Thai Mueang (or Thai Muang) is a small town in between Phuket island and Khao Lak. It's just over 20km from the Sarasin bridge to Thai Mueang via another small town called Khok Kloi. We have driven this way many times on the way to Khao Lak, or Takua Pa or Khao Sok National Park, but only stopped a couple of times either in the town to visit a minimart for a drink or just a quick look at the beach. I recall stopping many years ago at the beach and it looked really messy, but it seems that a big tidy up has taken place. We stopped for a quick look in 2017 on the way to the Little Amazon boat trip in Takua Pa, and we thought the beach looked great, but it was just a quick stop. I wrote it down on my "to blog" list and 6 months later we had a free Saturday, the skies were blue and I said "Let's go for a drive!" My wife and I like taking drives and exploring now and then. The kids always moan and say "Do we have to?", but they always have a good day!

The previous weekend happened to be Chinese New Year, and it seemed like half of Phuket was heading out for the day, so traffic was heavy through the island, the kids were hungry (we'd skipped breakfast) and although Thai Mueang is not far away, we decided to stop for lunch instead at Nern Khao View Talay, just north of Khok Kloi town. We ate there on January 1st also, so that made 2 New Year meals at the same place .. it's become a favourite of ours since we found it last year. From lunch to Thai Mueang was only another 15km. Only a very small town. Along the main street plenty of shops and businesses, and then just as you reach the entrance to a Chinese shrine on the left, there's a junction - left to the shrine, right carries on towards Khao Lak and straight down to the beach.



(above) Thai Mueang town, main street

We drove about 2½ km along the beach road passing a few small restaurants. The short section of beach road with restaurants was quite busy, but the road is about 10km long, and most of the area is a national park - there are no hotels here! I wanted to stop first at the Phang Nga coastal fisheries research and development center which features a sea turtle conservation unit. I was not sure what to expect here. I thought maybe just a few tanks of baby turtles, but it's actually quite big, only 20 Baht entry fee and we spent about 45 minutes looking around. Yes, a good day trip to the beach should include something educational for the kids too!





There was more than just turtles here. Also tanks growing giant clams, seaweeds, anemone fish, cuttlefish, even a crocodile (the sign said beware of the 'jumping crocodile') and an araipama!





(above) At the Thai Mueang fisheries research center. Certainly worth a stop. And then just over the road from here you have the beach ...



(above) You can pull off the road just about anywhere, so we chose a spot with no other people (but some garbage ... I gotta say Thai picnickers don't always take home their rubbish). We found a shady spot and then walked through the trees to the beach ...



(above) Looking north



(above) Looking south

I know that people are looking for uncrowded beaches in the Phuket area. But at the same time, people want restaurants, bars, a dive shop, beach chairs, massage .. It's really really hard to find a place like that. A beach that is paradise, but barely developed. But developed enough to have everything you want. Thai Mueang beach is very quiet, more than 10km long, and aside from a short stretch with a few restaurants on the other side of the beach road, there are no facilities.



(above) Fisherman at Thai Mueang beach



(above) My daughter at Thai Mueang beach

Yes, on a lovely sunny high season day, a beautiful place! After some wandering around on the beach on this hot day, we stopped at one of the little restaurants for a drink.



(above) at a small roadside restaurant on Thai Mueang beach. I was surprised at the menu prices for food. Very similar to the much nicer restaurant (Nern Khao View Talay) where we'd already had lunch. OK, so you have a seaview, but .. and OK, compared to "back home" it's cheap, but .. anyway, we were happy to just have a drink. Last time we came, we just got some microwaved meals from 7-11 (yes they are tasty actually, do not judge me) and ate by the beach!

Before leaving, I wanted to stop at the Chinese shrine. We took the turning and found ourselves in the real (off the main road) old Thai Mueang town. The name means "behind the mine". I had thought it just means "Thai town" because of the English spelling - often written Thai Muang .. but in Thai language it's ท้าย (behind) and not ไทย (Thai), and it's เหมือง (mine) not เมือง (town). This is because Thai Mueang was an old tin mining town. Many Chinese moved to south Thailand in the 1800s to work in the mines, just like in Phuket. A visit to the Phuket tin mining museum is also a good way to spend an hour. With the mining history, no surprise to find a Chinese shrine here ...



(above) Chinese shrine at Thai Mueang town.

A very enjoyable day out again :) Did you enjoy it kids?





(above) da kidz at Thai Mueang beach. Enjoying their day out.

Thai Mueang Beach - Location Map

I remember reading a few years ago that the Travel Channel had done an episode of 'Bizarre Foods' in Phuket .. forgot about that until today and found it online and watched for the first time. The host is quite right - to find the best Phuket food, get off the tourist beaches! There's a couple of things on here that I have not eaten - really must go and try sea cicadas sometime, but really I am not one of those people who must try the weirdest local foods! Many of our favourite Phuket restaurants are here on the blog - see Phuket Restaurants.

