Thailand: A road trip to nowhere fast: Vitamin Sea & Rayong Beach
The Grey Ghost runs out of road and gets her first taste of ocean life and the chilled vibe it brings.
Departing Khao Yai National Park, I drifted south, following my nose. I wasn’t sure of my destination. Just knew after many months in the Mountains I was craving a change. Maybe it was time for some ‘Vitamin Sea’. For a good part of my life growing up and further into adult life when I owned a SCUBA diving business for 15 years before selling out and moving to the desert, I’d literally lived and breathed the ocean and to say it was infused into my DNA would probably be an understatement
Rayong Beach, it’s a place to chill, bring a book, unwind or just reflect on life.
It’s easy to describe, think of the emotions the smell of rain invokes, that first splatter of rain on hard baked earth and the sounds of it tinkling on a tin roof. Well the smell of the ocean, the salt spray in the air, the sea breeze cooling in your face and the seagulls squawking overhead elicit the same emotions to me. One of tranquillity and peace of mind. I guess it’s why so many people come to the tropical Islands of Thailand to regenerate and reset life.
Bring your own hammock, it adds an extra layer of chill to your adventure and of course doing nothing is tiring work so a siesta is always warranted.
Now the nearest Beach to my current location was Pattaya, now I’ve heard stories of Pattaya being dubbed the seediest city of Thailand and a tourist trap for old men with various nefarious intent, drinking and partying the night away in a hope to regain some of their ‘glory days’. Sorry Pattaya if that sounds harsh, I Will go there one day and make my own informed option but for now I was pretty adamant that I wasn’t quite ready to fall into that category of tourist so opted for the nearby Rayong beach.
Beach Bar near the headland, you got to go for sunset!! bring nothing, do nothing it is the ultimate unwind.
Rayong Beach is about 80km further south of Pattaya along route 36 if you’re coming from Pattaya and is nestled in the gulf of Thailand. It’s a series of beaches that encompasses an esplanade that rolls along the beach. Various resorts on one side and open-air local cafes with deck chairs nestled under coconut and palm trees overlooking the beach and the water on the other side. The resorts vary in quality and there are quite a few older ones that look rather 80s retro. That’s circa 1980s for my younger readers.
Sunset Images of Rayong beach. just whittling away time and reflecting on life.
When deciding on accommodation here I literally drove along the length of the esplanade. Tried a bunch of places, haggled out a deal for a couple of nights and unpacked the grey ghost. I ended up staying at White@sea resort near to the headland which has the Khao Laem ya-Mu ko Samet National Park. It’s pretty old and showing its age but it was clean enough and the air conditioning was Icey cold so that was good enough for me. Now if I was travelling with the girlfriend, I probably wouldn’t stay here but in Bachelor mode it suited.
Unpacking and throwing off my riding gear I was keen to soak up some cool sea breezes and quench my traveller’s thirst. Riding slowly along the esplanade in my beach attire I felt out of place and more like a tourist, shrugging when in Rome, you know how the saying goes… act like a Roman and this is just what I did. At the base of the headland, I found a secluded beach bar and proceeded to whittle away time sipping on cold mojitos, watching the tide roll away and devouring fresh sea food in the shade of coconut trees. The hammock I’d been hauling since Chiang Mai finally came into use and it was just pure bliss as I lay there soaking up the dying sunlight rays. I truly didn’t have a care in the world. This freestyle type of travelling where you have no fixed destination, no real itinerary and just a vague idea of where you are headed really suited my present mood.
Father and Son moments are to be cherished; they grow up so quickly.
As the sun set I’d had a few Mojitos in me so I was keen to park the bike up for the night and maybe go out for a quiet one to get a feel for the place. So I proceeded off to my home, had a shower, donned my best dinner attire and headed out. What next was not exactly a disappointment but indicative of the area I was staying. So a word of advice, if you are in search of nightlife then Rayong Beach is not the place for you. It’s a sleepy little low-key beach that shuts up shop in synchronisation with the sunset. I was hard pressed to find somewhere to top up my mellow glow after my sunset bar closed. But that was ok, it was more good than bad because that just meant tomorrow was a day to sleep in, a clear head and the opportunity to find a lazy breakfast and explore.
