sri tanu and mae had beaches

[femi fan]

Last time i went to ko phangan was in june 2012 and i stayed in sri tanu for the whole month. Having been going to phangan on and off since 1991 i had never stayed there, and it represented a piece of magic that conformed to what i used to get back in the 90s from phangan and samui.

Mae had used to be my favourite beach in those times and i always stayed at island view cabana. Searching for updated info on these two beaches i did see that IVC had been sold some time last year i think. I wonder how that has changed IVC and mae had itself?

My question is has sri tanu or mae had undergone any particular noteworthy development? I thought sri tanu was so good because the town itself had no hotels and was basically just locals living in their local place, accommodating people who don't want to get caught up in tourist traps.

I have friends coming over from england in august this year, and i want to give them up-to-date information. It of course represents a good chance for me to get back down to my favourite island. I"m 'stuck' living in chiang mai, so i don't get to phangan so often these days.

And, just in case, i've recently become alerted to ko phayam in case anyone reading this can give me any firsthand info. cheers

[AngThong]

Sri Thanu hasn't changed. (Well, Agama have finished building their new HQ, but it doesn't stick out that much and it isn't on the beach.)

Mae Haad has seen some change, basically IVC are expanding. Nothing too flashy so far, but they did cut down some nice trees along the road, to erect something that wasn't finished last time I was there (a month ago). I do hope they'll plant something else instead, looked totally raped to me. They're also building more bungalows, but it's still more or less the same operation, and all of these changes are along the road to IVC, not on the beach side.

On the beach itself, nothing much has changed.

[samuijimmy]

The scoop on IVC is, it has changed hands, Haad Salad Buri, took it over last year ... along with one other resort somewhere... not sure which one. Royal Orchid next door has changed hands too.

I was there a couple of weeks ago, and there are expansion plans to expand parking area, and take down some of the older bungalows and build new.... I was told they were keeping the present "ambiance" .... even though as Angthong says they had taken down some trees, I think they will do a good job of planting new ones... it's already looking better (cleaner) generally!

They have also cleaned up the beach on the right side... near the fishing boat lagoon, that's a good thing!

New building will start when "high season" ends... I am not sure when that will be it's always busy there! (IVC) They have gone from 10 restaurant wait staff to 30... staff getting less hours which is better than them working from 7 am to 10 pm ...

I posted some images recently, but forget where now!

This is the back area that has been cleared and these old bungalows are coming down..

This is the area that the beach has been cleaned up... between RO and IVC... no old tires and litter along the point!

in front of IVC

It's still beautiful and thing it will generally stay that way!

As for Koh Phayam, I got some friends who have just gone there... staying at Buffalo Bay... they seem impressed...pics look good that they have sent....

I may head that way in March

I'll let other discuss Sri Thanu... there are lots of resorts, more to the north end... personally I don't like the beaches along there, as much!

Waiting for a comment from Tropicalevo now!

[samuijimmy]

oh... to late to add link to above .... here is the other recent discussion re KP beaches ...

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/693955-koh-phangan-info-please/

[Jose]

Beaut pics... remind me of time spent in Mae Haad and Koh Ma back in the 90's.

These beaches generally tend to attract a quieter (and usually more interesting than the FMP crowd) type of traveller.

[angiud]

Living in Srithanu, I can confirm not a lot of development here, just few more bungalows and shops. And the high tide daytime promote the beauty of its beaches.

[samuijimmy]

Living in Srithanu, I can confirm not a lot of development here, just few more bungalows and shops. And the high tide daytime promote the beauty of its beaches.

share a few of your images of the area .... Angiud! !!!.... I know you have a few, too!

To Jose, thanks for the comment...

BTW... Koh Ma no longer has livable bungalows.... so no more all night parties to ruin the tranquility of Maehaad beach!... and yes, the resorts in the area do attract a "quieter sane crowd" of all ages....

[femi fan]

So that's pretty good news on the whole then! Especially about sri thanu.

