Welcome to Khlong Wan

Khlong Wan is a small fishing town that sits in the shadow of an imposing peninsula at the mouth of the River Wan on the Gulf of Thailand and this was our choice for a few days rest and relaxation with the in-laws and the wife's sister and her husband who were over from Scotland for Christmas and the new year.

A nice escape from Samui was much needed, which at this time of the year is hectic, and a lovely break from work off the island. With it being so busy, we ended up on the 5am ferry on New Year's Day and whilst not ideal, meant I could escape the usual drunken carnage of the annual family new year's eve party the night before with a valid excuse!

Unlike most Thai coastal towns, there is extraordinarily little tourism here as, despite only being 10km from the main north-south highway and 12km from provincial capital, Prachuap Khiri Khan, it's a little off the beaten path. Subsequently, it remains a wonderful, rustic Thai provincial town. Slightly run-down but with everything its local population could ever need.

Despite this, there are a substantial number of small resorts on this stretch of the coast which cater mainly to a Thai clientele with a couple of rather more upmarket hotels thrown in for good measure.

The problem for tourism came from the sea, which was creating coastal erosion, so a series of breakwaters were built which rather spoil the beachfront and make swimming difficult. I do think however, that it was right that the government chose to protect the interests of the local fishing industry over the tourism as there are many, many other places in Thailand to hang out by the beach and that makes this local coastal town rather unique in my opinion and the kind of place I love to just hang out.

The hotel we were staying at was on the beach and just 500m from the town centre which made for a lovely stroll through a less frenetic and more rural Thailand where time appeared to have almost stood still.

Anyway, let's start with a street map of the route so you can see the pictures of the street in some kind of order.

The photos will show the street from the Khlong Wan resort where we stayed in the bottom left of the map, right up until the river estuary in the top right.

After all the terrible storms and rain we'd had approaching Christmas on Samui, it was a wonderful surprise that the weather was absolutely glorious.

Upon leaving the resort, one of the first shops was a coffee shop with a rather familiar name. Sadly, it looked closed down.

No, not the sun, sand and sea resort but the Anfield Coffee shop!

Walking further along Beach Road, it immediately became apparent what a huge variety of architectural styles there were both in state of repair and age.

This building for example, which was four joined units, started run down and gradually improved before getting to the blue part which was meticulously tidy. I'd guess being a pharmacy helped!

Although it makes it difficult to get decent photographs inside, those shades are really needed to keep the hot sun from spoiling the goods and burning the cooks!

When it was possible to get a photo inside, I'm not sure exactly what I was looking at, and certainly wondered how long it had been there!

This one's a bit easier. General hardware!

It was nice to see noodles at 'normal' Thai prices rather than over-inflated Samui ones. I love all the brightly coloured plastic bowls stacked up, a sight you see all over Thailand.

If you ever thought 'Timpson's' combination of key cutting and show repairs was an odd combination for a shop, how about fashion and toast?

A nice bit of fruit and veg for you hotpot? They have you covered. I never knew Thais were such fans of cauliflower until I came to live here but along with broccoli and the more expected Asian veggies, are quite a staple.

Bins and polystyrene ice boxes make good tables and if you're wondering what the large blue boxes are, that's where we keep the ice which gets delivered each morning by the local iceman.

There are even some speciality shops...

How many allium specialists reside on your high-street?

Puncture? Oil change? Complete engine rebuild? Sorted.

This is the busy junction where the high street meets the road back to civilisation, and like many major junctions here, there's a small police station. As is often the case, there were no police men to be seen!

And more food. It's Thailand. All we do here is either think about food, or eat food. Nothing else matters.

I think it's best to eat early in the day. Goodness knows what the foods like after being sat out in the hot sun all day!

We even have drive through, provided by people who don't even have their own shop.

I think this guy is selling fried bananas which are absolutely delicious when smothered in Carnation.

Not all the buildings down the high street were such Hives of activity. Some were positively needing some tlc so if you fancy your own slice of paradise with a sea-view to the rear, perhaps you could treat yourself. A couple of planks of wood, some tin sheet and a lick of paint and this old place would scrub up nicely, I dare say.

There were still some of the older, more traditional wooden buildings left that weren't in such a state although even this place would have benefitted from a lick of varnish.

Adding to the run down seaside vibe, even the street signs with their little whales were looking a little weary

If you don't want customers, simply pull down the blinds so no one can see what you're selling!

'This is all very well, Nathen, but you said this is Beach Road, so where's the sea?

Well, the sea is at the back of these buildings as the road runs parallel to the coastline, but seeing as you asked...

There was a lovely little night market just here three nights a week.

Admittedly, it's not the usual palm-fringed Bounty beach but nevertheless, is a lovely, unpretentious place to just hang out.

That huge rock looks a little like an elephant.

Perhaps not the greatest beach in the world...

Theres a small park between the buildings and the sea. I have to say that one things that Thailand is quite strict upon is leaving a building free gap to make sure everyone has access to the ocean.

...but perhaps it doesn't matter when you can sit outside, sipping a cold beer at your £15 a night resort looking out to sea and watching sympathetically at the rest of the world rushing around.

I'm just saying that's what you could do, I didn't, and stayed somewhere a little more 'posher', but more on that later.

Back into the centre of town during rush hour! It's not that much of a backwater that there's no 7/11 so that's me sorted for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

And when the sun goes down, the whole place comes alive in a blaze of colour...

This town is so chilled out, even the moon is laid flat on its back!

At the end of a long, hard day in the heat and the hustle and bustle, what could be better than a nap by the pool...

What the wife's 70-year-old mother would say if she knew I'd just posted her knees all over an immutable blockchain doesn't bear thinking about!

I hope you enjoyed my little tour around town. I have of course dropped a pin on the excellent @worldmappin and that just leaves me to say a huge thanks for dropping by and I hope everyone is having a happy and healthy weekend.

Martin

@nathen007