Koh Phangan in Thailand is famous mainly for the full moon party and by extension Haad Rin, the beach on the southern tip of the island where the party takes place every month. And justifiably so. The party is huge and chaotic and well worth a trip to the island on its own. It’s not all Koh Phangan has to offer though and if you’re looking for some peace and quiet after the craziness of the party, head to the hilly center or the less-visited north, where you can easily find yourself exploring seemingly untouched jungle or discovering a secluded beach. That’s not what we did, but we thought we were doing it. And that’s what counts.
This was the view from our bungalow on Koh Phangan’s eastern shore.
We spent almost a week on the island following the full moon party and had rented a pickup truck to get around. Anyone who’s stepped off a boat onto Koh Phangan knows the reason for that: the rates charged by the island’s fleet of songthaew drivers are extortionist and you’re better off using any other form of transport, including swimming around the outside of the island.
We opted for the much simpler car rental. Between the five of us, it ended up costing considerably less than a motorbike and involving far fewer sharks and undertows than the swimming option. We definitely preferred a truck to motorbikes anyway, given the very curvy, pothole-riddled and often incredibly steep, thin strips of dirt that pass for roads on much of the island.
On this day, we had set out to find an apparently secluded beach on Koh Phangan’s northeastern shore. Our map showed a small, sandy cove with no roads leading in or out. A small picture showed a beautiful white beach and we knew that’s where we wanted to be.
We followed the main paved road around the island until we neared the northeastern corner and began looking for a dirt road that seemed like it led in the right direction. We turned down a few driveways and dead end trails until we found a strip of dirt bearing some resemblance to a road that continued for a few kilometers and seemed to lead toward the sea.
Eventually, the dirt road stopped at a rocky area where a small creek was rushing over, under and through boulders of all sizes in hundreds of little rivulets. I later learned this was the Thang Sadet waterfall, apparently the island’s most impressive. Oh well, no one comes here for the waterfalls.
The awe-inspiring Thang Sadet waterfall
We figured we couldn’t be too far from the beach, so we decided to walk the rest of the way. That turned out to be a bit more difficult than you might think. While the first part of the walk was quite nice, following the creek and giving us ample opportunity to jump around on the rocks and feel like giants among the miniature waterfalls, the trail we were following soon turned to mud.
In a way, the miniature size actually made it more fun
It wasn’t your average slippery mud either, but a disgusting, smelly, sticky mud that was basically a form of quicksand, except it had a bottom and was only ever knee-deep. With every step, our feet were sucked into the muck and it took a ridiculous amount of effort to pull them back out and take another step. My flip flops were gone after the first one. It was slow going and generally pretty miserable, but we figured it was worth it to spend a few hours on the beautiful secluded beach we were certain was somewhere just ahead of us.
It didn’t take long before we were covered in splatters of rancid mud and soaked in sweat from the effort. We must have looked ridiculous. Actually, I know we did, because we soon passed a group of locals smoking behind their house and, well, they were unable to take a puff from their cigarettes for a good 5 minutes after seeing us. They tried, but they simply could not stop laughing.
When they finally calmed down a bit, they helped us out of the muck and let us use their hose to clean up. Then they motioned for us to join them in their house. That house turned out to be the typical beach bar/restaurant you see all over southeast Asia.
So the beach wasn’t quite as secluded as we thought
Once we had walked to the front, we got our first glimpse of our secluded beach. A good fifty or so tourists were lounging around on the small stretch of sand, overlooked on the north by a number of luxury bungalows.
Turns out we were NOT the first people to ever set foot here
We learned later that our not-quite-so-undiscovered beach is called Haad Sadet and while it was a bit more popular than we had been expecting, it was incredible nonetheless and still one of the more deserted beaches we found on Koh Phangan.
This is Thailand: I’m required by travel blogging law to include a picture of a long-tail boat on the beach
It also turns out there’s a perfectly good road leading to the beach and if we’d only continued on the main road a bit further, we would have hit the turnoff. Ok, so maybe “perfectly good” is an exaggeration…or, more accurately, it’s an outright lie—the road was neither perfectly good, nor was it really a road by any standard definition, but it wasn’t a river of muck either. None of that matters though. In the end, we got to spend a few hours lazing around on a beautiful, uncrowded beach and that’s really all we wanted after the chaos of the full moon party.