The last time i stayed at IVC was three years ago during december. Now i know that's high season but my memory and image of IVC was tarnished forever! There were dozens of tourists staying there, maybe over a hundred bodies lying on the beach near the restaurant and down a bit, and in general all i could see was europe, or even chaweng beach! This is not the beach experience i enjoy.

My previous trip had been a couple of years or so before that in june, and it was as perfect as ever, the new bungalows having not been built then.

To me it has simply become more of 'tourist' place than a 'traveller' place. Perhaps outside of the high season it reverts to the way i used to remember it? I first went there in the early 90s and heaven it was.

Now, on my trip in june 12, i accidentally found myself staying on sri thanu beach. This was pretty much the only place i'd not stayed on phangan, and it was a miracle indeed for me to have a month there. A traveller place! Interesting people to meet! No full moon types! Magnficent beach (i like shallow waters and white sands). But just as important was the town and the outstanding walk into town.

So to hear it has not changed is just great news, i now have to work out some time and money to get down there this year some time.

While i have the ears of your professionals, it seems to me that whenever i come down to phangan in june i get exceptional weather, it must be about the lowest of the low seasons, and in general it seems a really good month for visiting. Have i just been lucky, or is june always like this? And i therefore conclude that may would be an equally good time to come.

[femi fan]

What is 'agama'? Is that the yoga place?

Samuijimmy, you must have been down there for years now! You are always here to help answer my questions every couple of years! Thanks for the link to the other discussion, i'll have a read of that. As for ko phayam, i would go there in a flash if i could know it was not a tourist/suitcase job!

Do any of you ever get up north to chiang mai way? If you do or would like to, i can reciprocate with ideas. Just over a year ago i was walking along pai streets and suddenly was 'jumped' on by an old mate from samui (he ran the sunset song bungalows in big buddha beach) who i'd not seen for several years because he'd left those bungalows. We had a great time catching up. It was weird seeing him out of the beach context. He had long heard of pai and had finally made it up here. I know if one is living in phangan/samui how hard it might be to leave there for a holiday, but he loved his time in pai. I call pai the 'ko phangan of the mountains', and he didn't disagree with me.

Direct flights now between samui and chiang mai…! Great place up here!

[samuijimmy]

What is 'agama'? Is that the yoga place?

Samuijimmy, you must have been down there for years now! You are always here to help answer my questions every couple of years! Thanks for the link to the other discussion, i'll have a read of that. As for ko phayam, i would go there in a flash if i could know it was not a tourist/suitcase job!

Do any of you ever get up north to chiang mai way? If you do or would like to, i can reciprocate with ideas. Just over a year ago i was walking along pai streets and suddenly was 'jumped' on by an old mate from samui (he ran the sunset song bungalows in big buddha beach) who i'd not seen for several years because he'd left those bungalows. We had a great time catching up. It was weird seeing him out of the beach context. He had long heard of pai and had finally made it up here. I know if one is living in phangan/samui how hard it might be to leave there for a holiday, but he loved his time in pai. I call pai the 'ko phangan of the mountains', and he didn't disagree with me.

Direct flights now between samui and chiang mai…! Great place up here!

I have spent over a year of my life in the Maehaad area of KP, I was figuring that out last night, in my mind!!! ..... between holidays and then living in the area for 9 months!.... first trip the was 2005!

But I know people who return there, every year, who knew it before any of the roads were put in!!! (more than 25 years ago) There are a few of them there now... so I have heard many "stories" from them about the early days!... But nice enough that they keep coming back, still!

Not sure what "Agama" is but there are several yoga places around different parts of KP...

If you are coming in June, there will not be as many tourists and the water levels will be much lower than now.... that changes in April! Sri Thanu has very low water levels after April...Maehaad, well a little bit of a knee depth walk to get to swim-able water, but not too bad!

As for Pai and area been there done that! ... twice... Chang Rai on the list of places to go...

Check out the TV photo forum.... tons of great images there from a number of members showing many areas of Thailand...

...http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/forum/84-photography-and-the-arts/

When I get more details of Koh Phayam and area, I will PM you so, not to get off topic here Friends there right now, say it is very nice!... although touristy a bit, but snorkeling and diving supposed to be good!

