Sea Pine Garden - Hua Hin, less known jewel for beach fun

© Frank P. Schneidewind

This prime piece of beach is to be found easily just south of my beloved City of Hua Hin, the Royal Seaside Resortcity on the western Gulfshore. Sea Pine Garden is the English term for the Suan Son Pradhipat, a retreat open to the public and run by the Royal Thai Army as a recreational facility. The distance from Hua Hin Town is a mere 9 KM or just over 5 miles. A songtheauw (public transport) runs to Khao Takiab, the mountain flanking Suan Son Pradipat to the north. The beach features great bathing opportunities in unpolluted waters and a well kept sandy area, shaded by huge Casuarinas or Sea Pines. http://www.tripadvisor.com ranks it presently under the Top 5 of Hua Hin's attractions!

Just follow Phetchkasem Road (Route 4) in southerly direction, until you see this sign:

A few Meters past it, you will arrive at a security gate and a PTT gas station, here you need to turn left. Unless during situations of heightened security, a friendly greeting by the guards is all you have to do here. Oh yes, almost forgot. A small nominal fee for the vehicle parking is sometimes charged. I forgot the exact sum, because it was under 1 $ in value and only charged occasionally. From here you follow the blacktop road eastbound to a parking area for cars and mopeds right next to their beachside Cafeteria and Snackeria.

The business is operated and run under the Command of the Military by civilian contractors, which are friendly and offer drinks of all kinds and some assorted Thai snacks.

It is sparkling clean here and their "Sai Lek Moo", a noodle soup for only 30 Baht is a delicacy. Drinks are served in bottles or cans, chilled and at very reasonable prices. They also have a well maintained toilet facility here with freshwater showers. Toilet use is 3 Baht, they don't charge extra for a shower. The early morning breezes here and their excellent and inexpensive foods made this a "must-stop" on all my Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur drives in the years past. It also is a great location to spend all day in the water, on the beach or on the terrace. For Bangkokians only a 3 to 3 1/2 hour drive away, it makes a perfect weekend get-away or a destination for a fun filled day trip. Untainted by much trash or annoying and intoxicated mass tourists, it is also highly recommendable to those with children. I have seen seniors playing chess all day on the terrace, but it never really appeared crowded like those dreadful public beaches in selected tourist areas.

The entire beach appears spotlessly clean, reason for that being is a 5 people cleanup-crew, which combs the beach daily in the early A.M. at first sunlight. Every forgotten straw, all small trash is being removed to have this pristine piece of land again ready for it's daily bunch of guests.

The clean-up crew has been watched by me and observed over many years now, high season or not, Suan Son Pradipat keeps it's great reputation. Several times over they sweep the grounds in their routines. Broken pieces of glass, commonly found on less maintained beaches have never been spotted by me here. Seating opportunities for families on tree stumps are provided near the Snackeria, you are allowed to bring your own food and drinks. Leave nothing, but footprints in the sand later and everyone will be happy.

At lunchtime it gets a little busier under the mighty Casuarinas or Sea Pines, when folks gather here for their family picnics. Bring a hammock or rent a beachchair for a low daily fee. It's chillout time here.

The terrace cafeteria is an ideal spot to start hourlong beachwalks, indulge in beachgames or submerge in the refreshing waters of the gulf. No noisy jetskis endanger your life or disturb the tranquility. There is room for plenty of people here.

The clear water is shallow, ideal for kids and seniors. Waves aren't of threatening heights and my 3-year old niece always loved it here. Khao Takiab, the Chopstick Mountain with it's temples and hordes of monkeys looms to the north. During the King's presence in his Klai Klangwol Palace in Hua Hin, the silhouettes of three Royal Thai Navy vessels are on the distant horizon.

Lifeguards aren't on permanent duty, but on public holidays this harmless beach boast extra safety for the swimmers. No strong currents were detectable, no sharp rocks or reefs pose any danger here.

Tarrifs and fees for the necessary rentals are signposted in Thai script, but helpful attendants will collect your coins or small bills for this great and inexpensive service.

The rental of inner tubes is also handled here, they add fun and safety to many and are very popular with Thai folks. The young soldiers manning this look a bit "Rambo-like" in their fatigues, but I can assure you they are as friendly as can be and keep a certain unwanted group of youngsters with a deficit in behavior and beach-bums away here.

Many stay until the late hours, as breezes amplify and the thirst for a cold beer when the lights grow dim pops up in young fellows. The spontaneous parties here in the evening are something special.

Portable grills are allowed, quite a few guests fix their lunches or dinners themself.

The Southern Railway Line has a Stop here too, I could not figure out the exact timetable, but inquire at Hua Hin Station if you want to travel here cheaply and efficient by rail. Hua Hin hotel guests and holiday folks might like this feature a lot.

