Koh Larn - A Popular Island Near Bangkok

Hat Tawaen at Koh Larn Pattaya

Nov 7th, 2012.

Hey Jane,

I was thinking, if you come to see me in Thailand I will take you to Koh Larn. Why Koh Larn? You can ask your brother about it, I think this name remind him a lot about Thailand when he was here.

A couple week ago, I went there. It was my first time to go to this well-known island. I heard people had been talking about it since I was young, but I didn’t care about because I thought it, nowadays, might not be as beautiful anymore.

If you were Thai, you would think of anywhere else when you wanted to go to a beautiful beach or island, not here in Pattaya. So, I try thinking out of the box and make myself like a tourist to find out why there are so many tourists in Pattaya

I had to go to Pattaya since early morning because I wanted to spend time on observing the island.  However, from Bangkok, it was so hard to get up so early to catch the cap to The Victory Monument and get on the taxi van. There are many easy ways to go from Bangkok to Pattaya. You can take a bus or a van. I paid only 97 Baht (about $3) by taking a van. If you take your big boyfriend with you, I recommend you to take a first class air-conditioned bus because it would be more comfortable for him to straight his legs. Either the bus or the van normally took about 2 hours to be in downtown of Pattaya or the pier, the place you could get a ferry to Koh Larn nearby. I arrive at the pier almost 9 o’clock and took the ferry boat about 45 mins to the island. Believe it or not, most of the people on the boat were Russian.

Seriously, I really want to take you there because you don’t have to be shy by wearing a bikini anymore. You can show me your pear shape. I know, it’s not usual for Thai nor Cambodian to wear a bikini on the beach, but don’t worry, here seems normal.

Sunbathing at the beach!

It was easy to point out who were Thais and who were foreigners because in the sunny day, nice sky, the foreigners wore as less as they could in order to take the sunbath, but Thais would wear short pants, long sleeve with the hat and sunglasses. Oh! never forget SPF 80 of sunblock. I don’t know how they, foreigners, can lay down and grill themselves with the sunlight, since it’s so damn hot for me.

Hey Jane, I’m not kidding that I like the beach here. It’s not what I thought. White and soft sand make the water so blue and clear. Although It’s not the most beautiful beach in Thailand, but it’s good enough to show you as the closest beautiful beach from my hometown, Bangkok.

There are many beaches on the island and there are unique for each one. Tha Na Baan is like a center of the island. There are shops, grocery stores like 7-11 and restaurants. I stayed a night at small resort nearby.

Had Ta Waen, you will love this one because the water is so clear. Or you want to lay down by the beach and don’t mind to sit next to the others, there are beach chairs for rent lined along the beach.
Before you get bored, I should pause my stories here. But it hasn’t done yet, I will tell you next time.

Love you,
Nina.

Visitors are shopping local products at Koh Larn