Come March, it sounds like there maybe a few photo forum members doing a motor bike, Photo tour of the west coast area! ... That planing is in the works now! !

[AngThong]

Agama is the Agama (tantric) yoga school, possibly by now the biggest yoga school on Phangan. They built a new "campus" in Sri Thanu in 2012-2013, and although it is a prominent place, it's rather innocuously located between the inland road and the coast road, not on the beach. It's the only recent major development in Sri Thanu that I know of.

I've only been on KPG for a year, but June was probably the quietest month of the lot. Very, very nice. Water levels are really low, of course, but Mae Haad is still swimmable and so are all of the Eastern beaches, from Bottle Beach in the north to Had Yuan and Had Rin in the south.

Edited January 19, 2014 by AngThong

[femi fan]

samuijimmy… that will be good to hear about ko phayam, cheers.

No, no plans to be coming this year although a mate will be over in august. I'm just doing research for him. But i am always thinking about ko phangan because it's my favourite place in thailand and has been since i first came. Even though places like had yao and mae salad have changed in terms of development and sheer numbers of people visiting (and i really mean the 'tourist' type of visitor), i remain half in awe that places like tong sala, and all the way up to sri thanu on the western coast, and pretty much mae had (although IVC has changed in terms of its profile of people staying there), and chaloklum are much the same as back in the 90s.

For me phangan therefore retains its charms for traveler types, and now that i'm talking about it again, i will have to see if i can make it down for may or june.

Why are the water levels lower at that time? It rings bells with me because i can remember trips when i can walk from IVC to ko maa, eg in june, and others times when low tide still means wading through the water to get there, eg in december.

One place i've not been to since before 2000 is tong nai pan. I wonder how that has maintained its own charms? I have to imagine not many tourists get up there apart from near full moon times.

[AngThong]

The tides change with the monsoons. With all the rain, the seawater gets less salty, too, at least in the top layers. I can taste the difference...

Thong Nai Pan has definitely changed... TNP Noi is now pretty much an upmarket place, with some resorts charging 10,000+ baht/night. TNP Yai still has a few cheaper places, but they're also slowly heading upmarket. The upside is, most visitors are families/elderly couples, so the vibe is pretty laid back and quiet. The beaches themselves are very nice, and I'd say most of the development looks nice. But it sure ain't a deserted hippie hangout anymore...

About 3/4 of the Ban Tai - TNP Road has been paved, and the rest is being paved and will be finished sometime soon.

Edited January 19, 2014 by AngThong

[samuijimmy]

samuijimmy… that will be good to hear about ko phayam, cheers.

No, no plans to be coming this year although a mate will be over in august. I'm just doing research for him. But i am always thinking about ko phangan because it's my favourite place in thailand and has been since i first came. Even though places like had yao and mae salad have changed in terms of development and sheer numbers of people visiting (and i really mean the 'tourist' type of visitor), i remain half in awe that places like tong sala, and all the way up to sri thanu on the western coast, and pretty much mae had (although IVC has changed in terms of its profile of people staying there), and chaloklum are much the same as back in the 90s.

For me phangan therefore retains its charms for traveler types, and now that i'm talking about it again, i will have to see if i can make it down for may or june.

Why are the water levels lower at that time? It rings bells with me because i can remember trips when i can walk from IVC to ko maa, eg in june, and others times when low tide still means wading through the water to get there, eg in december.

One place i've not been to since before 2000 is tong nai pan. I wonder how that has maintained its own charms? I have to imagine not many tourists get up there apart from near full moon times.

In summer months, the walk to Koh Ma is much winder than during the winter months, it varies as to tide too... a couple of weeks ago people were wading knee deep to get over there!

I guess come April the earth shifts ... ....causing the waters around to go down, obviously I think in other parts of the world it must rise.... guessing down Aussie way! ...the southern hemisphere ?

August tends to be a bit busier because the School holidays in the north and southern winters! .... FMP time will add to the crowds too....