The southern overview shows another hill in the distance, several Kilometers away. The beach is wide enough even at high tide and the sand appears to be fine sand all the way.

Suan Son Pradipat isn't run by profiteers or greedy folks, you can spend a wonderful time here and add memorable impressions to your lot. No masses of beach vendors, no elephant beggars or annoying timeshare-touts - this has quickly become my favorite hidden jewel for most beachfun action within easy reach from Bangkok. A rental car, moped or bicycle gets you here from Hua Hin in a whisk of time. Public transport in Hua Hin offers sontheauw rides to the other side of Chopstic mountain as seen in above picture, it still leaves a good walking distance to be covered by you. Taxis in Hua Hin are famous for overpricing foreigners. You may want to inquire with the train station or your hotel's concierge for a possibe rail transport, if you don't like to get your own set of wheels for a great day out

For those living in Bangkok, there is a multitude of transport options wth thhe slowest being the train (6h). Bus Terminal Sai Mai has plenty of departures to southern destinations with scheduled stops in Hua Hin hourly (4 h). The quickest option may be the DeLuxe minivan from Victory Monument to Cha-Am and Hua Hin. It costs roughly 200 Baht one way and gets you there as quick as any Taxi would for a fraction of the fare.

My apologies to those of you, that feel double-served by this article - we at SIAMPEDIA have indeed published a similar one in German language before. It was originally being produced for a German magazine, called "Der Farang". I have updated this and rewritten it for our English speaking friends on request by dear friends, which were looking for an uncontaminated beach to go with their children to play.

Thailand´s beach of shame - Bang Saen, Chonburi

© Frank P. Schneidewind

Some fifty to sixty miles southeast of Bangkok, a township named Bang Saen nestles on the shores of the Gulf of Thailand. It is in Chonburi Province and just a short drive away from the tourist magnet of Pattaya. It may have been an idyllic spot some decades ago, but a profit-driven and self serving promoter like the mighty Tourist Authority of Thailand (TAT) may have done their last beach assessment long before the dawn of Polymeres, non-biodegreeable plastics. Wave after wave delivers an endless supply of these, and the blend with the local mix of broken bottles, Styrofoam food containers and other gifts of civilization there, is a colorful arrangement of objects highly visible wherever you look. Nobody seems to care and nobody wants to change this. Mind you, this particular "beach" still serves as their first ever eye contact to the Gulf for thousands of visitor, mainly schoolkids and the work forces of larger companies inland on their beach break. They travel here from the remotes corners of the impoverished isaan and the suburbs of Bangkok, what a great place to introduce oceans and beaches of Thailand to their own and underprivileged masses. Most are being bused here with a daily stream of stinking buses, as the idling and parked huge vehicles show, that are resting on the beach road and wait for their human cargoes to embark again for their ride home. TAT and others still do promote Bangsaen as a Tourist destination and a bathing beach!

The existence of a huge Condominium complex also shows, that profits of any kind want to be made here, a sheer endless row of food vendors on the fortified shore lets them rub shoulders waiting for a hungry visitor. The similarly endless accumulation of their Styrofoam food containers on the beach below may be carried far with the next gust of wind here or a mercyful wave at high tide.

Under http://www.hatbangsaen.com/ the townships own advertisers promote this destination in the web still as follows (quote) "(Bangsaen).......transforming into a social Hotspot for Thai nationals. Farmers from the north-east sharing the same beach with Bangkok high-rollers, drinking whiskey, making music, practice dancing and, even, swimming in the Gulf of Thailand!"

WOW, that's really amazing. The trashbeach a "Hotspot" for Thai nationals? But they are surely not wrong, as usual - after all they see themself as the "Monaco of Thailand", after allowing road races in this insignificant dirty town. We have those also nightly in Pathum Thani, are we the "Indianapolis" now?

Mighty stormdrains loom directly underneath those eateries, mere street food vendors with a limited selection of local foods. Cozy and simple beach-chairs invite to take place on crude tables way above this beach on the pavement. Paved and plastered grounds they have plenty here.

Trash is being brought by every tide and wave, but old accumulations aren't removed, they can be revisited on subsequent trips several days later.
Our impressions originate not from one, but multiple visits here. Bangsaen's cleaners (if they have any) seem to have work to do elsewhere. The ocean water changes it's color and smell due to algae growth at times. Rocks in the water here do sport a coating of organic, slippery and slimy substances plus certain mollusks, whose sharp edged shells discourage from walking bare footed or swim anywhere here at high tide. My previous dog was very fond of every pool or puddle of water, but here he couldn't be convinced to enter the murky floating trash.