Cez was writing a post on Koh Phangan today and we talked about the scams at Full-Moon parties. We met a few fellow travelers who firstly got drunk and then drugged and robbed. I remember them saying “I hate this place! Koh Phangan sucks. Let’s move to Koh Phi Phi” :-). Anyways, it’s a nice island. We enjoyed the food and scenery a lot. Unfortunately we didn’t manage to get to the awe-inspiring Thang Sadet waterfall. What a pitty… 🙁
There are definitely a lot of scams during the full moon party and the whole island gets a bad reputation because of the party, but the northern half is actually very laid back and doesn’t get all that many visitors. Accommodation is MUCH cheaper in the north, too. I was actually really happy with the way we did it: have fun at the party, then move north and enjoy the relaxing island life.
Mrs. C. and I have been considering Thailand for our next trip and your pictures are convincing me this is the place to go.
Thailand is definitely stunning, although I personally prefer Malaysia or ANY of the other SE Asian countries, really. Except for Vietnam. I haven’t been there.
Shame on you young man! And why, pray-tell have thou not romped your way here to my adopted home (Vietnam)?
It seems the banana-pancake folks either love or hate Vietnam. The latter, likely because they’re expecting the “smiles” (albeit, often/mainly phoney, nay reliably capitalistic at heart) of the Thais. Hard to explain, but Vietnam is different – like no other. Folks here could care less if you’re a tourist, and to some travelers that translates to “cold and indifferent”. Personally, to me it translates to “dignity” and I find it charming. In short, after a year and a half here in Vietnam, I find the locals uniformly warm and friendly. Very industrious, yet also very playful.
And Vietnam’s sights/beaches – with a coastal edge of more than 3,000 km, you can bet there’s plenty of beaches. But likewise the (“breathtaking”, seriously, there simply is no other adjective to describe it) of Ha Long Bay, the charm (yes, tourist-centric, but still…) of Sapa, the vast differences between Hanoi in the north and Ho Chi Minh in the south, the Mekong, et al. And lest we forget the most lovely of isles, Phu Quoc (go now, for an int’l airport is expected and we all know what THAT will produce).
Oh, and don’t even get me started on my beloved Dalat up here in the cooool, greeeen, highlands (about 8 hrs. northeast of Saigon).
In short, get they A_ _ here toot-sweet young man – or I shall have to send you to bed without supper! 😉
I blame Vietnamese visa policy. There have been a few times where I considered heading to Vietnam, but getting a visa just seemed too much of a hassle when there are plenty of other countries around that offer one on arrival, so I just went to one of those countries instead. I guess I should be blaming laziness, really…. I’m also not generally one to plan ahead and due to the visa, a trip to Vietnam would require at least a little bit of planning.
” I’m required by travel blogging law to include a picture of a long-tail boat on the beach”
Thanks for that – I’m now pecking this with a huge grin on my face. ;D
(btw, I’m not so sure that’s a bonafide Thai “long-boat” anyway – I mean, it looks more like just your garden-variety motorboat – with a long-tail motor on it, no?)
That said (and it had to be said), can’t help but quote another of your (reliably) droll quips:
“That’s not what we did, but we thought we were doing it. And that’s what counts.”
Indeed. After all, it’s ever “the journey” and not “the destination” that counts.
Think about it – had you avoided the mucky-muck to get to the (less-than-secluded) isle – why there’d be precious little fodder to write a post about, yes? 😉
I know it’s not a real long-tail boat, but it’s a boat with a tail that’s longish and it’s all I have. I figured better to just post this than not include any photo at all of a boat with an extended tail. I don’t want to risk being ostracized from the travel blogging community.
i would love to be in that hammock right now
Not me. It looks like its made from straw or something and it’s probably all scratchy and uncomfortable. At least that’s what I’m telling myself as I sit here in my furniture-less room.
I was hoping you would find a secluded beach when I saw the title of this post. It’s almost impossible nowadays, especially in Thailand. It looks gorgeous regardless, minus the luxury resorts.
You’re right, secluded beaches in Thailand probably no longer exists. Not nice ones anyway; I’m sure I could find a secluded pile of rocks somewhere, but not a sandy beach. That said, this beach wasn’t too crowded and it was definitely beautiful. No waves though.
hi, Daniel thanks for sharing this, Thailand is a lovely country for family holidays. I appreciate your travel journey.
You’re welcome and thanks for reading!