At the weekend, I found myself down in Phetchaburi Province for a funeral. To be precise, I was at the beach resort of Cha-am, which is about 40km south of Phetchaburi town and 25 km north of Hua Hin. It is a popular beach destination for people from Bangkok. I guess it takes about 3 hours to drive here. It is further than Bangsaen (1 hour) and Pattaya (2.5 hours), but I believe the beach and sea here is cleaner. Though, like they say, it isn’t really much to write home about.

Like any Thai beach there are plenty of activities. Swimming with all your clothes on is what Thai people like to do most. Or should I say jumping up and down as the waves hit the beach. Banana Boat rides are also extremely popular. You can see two of them in the photograph above. They are basically inflatable banana-like boats that are pulled along by a jet ski. It can get pretty rough at times and you will bounce up and down a lot. They will also turn sharp corners on purpose so that you will all fall off! Inner tubes are also available for hire as you can see in this picture. One other sporting activity I find a little annoying are the renting of jet skis. These motorized water boats are really dangerous especially if being driven by a novice. There were no zones marked for this activity and people were zooming up and down on these jet skis only a few metres away from swimmers. If someone got hit here and dies then it wouldn’t be the first time this had happened in Thailand.

I think the best thing about Thai beaches is the food service. Cha-am is what I call a traditional Thai beach in that in mainly caters for Thai tourists. The top of the beach is a forest of umbrellas, deckchairs and low tables. Find yourself a vacant deckchair to sit on. Make sure it is in the shade. It is unheard off to move it into the sun. So don’t as everyone will think you are mad. Shortly, someone will come along with a menu. Sometimes the food is cooked at the top of the beach but often it is being cooked in a restaurant on the other side of the road. This is great service. Just order what you want and they will then bring you your food. You could easily stay here all day doing this and people do! You see the picture above, if you don’t like the look of food on the menu then wait a few minutes and someone will come along with a basket. Your feet feeling sore? Don’t worry, for a modest fee, someone will come along to give you a foot massage!

We had an enjoyable three hours on the beach until it was time to go back to the funeral.

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