T.I.C.D.: Phang Nga coast & offshore islands (Part II: Khao Lak, Thai Mueang & Khok Kloi)
The popular lower shores of Phang Nga province's W coast, condensed.
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T.I.C.D. ticker: A grand total of 1,216 islands and 350 notable coastal areas are covered in 64 sections of the Thai Island & Coastal Directory.
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Resuming Phang Nga province…
Over the course of this project we have sliced Phang Nga out into 6 different sections, the most of any province. Three are dedicated to Ao Phang Nga including the Mueang Phang Nga coast, the bay’s upper islands, and Mu Ko Yao and Mu Ko Hong. More recently we hit Mu Ko Similan and Mu Ko Surin along with Mu Ko Phra Thong and the mainland shores of Khuraburi and Takua Pa.
Now, with this final section on Khao Lak and its quieter neighbors to the S, we reach the end of the Thai Island & Coastal Directory (or at least the main writing process). I will be in touch soon to explain what happens from here — there is still work to do on the editing and organizational side — but for now, phew. We made it to the end! Thank you so much for being a part of it.
Coastal areas below are arranged roughly from N to S.
Khao Lak coast
When visiting Khao Lak for the first time while on assignment for Travelfish in 2012, it took me a few days to figure out exactly what the name “Khao Lak” covers. A beach or mountain? A national park? A town or coastline? Over time I came to understand that, in fact, Khao Lak embodies all of these things at once.
Last century, the specific beach of Khao Lak was among the first to introduce tourism development along Phang Nga province’s W coast. Also referring to the coastal mountains that are part of a small NP, foreign visitors began using the name Khao Lak to describe a broad array of loosely connected mainland beaches and other villages set further up the coast. They are mostly within Takua Pa district, but the far S reaches of the Khao Lak area fall under Thai Mueang district.
N of Hat Khao Lak, which is now a relatively minor beach compared to some of its neighbors, a steep road skirts the coastal NP before descending into the area’s primary tourism centers of Nang Thong and Bang Nieang. Continue N and you reach a host of quieter beaches / villages including Khuk Khak, Laem Pakarang and Bang Sak. Further N, some people consider the fishing town of Ban Nam Khem to be within Khao Lak’s ill-defined boundaries, but I view it as a separate destination and thus cover it in the previous section alongside its neighbor, Takua Pa.
The sum of all these parts is one large destination providing a broad mix of scenes anchored around mainland sands that would combine into a contiguous 30-km beach if it were not for a few khlongs and headlands dividing them. Collectively they represent the majority of Phang Nga province’s beaches while serving as its primary tourism area, with the heart of beating in Nang Thong.
Many of the scuba and other types of boat tours based out of Khao Lak focus on the marvelous islands of Mu Ko Similan some 70 km offshore. Also within day-tripping distance of Khao Lak are the other world-class natural areas of Ao Phang Nga, Khao Sok, and Mu Ko Surin. Divers can also try a nearby “underwater museum” dive site or 4 different wreck dives that are not too far from Khao Lak. The area also hosts many onshore attractions, including museums and memorials dedicated to the Tsunami that devastated the Khao Lak area on December 26th, 2004.