Yes, this is the Phuket Blog, but Krabi is very close to us ... We had a 2 night trip to Krabi back in April 2017 and I really wanted to visit Railay Beach. I'd been in Phuket since 1999 and somehow never really checked out Krabi until this year! Well, we never got to Railay in April, but we saw enough of the Krabi area to plan another trip, so we had another 2 night trip in Krabi in July 2017. Railay was very much on my must-see list despite my wife thinking it would be just another beach. And although we only spent a couple of hours checking out Railay beach and Phra Nang beach (right next to Railay) we really like it and we are already thinking of our next Krabi trip and will spend a bit more time at Railay.

Tours to Krabi from Phuket, or tours for people already staying in Krabi, can be booked with my friends at Easy Day Thailand.

We were staying in Krabi Town at the River View Hotel, which is right next to the river. The pier for longtail boats to Railay Bay (or Ao Nang) was just a few minutes walk from the hotel. And the boats are not expensive - just 150 Baht per person each way.



(above) We got a longtail boat from the river in Krabi Town. The trip to Railay is about 12km and took about 30 minutes on a lovely sunny morning with calm seas. Our boat arrived at a large floating pier at Railay Bay East - not much of a beach here, it's mangroves and a bit muddy. West Railay Beach is the place you want to be! We first bought some bottles of water in a minimart - everything double the normal price because everything here has to be brought in by longtail boat. Small bottles of water - 20 Baht. Note for next time - bring some water with us from town (small bottles of water can be as cheap as 7 Baht). Jeez, I sound like a cheap backpacker!



(above) Approaching Railay from Krabi Town



(above) Floating Pier at Railay Bay East



The walk from Railay East to Railay West is down a narrow path passing the backside of a couple of hotels and restaurants, not that pretty, but arriving at Railay Beach, we were confronted with a truly spectacular view. Although I had really wanted to visit I was prepared to be disappointed, as often happens with very touristy places. But this really is a beautiful place and I think it helps that this was low season and we arrived by about 10am - you can certainly expect more people later in the morning and during the afternoon. I wonder if we might stay here next time rather than in Krabi town ...





(above) Railay Beach (West). It gets lots of hype, so I was expecting something less, but it really is gorgeous. I am not really a beach person, I don't "go to the beach", but I think I could stay in a hotel here for a few nights and just enjoy the scenery, the sand and the sea (and a few beers). It was quiet when we arrived and that certainly helps. There are only a handful of hotels (check hotels at Agoda), many people visit from Ao Nang and other nearby areas (Krabi Town or even from Phi Phi) during the day. Also at Railay West we saw plenty of supplies being unloaded by hand from longtail boats. Plenty of work goes into that 20 Baht bottle of water!



(above) Unloading supplies at Railay Beach



(above) My boy could run around at Railay Beach all day I think! We have to come here again. On this trip we had limited time, as we needed to be back in Krabi Town by about midday or 1pm to check out of the hotel. From West Railay, to get to Phra Nang Beach you have to walk back to East Railay and then turn right until you find the path to Phra Nang. Not a long walk, just a few minutes. Heading to Phra Nang Bay you walk past caves and stalactites for a couple of hundred meters. There is a sign to a viewpoint that we'll have to explore next time.

Phranang Bay is maybe even more beautiful than Railay, but smaller. It's hemmed in by high cliffs and as you can guess the only access is by foot, plus we saw that some tour boats drop people directly here rather than Railay. It was about 11am when we got to Phra Nang and it was noticeably busier than Railay West. But anyway. Wow.



(above) Phranang Beach - click photo to see a bigger version (opens in a new browser window)

Phra Nang is certainly a place we could stay for a while, bring a picnic, swim a bit ... it's on the list for next time! There are several points of interest here aside from the beach, the sea and the views. Right by the beach you can find a cave which features an extremely unusual shrine. Offerings are made hereto the princess of Phranang cave in the form of lingams. What are lingams? They are phallic symbols resembling the male organ (ha ha, won't get me to say penis here!) The offerings are said to bring good luck, wealth and fertility to the local people. It seems these beliefs are still held today, as there are plenty of new phallic offerings.



(above) Our daughter checking out the shrine at Phra Nang Cave



(above) Looking out from a cave at Phra Nang Beach (not the willy cave, it's the next one). There are a few caves here and I saw someone crawling up a narrow passage, but where to? Gosh we really do need to come back and explore more!



(above) Lots and lots of lingams. Yeh, you don't get this on any other tourist beach!

Phra Nang (and Krabi in general) is also well known as a place to go rock climbing. Krabi is a good place to learn/try climbing, and there are plenty of cliffs if you are an experienced climber. We found a load of climbers next to the beach. Some looked like novices, others were climbing higher.



(above) Rock climbing at Phranang, Krabi

Our longtail boat driver was waiting for us at East Railay and it was already midday by the time we walked back from Phra Nang. I am glad to say this area has surprised me. I am sure it can get crowded at times, but there's a lot of natural beauty here and now we're planning our 3rd Krabi trip and will spend more than a couple of hours at Railay and Phra Nang!

More about Krabi

Krabi Hotels (Booking at Agoda.com)
Krabi Tours - contact my friends at Easy Day Thailand
Tiger Cave Temple
Emerald Pool
Our Trip to Krabi in April 2017
Our trip to Krabi in July 2017

Railay Beach and Phra Nang Beach - Location Map