A t a distance of half a kilometer from the shore the beach Plai Laem is enclosed by a whole range of coral thickets. On the whole area within those borders, the water will hardly reach your knees. The only exception is a canal, dug for boats and yachts, and not intended for swimming. A walk on sandbanks could hardly be called pleasant as well: the bed is particularly sticky, with silt and is covered with small black seashells, and nearby the above-mentioned canal it is covered by a whole carpet of coral chips, some of them are quite large. They don’t care about the cleanliness of the beach much. On the shore and in the water by the shore you may often come across polyethylene bags, bottles and other rubbish.
P lai Laem is a sandy western coast of a cape with the same name (Plai Laem). The length of the beach is approximately 2.5 km. Its southern half is quite lived-in, it begins right behind an isle Koh Fan, on which Big Buddha is seated, which golden silhouette is perfectly seen from here. The first line here is occupied by one-storey complexes of bungalows. However, there are more Thai people here, Thai fishermen, to be exact, than holiday-makers.
O
ut of all the beach entertainments, only kayaks can be found on Thongson Beach. Although the beach is quite lived-in despite its small size,
there are few people here. Apart from two above-mentioned hotels, there are quite large residential complexes on Thongson, which occupy the
slopes of a hill in the western part of a bay.
Approaching the beach along the street Plai Laem Soi 3, you get right into the quay. It is a man-made canal with leveed banks of coral chips,
bright due to fishing boats and small ships. A few small white yachts moored right here only set off their brightness. The banks of coral
levee stretch out into the sea for half a kilometer. Walking on it, you can easily pick up the collection of large seashells and diverse sea
fossils – an exciting and educational pastime, if you rest with children. There a small lighthouse on the end of coral quay, which lures
to walk as far as the very end and see the sea horizon face-to-face.
T he northern part of Plai Laem is a wild coast, not built-up yet, overgrown with bushes, coconut groves and sometimes – mangle trees. Its end is the most northern point of Plai Laem Cape and the whole Koh Samui island. The coastline here is hilly, green, and at the foot – sandy with bare in some places layers of rock. The views of the beach come into sight from here, but not only – also the shores of bays Bangrak and Bophut, situated farther westward. Should you look northwards, you will see the islands Koh Phangan and a neighbouring tiny Koh Som, where there is nothing, but palm trees. This tiny isle is so close, that at low tide it seems, that you can go on foot to it. Actually, the distance from the northern end of Plai Laem Beach isn’t more than half a kilometer.
T here are no beach entertainments on Plai Laem Beach. But it is the best place on the island, where you can hire a boat and go fishing: the range is really wide! The beach overlooks west, that’s why sunsets are beautiful here. Furthermore, the view becomes particularly special thanks to the majestic figure of Big Buddha. Small restaurants and shops can be found on streets of Plai Laem, not on the beach itself. Should you feel like changing your rest and swimming, then nearby, on the eastern side of Plai Laem cape, there are small bays with beaches Thongson and Samrong, where the conditions for swimming are not ideal, still better than here. It is easy to get to Plai Laem both from the airport (15 min. by taxi) and from passenger quays of Bangrak (only 2 km), from where there are trips to Ang Thong National Marine Park and to islands Koh Tao and Nang Yuan.
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