Bangkok’s A Beach

Stuck in Bangkok, I know. Need a break? How about some beach. Some fresh air, great seafood and nice flow of beer. Nah, you don’t have to head all the way down to Pattaya or even Hua Hin. Remember, Bangkok has a long wild coastline hardly anybody knows. Bangkok’s basically a coastal city.

And what a coastline Bangkok has. Wild mangrove wood and fields upon fields as far as the eye can see. The proximity of the ocean is the lung of the metropolis. Which is why the mega city has relatively better air than smaller, sleepier, landlocked Chiang Mai surrounded by mountains and slashing and burning.

Don’t know Bangkok’s coastline? Log on to Google Earth or Microsoft’s Virtual Earth and fly over that desolate stretch of coast. But you’re longing for the Bangkok coastline AND some beach cum seafood. Freshest cheap seafood. Nothing easier than that.

You know about Bang Saen, Bangkokians’ favorite stretch of beach an hours drive from the capital; an endless array of beach chairs and umbrellas with an endless supply of freshest yummiest seafood. You’re among thousands upon thousands of Thais at Bang Saen. And not one farang.

A cozier affair is smaller, sleepier Ang Sila, slightly north of Bang Saen. A fishing village with no sandy beach, but an endless stretch of seafood restaurants along route 3134. It’d be an impossible task to recommend one over the other. You’re even safe at the shack-like restaurants. My fav? Shack 52 – they’re numbered.

Even cozier: Khao Sam Muk - a small hill in between Ang Sila village and Bang Saen Beach, along the beachside road from Ang Sila that winds up the Sam Muk Hill. At the foot of the hill, right at the entrance to a beautifully cramped row of seafood restaurants with sea view, you’ll find a temple where time stands still.

To increase appetite and thirst, have a stroll through the temple grounds. Or climb the cliff with its wild monkeys and cactuses.

It’s an easy, most relaxing half-day trip from Bangkok. You’ll be back. Oh, and those little hills along the road are shells. Empty oyster shells. Hills of them.
[googleMap name="Khao Sam Muk" width="480" height="480" z="16" t="k" directions_from="true"]13°18′49.90″N 100°54′22.01″E[/googleMap]




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September 16, 2008 | Filed Under Food & Drink, Travel & Tourism 

Comments

11 Responses to “Bangkok’s A Beach”

  1. bongo on September 16th, 2008 11.10 pm

    Any photos?

  2. ThaiCrisis on September 17th, 2008 1.47 am

    Hum … I don’t want to make you vomit … but have you ever considered that this location is … basically … the sewage of Bangkok? The toilet of Krung Thep?

    ;-)

    As for the “sea food,” okay it’s fresh, it means people don’t die from a lightning attack of ferocious bacteria … but … where does it come from?

    The sewage. Sorry, the sea.

    Sewage with clean water. Sorry, fish farms.

    Add to those organic matters, chemicals and other goodies.

    I mean, don’t get me wrong: I love sea food in Thailand (but no shells) … But while I eat some, I know that I give a blow to my life expectancy. ;-)

    Voilà. Otherwise great piece. But I didn’t want to break the mood.

    ;-) double

    (must be the financial crisis, gives me good vibes)

  3. BangkokDan on September 17th, 2008 8.21 am

    Explains why me feel so dizzy these days …

    As the wise men know ThaiCrisis:

    Nothing better than some buildup of physical resistibility.

    bongo: ‘nfortunately no photos, but the provided links will give you some. Promise to shoot some when I’m heading there next time.

    BangkokDan

  4. ThaiCrisis on September 17th, 2008 6.33 pm

    Bangkok Dan, you’re ready for Ali G.

    “So far this stuff iz legal me think.” ;-)



  5. BangkokDan on September 17th, 2008 8.27 pm

    Hmm, all they said at the restaurant was: “Fresh herbs, sir, fresh herbs, taste better …”

    Seriously, great food, I promise.

    BangkokDan

  6. cat on September 19th, 2008 2.01 pm

    BangkokDan,

    Thanks for the write up. I have a friend on the lookout for somewhere close to BKK to visit before taking off back to Canada. For good (poor thing).

    “Fresh herbs, sir, fresh herbs, taste better …”

    Reads good to me. I’ll let you know how it goes.

    (I just hope she doesn’t read the rest of the comments…)

  7. BangkokDan on September 19th, 2008 2.07 pm

    It’s a very relaxing, rewarding half-day trip cat, no worries.

    If you shoot some photos of the food & restaurants – we’d appreciate to upload some.

    Enjoy -

    BangkokDan

  8. cat on September 19th, 2008 5.36 pm

    We’ll aim at getting out there on Thursday. If it happens, I’ll take a few photos for you (recently acquired a Canon Kiss).

  9. cat on October 9th, 2008 9.28 am

    “a very relaxing, rewarding half-day trip”…

    Well, it was interesting, I can say that much online.

    Before being picked up at 7.30 am, I printed out the info here, then grabbed a map.

    Getting in the car, I handed over everything to the driver, then sat back to enjoy the ride and conversation.

    About 30-40 min out, we hit a rough patch. After a half hour, I started getting car sick (I never get car sick).

    The driver was being careful of the bumps by going sloooooooooooooow … meaning, we were experiencing every little jerk in detail. Especially me, who was getting thrown about in the back seat.

    Getting the driver to go faster was difficult. Finally, we said, “Go Shoemacker!” and that worked for awhile.

    The rough patch lasted until 9.30, when we finally reached the coast. Almost two hours of a miserable ride to a miserable coastline with one restaurant stuck on the end of a narrow strip of dirt and not much else.

    Still carsick, I sat and watched the water for awhile. Nice spot really, as long as one was looking out, not in.

    It took about 15 min to drag the truth out of the driver. That we were on the WEST side of the Gulf of Thailand, not the east.

    Sigh …

    I then ordered a nice, tall Singha for breakfast and proceeded to mutter TIT under my breath. One sip, one TIT. Another sip, another TIT.

    We did go to one decent spot before heading back. A wat dedicated to the boatsman one of the Kings of Thailand. Something to do with the boatsman getting killed for running the royal barge into a tree (I have all the information here, I’m just too fluffed to drag it out).

    After getting back to BKK, I googled to see what else was in the area. A lot. So, I will go back, but not by that bumpy road. An unnecessarily bumpy road as it only took 40 minutes to get back to BKK on a perfectly fine road. Not two hours.

    Btw – I did take photos of food and water and such, as requested. Of which I’m sure you’ll have no interest in at all …

  10. BangkokDan on October 9th, 2008 9.40 am

    Glorious cat! That’s the “long wild coastline” I mentioned … See? One wrong turn in Bangkok and adventure is never off too far.

    Still, try to head the other way one day, for a very relaxing, rewarding half-day trip …!

    BangkokDan

  11. cat on October 9th, 2008 10.06 am

    “One wrong turn in Bangkok and adventure is never off too far.”

    You got that right. And next time I’ll make sure there’s at least one occupant in the car with a decent sense of direction (and who can read a map).

    I don’t (even though I worked as a cartographer), which is why I don’t bother to backseat drive.

    If I’m absolutely sure we should be turning left, there’s an 80% chance we should be turning to the right.

    (I’ll post again if I ever make it to where I was supposed to be going …)

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