The Golden Retriever seemed to have more common sense than some people here - because despite the visible dirt there, some actual guests of "Bang Saen Beach" were playing in that liquid!

Given the fact, that none of our visits here between say 2007 and 2009 took place on a sunny day, the beaches dark grey to grey colors never tempted me to remove as much as my shoes. Glass segments of broken Mekhong and Sang Som and Beer bottles were to be spotted everywhere. The southern part of this 4km stretch of "beach" looked a little bit more promising, so I went there as well.

Countless plastic objects later, the southern end came into view, dead fish we saw a few, but this shore might be free of regular fish masses like anywhere else along the Gulf, one of the richest bodies of water on this planet in marine life forms.

Unbelievable amounts of Thai citizens, mainly kids, were disregarding the trash and dirt and enjoyed themselves. These "dip in a dump" tourists probably never saw an ocean or real beach in their life before, and they really had obvious fun in there.

Banana boating was popular with the kids and young adults, their one day beach-trip by bus to come here surely made a difference to their rice field lifes in the poorer provinces. Jet-ski's wouldn't operate long in this filth, because their propulsion intake would be clogged with plastic bags or else too frequently. Here they use regular outboard engines with their dangerously exposed blades to shred some of the trash. I only hope no one got maimed or his arm or legs cut off by this toy!
There are reasons, why these killers are outlawed in other countries to be operated on public beaches. An observer may start to think, that money and bribes overrule all safety and environmental issues in Thailand!

The bused-in hordes of beach fans here flock to the pavement daily in great numbers, most of them do not set their feet on the sand below. For convenience of some and annoyance for all, the buses are parked with idling engines on the beach road for hours. Noisy and polluting, their diesel exhausts do give a change in stink from the organic waste and algae growth below at low tide. Their noise is trumped by megaphones of the herders of these day tourists, and if you are lucky you get some further entertainment from their mobile soundboxes, that would make every gangster-rapper in New York's Bronx to sell his Bling-Bling in order to have one of these noise makers

The pavement up here is maybe the main attraction, who knows if these guests ever had the privilege to use their flip-flops on any even ground. All their "beach-activity" is happening before your very eyes if you consume a bit from the street vendors here on the lovely concrete!

Palm trees provide a cheap decoration on this promenade, but the aren't servived or have seen any maintenance by landscapers as the ugly rotten parts show, which occasionally tumble down and wipe the crude tables clean of any bottles of drinks or food. There seems to be a forest of beach-chairs, all set up on concrete or pavement, not a single one on the beach.

When the going gets tough here, the flip-flops will come flying off and the bus hordes play the beach games bare footed now, surely on plastered surface - what a fun! Occasional yells or commands by megaphone keep the hordes in shape.

I begin to understand a "fun day out at the beach" in new ways now - amazing Thailand, I feel so sorry for your people. May TAT one day wake up and stop claiming this seaside resort as an attraction for tourists. Matter of factly, it's a trash heap with a synthetic infrastructure and health risks for the minors and young adults here. These return home with impressions, that are rather dreadful than memorable.

And please stop telling my fellow foreigners, that this is a great place to go and visit. This is not reflecting the reality and a remedy requires some quick and decisive on-site action. Visitors here will broadcast their impressions and share the truth. May the truth and reality prevail in Thailand as well. TAT open your eyes! May Bang Saen receive the attention it needs to improve, a lot of that is imminent!

Wualai Road - A great night market in Chiang Mai

© Frank P. Schneidewind

On a Saturday night, you can hardly do something better in the "Rose of the North", than herd over to Chiang Mai's Wualai Street, the daytime famous location for the silversmiths and antique dealers. Unlike it's famous night market competitor, the once glamorous "Night Bazaar", Wualai night market hasn't become a touristc nightmare with inflated prices and purely commercial aspects. Wualai market is one of the old style markets, where you'll be surrounded by the lights, sounds and smells of a truely grown and established markets. Not drawn up on a map as a tourist magnet for the lazy mass tourists, which return from their arranged trips and have made the tour industry happy all day. Wualai seems not to have lost the touch of a genuine market yet.

The market occurs once weekly along the flanks of said road, which leads diagonally from the moat to Chiang Mai gate. You will find all sorts of artists here, which will draw your picture or carve your elephant while you wait. Handicrafts and hand crafted snacks are a big winner with the visiting public.

Seniors entertain their crowds with long forgotten tunes and play their instruments for you:

Melona gears up on hairpins for herself and her friends worldwide to have some gifts for their next visit to Thailand.

She loves to haggle with the dealers and enjoys the shopping here much.

Carved soap seems to go well with the customers, shops and stalls show their respective products:

Photographers, don't forget your cameras in the hotel or guest house, there is too much to see here.

