In Search of Beaches

During 2003 I had reached one of those points in life when I knew I needed change. I had also been working on another of my web sites and thought some "beaches" content might be appropriate. But I wanted to tell folks about beaches that most tourists never see.

And at the same time, I wanted to find a new place to live.

After moving some stuff to a friend's house, I packed the rest in my SUV and headed south. Basically, my plan involved driving down the Gulf of Thailand coastline to the Malaysian border, across to the Andaman Seacoast in Sathun, then north along the Andaman to Ranong.

I wanted to drive to the end of every road or trail that went to the sea. Mostly I stayed on local roads, rather than Phetkasem Highway. I took a number of short drives that ended at rice paddies or coconut groves. But a few ended at long stretches of fine sand and clear water with not one house or person in sight.

A few of those paths that terminated suddenly offered no space to turn around. In one paddy area, I had to reverse for almost 1 km. I saw beautiful beaches, friendly people and more coconut palms than you can imagine.

As one may or may not expect, many of the roads leading to the sea ended at fishing villages. Many of the fishing villages in the south are Muslim. A few are Chai Talay aka Sea Gypsies. Fishing villages tend not to have very good beaches because of sanitation and garbage disposal.

The greatest thing about visiting those villages was the reaction of the people. Southerners don't always smile like tourist brochures. Folks would often stand and stare with what seemed at first to be an un welcoming frown. Buy every time I said, "Sawadee khrap," expressions quickly changed to smiles .. and, perhaps, relief.

Kids were especially fun to watch. Their faces switched from fear to excited glee. Rapid-fire questions would often follow. "What's your name?" "Where are you going?" "Where do you come from?"

A reply, even in my fractured Thai, resulted in a whole range of reactions. Some would be hilarity. Kids are honest and will laugh at you when you talk funny.

Three areas stood out for me during my four months in the south. Two in Prachuap Khirikan Province were Paknam Pranburi and Tumbon Thongchai. The third was a long crescent stretch south of Pattani town the locals called Ratcharak.

The time came to find digs less temporary than hotels and guest houses. I needed a work space with an internet connection so I could start organizing my notes and adding information to my web site. So where did I choose? Pattaya .. but that was for a good reason .. and that's a different story.