Khao Lak is a little
bit different to other tourist spots further south like Phuket
or further north east like Koh Samui.
Its a
quiet beach area and no nightlife. Khao Lak receives more rain over the
Andaman Sea then Phuket. On Khao
beach are
mainly pine trees and the sand on the beach has a spectrum from
reddish-yellow in the south of Khao Lak to light
Khao Lak Beach
yellow in the
north of Khao Lak.
Khao Lak
is a stretch of land
along the beach with
the road behind,
about 15 km long.
Southern Khao Lak means
the area
where the first
village is when
coming from the
south and Phuket
and north means
around the area of
the Khao Lak
Meridien hotel and
beach resort, a
superb beach
hotel in a lush
tropical setting and in front the warm waters of the Andaman Sea its
Takua Pa district.
Mainly Scandinavian and German
tourist make Thailand vacations in Khao Lakt and the place is by far not
as crowded as Phuket, Samui, Ko Chang or other tourist spots in
Thailand.
Khao Lak popped onto the map after the Tsunami disaster
since most of the Thailand Tsunami damages occurred in the Khao Lak area due
to the underwater topology.
The
clouds move in over the Indian Ocean
and stall on the hills along the coast from Mergui in Myanmar down
to almost Phuket and bring lot of rain.
Khao
Lak and Khao Lak beach is lined with hotels and beach
resorts. The Meridien Khao Lak, sometimes also written as
Meridian Khao Lak is probably the best beach resort around, there
are plenty of other Khao Lak hotels and resorts like the Ramada Khao Lak, Khao Lak orchid resort, Khao Lak sunset resort,
Flora resort & spa or flora resort Khao Lak, Khao Lak resort, the
Sarojin, Tony Lodge, Khao Lak sea view and others, at the very
south end is Merlin Beach resort.
Beach Khao Lak
Khao Lak center
Khao Lak Meridien Beach Resort
Khao Lak floating tourists at the Beach
Khao Lak Meridien Beach Hotel
Other Khao Lak hotels are along the beach, but keep in mind, they
are very isolated, there is no town or village nearby. Khao Thailand
or Khao Lak is a great Thai travel destination if you like it
calm or if you like scuba diving.
Scuba diving at Khao Lak Thailand means Similan islands diving.
The Similan islands or Similan
Archipelago is one of the prime scuba diving destination on this
planet.
Exploring the Similan Archipelago could be done either by a live aboard
trip out of Phuket or just book it from your hotel in Khao Lak.
There are speed boats and other ships carrying the scuba divers and to the right
dive grounds further west in the Andaman Sea, its all very good
organized.
Probably
the most interesting area in terms of scuba diving
around Khao Lak is the Similan Archipelago just a view km off Khao
Lak in the emerald waters of the Andaman Sea, a hidden
paradise with a great underwater world.
Since the
Similan Islands are just a few km off the Khao Lak coast,
you could start in the morning, have several dives, see some sting
rays, whale sharks,
Khao Lak kids enjoy the beach
Khao Lak Similan beach sand and granite boulder
Khao Lak Similan island beach with emerald waters
Khao Lak Similan islands Tap Lamu pier for scuba diving
magnificent coral banks, coral snake, sharks, jelly fish,
and other funny guys of the deep blue.
Dive Similan Island
Similan islands beach
panorama
Khao Lak Similan island beach attraction
Scuba
diving is the real thing around here.
One can book a day or multiple day tour called
live aboard either in the hotels
or the travel agent.
There
are no hotels on the Similan islands
only a few Thai style bungalows on the main Similan island, Island
No. 8
Since the topography of Khao Lak is sea, beach, road and immediately
after the steep limestone cliffs covered with dense jungle and
creepers, several interesting floral subject could be discovered
because of the topography they couldn't exploit and destroy it until
now, which happen in many other places in Thailand.
One typical beauty are Thai orchids or
orchids from Thailand, some of this beautiful orchid flowers are
still around and the others could be found in several orchid
nurseries.
Khao Lak is in Phang Nga province and Takua
Pa district. There are plenty of Thailand tour waiting for you and
in the evening just visit your hotel restaurant or other Khao Lak restaurant
and have fun. You also could do one thing, take one of the
barracudas you could catch during your Khao Lak scuba adventures to
your hotel and have it prepared for you, just the way you want it.
If for some reason you couldn't bring one home, have a look into the
deep freezer in one of the restaurants at the Lam Ru pier and buy
one, it costs almost nothing and a good barracuda steak with some
garlic and vegetable is hard to beat, trust me, I tried it.
But in any case, take your fins, wetsuits, diving mask, snorkel and
lead weight and go Similan island diving either by the live aboard method or
maybe via a diving school from the local dive tour operator. At
Similan its the right place at the right time for scuba diving and
snorkeling.
Khao
Lak diving around Ko Similan and the other Islands of the Similan
archipelago is the way to make you Khao Lak vacation a real
vacation, its boring just to lay around Khao Lak Beach all the time. Padi diving is also offered for the one who needs a scuba dive
certification. There is no need to do Phuket diving since all the
Khao Lak Resorts offer the same.
The
region from Ranong down to Khao Lak via Takua Pa is Thailand Muslim county,
in every town and hamlet along the excellent road one can see small
mosques from where the the voices of the muezzins can be heard. Men with the Hajji cap and women with the scarf are common.
Rather
seldom are totally covered women
where one only see the eyes, I wonder how they can stand this
immense heat and especially the humidity, it must be like a moving
sauna under this black cloth.Sometimes the spirit houses show a different direction of
faith.
Khao Lak was a tragic place in southern Thailand, extremely hit by
the Tsunami, now everything is up and running.
Today many new
houses at Khao Lak show that the international help worked finally.
After the Tsunami nothing was happen for quite a while beside the
emergency relief. It somehow looked like the idling around the Khao
Lak area was because there are lots of land disputes after the
Tsunami hit.
Many
local people who lived there for years or even for decades are gone
for ever. Many others luckily
not, but due to the situation with landownership this people who
want to redo their environment have no paper showing they owned this
land.
It is
common practice in Thailand
that when one stay on a piece of land for a long time it become
virtually his but not on paper.
A lot of
people - in Thailand they call them, influential figures -
tried to exploit this situation by claiming this have been their
land, sometime they show fake land title etc. and they have the
material for blackmail, it was a weird situation.
After the old land owners fought back, their problem is they have no
money to pay the necessary motivation money needed, the others have.
Since this disputes especially around the Khao Lak region wont be
cleared so quick, it came to a standstill. But until now most of the
disputes have been settled.
Orchids at Khao Lak
At Similan
Khao Lak Fish Trawler
Khao Lak dive supply ship at tap lamu pier
Khao Lak Tsunami
Khao Lak Water Buffalo
Khao Lak Spirit Shrein
Khao Lak Spirit Shrein red
Khao Lak Map
Along the
beaches of Khao Lak are plenty of beach hotels
and resorts, but as mentioned more early there are
no villages beside the cluster around what is marked
as -main urban area of Khao Lak- above. It is very
easy to rent a small Motorbike, about Baht 150,- per
day, or just use the pickups with the benches on the
back.
North of Khao Lak
Khao Lak morning bath in the river
Khao Lak fruit street shop
Khao Lak Spirit Houses