Sweets are available in abundance, some of those treats you may want to sample yourself:

Foods and snacks are served all along this long market, it neverneeds visitors to venture on hungry:

Puppeteers, ballet, live music - you never know what to expect a few steps further.....

Try local Cappucino or hilltribe coffees in the coffee stalls along the way:

Suddenly you spot beauties in their traditional dresses, just love to pose for your picture....

The selection is no less here, than in the touristy hotspots, but you may get much better prices on items:

The beauties are everywhere, and before you know it, you have walked miles here down Wualai Road.

Even street performers are now showing up, always another nice addition to a great venue!

Thaphae Gate market, Night Bazaar, there is a big choice for all in Chiang Mai. Wualai market is our declared favorite one, see it for yourself one day!

Batu Ferringhi - Malaysia's urban resortbeach on Penang Island

© Frank P. Schneidewind

Batu Ferringhi nestles on the northern section of Penang Island and is viewed by Penangnites as a Suburb of Georgetown. It's sandy shores attract a rainbow of visitors, although it is hidden from the pathes and views of most tourists, which come to this place for it's vibrant nightlife and multitude of ethnic cousines. Penang in Malaysia is dominated by liberal people of all backgrounds, religious beliefs and the mix works fine here, it all seems to operate friction free.

Batu Ferringhi is their closest weekend getaway and you may not be able to find a room on the beach on popular long weekends or holidays. Several Kilometer of fine sand beach never escape unnoticed in the world anymore, the long and winding road from Georgetown and it's traffic prooves that fact. This beach also doubles as one of the least expensive ocean playgrounds for all sorts of watersport activities. Parasailing is a big winner with the guests here and so is Jetski rental, Bananaboat riding and horseback fun on the beach.

The "flying" adventure on a chute, dragged behind a powerful sportboat is still much less costly here, than in the "developed" resorts like Phuket or Samui further up north in Thailand. We liked to bring friends and family here for their inauguration into a fun sport called "Parasailing" in the past and they all got a real kick out of this attraction for the brave. Melona did her first flight here years ago and she still treasures the memory of it.

ATV's or Quads can be rented too, there is hardly a limit on the options. Sunseekers or visitors out for a tan on a blanket do not need to go anywhere else for their share of the free fun.

The parasailing operators have first class imported (not copied!) gear, and in all our years there we have never seen an accident or real bad landing. The operators instruct all participants well across any language barriers and people in Malaysia do have a real command of English, not just a handfull of snapped up words in their repertoire. Another feature, which is very beneficial to most visitors.

Safety features are explained, a life-vest is mandatory here, no wild rocks may disturb soft sand landings as well.

Melonas dad before the first flight on a chute of his life, a real brave man.

Some untangling has to be executed before take off. This beach has plenty of room for everybody, nobody feels bothered by this here.

Take off requires a wind filled chute and a few quick steps towards the tugging boat, clear signals on what to do are given as well.

Take off happens with dry feet, the speed of the boat and the aerodynamics of the chute quickly deploy the flyer into the air.

A long line secures the set-up and the boat operators do their business with the needed professionalism, no doped beach-bums here in the market for some quick tourist cash.

Turns have been jacked up in price recently, the arrivals of the uninformed first mass tourists here have begun to taint the fun for others. Just like in any other place in Southeastasia, the dreaded mass tourists spoil long established prices with their readiness to fork over inflated prices. Those, who have first-hand witnessed the developments in Pattaya, Jomtien, Phuket or Samui know exactly, what I'm talking about here.

The horses for rent offered here are real horses, not the ponies or donkeys as at other locations in Asia. Melona and I used to like to exchange our bike for a real horse here to do our beloved beachcruises. But that was again before the arrival of the dreaded mass-tourists, which now wave 50 Ringgit bills (500 Baht) for a few minutes on horseback. 20 Ringgit was all we were asked for in the old days (2005-2007) for a nice 30 minute ride.

Rides are now guided by the horseboys, the dawn of Hotels to cater for the richer crowds here has chased many cheap Guesthouses away, whole groups of them make room at once for new megaroom resorts. We still go there to see it, when in Penang - as the perfect public bus scheme still takes us for 3 Ringgit to that nice beach. Not the old KGN diesel stinkers anymore, but super decked-out DeLuxe cityliners with great seating and WiFi on board! Komtar Tower downtown Georgetown is the starting point. Look for bus number 201 and have the fare availlable in coins or small bills. You may also board this bus in Lebuh Chulia, the backpackers paradise. Chulia Street has a lively scene with accommodations, bars, restaurants and travel- plus visa-agencies. Don't miss out on this, even if you pay more than 20 Ringgit for your bed in a fancier place.