Oh! of course the resort is a good place to explore the park from.
I am told it gets more busy at weekends but the day that I was there our family were the only ones on the entire beach.

(Khao Sam Roi Yot Beach - Hua Hin)More info and pictures here


Ban Chang Beach - Had Nam Rim - Chonburi Province

Again yet another high quality clean beach that doesn't see many farang scumbags, this place is actually really nice and is where the well to do Thais go, no touts here and a few nice restaurants on the road across from the beach.
This beach is about 40kms away from Pattaya and 15kms away from Rayong.

(Ban Chang Beach - Had Nam Rim - Chonburi Province)More info and pictures here


Sunset Beach - 16 kms from Pattaya

This is more of a private beach owned by Sunset Village, this place is also a high class resort.
It is about 16kms South of Pattaya and nearly opposite Nong Noch Gardens.

More info and pictures here


Sai Keaw Beach - White Sands Beach - Sattahip

Sai Keaw Beach is about 20kms south of Pattaya and about 10kms from Satahip, it is actually part of the Thai militaries land, weekends it is quite busy, it has one Thai restaurant and a couple of massage huts, quite a nice place to spend an afternoon, the water is clean and safe to swim in.
No touts here, but they do have some canoe rentals, and a live band on the weekends.

(Sai Keaw Beach - White Sands Beach - Sattahip)More info and pictures here


Hat Sai Torng - Golden Beach - Jomtien

This beach is about a 15km drive South from Pattaya just before the Ambassador Hotel, it has the usual assortment of Tailor shops and a few restaurants, the left side of the beach is restricted to hotel guests and the right side of the beach is fronted by some nice restaurants actually on the beach.
Here you wont get pestered by touts and it is generally very quiet, quite a nice place to spend an afternoon.

(Hat Sai Torng - Golden Beach - Jomtien)More info and pictures here


Sunset Village and Beach - Sattahip

Well today I decided to treat the family and actually take them out, I try not to do this too often but occasionally I am overwhelmed by generousity, so first stop was Sunset Village, this is a high end holiday resort about 20kms from Pattaya, yep not a place for whoremongers and whores, although I feel sure they could set you up with a rented friend if you so wished, here we are at the entrance to the beach bar

More info and pictures here


Bang Saen Beach - Chonburi

Another nice beach resort a mere 45km away from Pattaya, actually all these small beach resorts are pretty much the same, ie cheap open air sea food restaurants and loads of thais at the weekends.
They got like one classy hotel and maybe some crappy rooms at other places, anyway here's the nice hotel.

(Bang Saen Beach - Chonburi)More info and pictures here