TNP and some of the other eastern KP beaches now have higher end resorts.... even a 7-11, I believe in TNP .... it's really up market now! Mae Haad has not reached 7-11 stature.... yet! .....

Edited January 19, 2014 by samuijimmy

[AngThong]

TNP and some of the other eastern KP beaches now have higher end resorts.... even a 7-11, I believe in TNP .... it's really up market now! Mae Haad has not reached 7-11 stature.... yet! .....

No other Eastern beaches have high end resorts... TNP only. Bottle Beach has one mid-market resort and Than Sadet as well... But that's it, the rest is flashpacker more or less. (I'm sure they're longing to improve on that, though...) And then there is, of course, Had Yao East - Had Yang - Had Nam Tok with one tiny resort on HYE and nothing on the others, so far. They've been putting up lots of signs to lure people that way though, hopefully without success...

[samuijimmy]

TNP and some of the other eastern KP beaches now have higher end resorts.... even a 7-11, I believe in TNP .... it's really up market now! Mae Haad has not reached 7-11 stature.... yet! .....

No other Eastern beaches have high end resorts... TNP only. Bottle Beach has one mid-market resort and Than Sadet as well... But that's it, the rest is flashpacker more or less. (I'm sure they're longing to improve on that, though...) And then there is, of course, Had Yao East - Had Yang - Had Nam Tok with one tiny resort on HYE and nothing on the others, so far. They've been putting up lots of signs to lure people that way though, hopefully without success...

ah OK! ....Only TNP ! .... it's been a while since I was on that side! ..... memory fading a little!

Wait until the airport gets finished..... ..... if it ever does!

[MantisMan]

I took my wife on some of the back roads here in Maenam, pulled over and said to her (she has not been to KP yet), "This is what KP is like. No stupid ring road to be concerned about.

Just nice quiet roads to ride your bike doing no more than 30 kph or less, enjoy the scenery, eat at the local diner, shop at the local mom and pop shop."

Am I right!?

[AngThong]

I took my wife on some of the back roads here in Maenam, pulled over and said to her (she has not been to KP yet), "This is what KP is like. No stupid ring road to be concerned about.

Just nice quiet roads to ride your bike doing no more than 30 kph or less, enjoy the scenery, eat at the local diner, shop at the local mom and pop shop."

Am I right!?

Apart from the Thong Sala - Ban Tai - Had Rin road, more or less yes.

[samuijimmy]

I took my wife on some of the back roads here in Maenam, pulled over and said to her (she has not been to KP yet), "This is what KP is like. No stupid ring road to be concerned about.

Just nice quiet roads to ride your bike doing no more than 30 kph or less, enjoy the scenery, eat at the local diner, shop at the local mom and pop shop."

Am I right!?

Apart from the Thong Sala - Ban Tai - Had Rin road, more or less yes.

I was going to hit the like button,^ ... but out of likes for the day! More or less correct!

There are three roads that go up the island to Chaloklum area from Tongsala, the west coast road, more or less along the beach areas, but you don't really see the beaches, because of the resorts, in the mid to north end, and the north end is quite steep! ... up and down! South end there are some easier access points near the Mangrove plantations and a fishing boat port or two! ... worth a stop!

It goes to Haad Salad then you join the one of the two other roads that head north south... The two other roads there really is not a lot to see except coconut groves and jungle ... and the odd house! At the high point of the island, you can see Samui and if really clear you might see Koh Toa to the north ...

But then it's not much more than 12 to 14 kms from top to bottom! ... hardly a long trip... which ever way you go! ... circle tour ! Some times you hardly see any traffic on those roads... but it does depend on time of day!

As Anthong, suggests, avoid the Haad Rin Road, especially during FMP time... it can be fairly quiet .... between times, especially the off season months ... better than now.... (usually) but it is very steep to near Haad Rin!...

One way to see most of the highlights of KP is do a day tour with one of the boat tours... Grandsea Adventure Tours, does at least one trip a week from Samui..(depends on demand) ..... then you get taxi'd around most of the highlights of the island... and back on the boat around 4 pm or so! ..... Koh Tao and Marine park are more popular day trips!