PHANGAN PART

HAD SALAD, THAN SADET PLUS NEARBY BEACHES

Taking it easy on Had Sadet (click to expand pix)

My Phangan page was one of the oldest on the site and badly needed updating, so I got back in August 09, revisited a lot of the spots I'd seen before (new pix and updated info on Phangan Part One page) and stayed at two beaches lots of people on the travel forums have been pushing - Had Salad and Had Sadet. I also explored neighbouring beaches to get a fuller knowledge of other places in the area.

HAD SALAD (Haad Salad, Hat Salad) is in the north of Phangan's west coast (map).

Had Salad from Cookies hotel block balcony. Very nice white sand beach, not too narrow here at the top of high tide with clear water. About half a dozen accommodation places along the beach mainly flashpacker or midrange, but check that high end joint front right - Salad Buri. There are some budget rooms, mainly closer to the main road. Very quiet beach - those longtails seemed mainly ornamental and few daytrip longtails come in because Mae Had with its better snorkelling is just to the north.

At low tide the water gets pretty shallow particularly closest to camera where quite a bit of sand and some rock is exposed. Mid way along the bay, the beach has a fairly steep profile and thus doesn't get too wide at low tide. Nevertheless you have to wade out quite some distance to swim freely. No problems high tide.
That's the restaurant roof front center - views not quite as panoramic, but still pretty special.
The fringing reef out of shot to the left protects the beach from swell which sometimes is generated by the summer westerlies. From late November to April this is a lee beach.

SNORKELLING AT HAD SALAD.

Lots of people were content to snorkel around in the middle of the bay inside the fringing reef. I noticed quite a few fish in this area on my way out to the reef drop-off. The drop-off is not precipitous like many - more a steepish slope. There was a good variety of coral types along the seaward side but unfortunately not a great range or vibrancy of colour. Fish life was reasonable but not the variety, colour and numbers you see in top coral areas. Both coral and fishlife improved a bit along the northern headland, but cannot match nearby Ko Ma at Mae Had (which in itself is down several steps from world class).

Cookies position on the southern headland of Had Salad. Pool front left, panoramic restaurant mid-level right, hotel block top right, various bungalows top and mid-level left. Most bungalows and all the hotel rooms have nice beach/bay views - it seemed some of the poolside bungalow views were blocked a bit by vegetation. Being tucked behind the northern headland, this place was sheltered on those 10-15% of summer days when the westerlies get a bit blustery. And there is plenty of nice shade past mid-day. But the aspect here is NNE - you will have to go mid-beach to catch the sunsets.

Another caveat - steep climbs to most rooms and bungalows. Cookies access driveway comes part way down the hill from a dirt access road which runs along the top of the headland off the main paved Had Yao to Mae Had coastal road. If you can't hack slopes, most of the other beachfront midrangers like Haadland, Salad Hut and Salad Beach Resort looked pretty sweet to me with nice bungalows, gardens, pools etc.

I thought Cookies was a class act. The views are fantastic from most bungalows/rooms plus the restaurant, the service good, the food nice and at pretty normal budget bungalow prices and the pool area was a nice place to spend time. It's a step or three up from my usual basic backpacker joint, but Lady Tezza does like a bit of comfort. I picked the cheapest room, the Over Sea Hotel Room at 1200 baht high season, which included breakfast, aircon, hot water,TV with about 50 chanels, DVD, and serviced daily if you asked. At the resaurant there were 2 laptops for the internet (1baht/minute), pool towels, boxes of games, books and DVDs. To me, this was more a lower-midrange room than a flashpacker.

Value? Well right now I'm researching prices for Ko Lipe early December and can't get an aircon room, no TV, no hot water, no pool for 1200. And Had Salad is as nice as any Lipe beach - plus Cookies is better than the 2 places I'm researching.

The room at Cookies was big with enough room for another normal double matress beside our king size bed if needed. It was concrete construction which stayed cool when the aircon was off, with semi-polished floors and cool staining on the bathroom walls to give a granite appearance (the shots on the websites look like the bathrooms are plywood, not concrete). The aircon was quiet and there was 24 hours electricity. The balcony had a nice seating/table set plus a hammock to enjoy the great views. However inside could have done with some sort of seating and a few hooks and shelves for small items. The room also had its own safe deposit box.

Cookies website gives has some good pix of the various accommodation exteriors and interiors - although sawadee.com is probably better in this respect.

Our one problem was that despite requesting a pier pickup on booking backed up by an email before arrival, we had to wait about 25 minutes after someone rang Cookies for us. At least we weren't charged - pickup is usually 400 odd baht per vehicle. On departure they have scheduled songthaew taxis running down to the pier about 4 times daily for 150 baht per person.

Cookies beachside pool has enough elevation for a pleasant outlook. There was a slightly higher spa pool area behind camera plus some sunlounges back there shaded by vegetation most of the day. Nice shade was also provided by that Bali-like sitting bure (roofed structure) beachside on right.

Central part of Had Salad is a nice place to hang approaching sunset.

AROUND HAD SALAD

From Cookies it is an easy walk to Had Kruad, Hat Thian (west) and Hat Yao to the south. A longer walk to Mae Had to the north. Chaloklum and Coral Beach on the north coast are about 6km and 9km away and are best reached by motorcycle (heaps for rent in Salad - Cookies' were going for 180 baht a day) or bicycle if you are a nut-case like tezza.

Had Kruad (Khruat/Gruad etc) is a small bay just south of Had Salad. Keep walking along the dirt access road which Cookies' driveway joins and in a few minutes you will reach the first driveway to Lucky Resort which has flashpacker and budget huts spaced down the hillside plus a pool. Adjacent is the similar Dragon, with Haad Gruad Beach Resort in the northern corner. This lowest tide shot shows the beach and access to the sea are not great. However this secluded and laid back bay had quite a few guests of the longtime traveller type.

Had Thian (west coast) is a further 10 minutes walk south along the same dirt access road as Cookies and Had Kruad. There is only one bungalow place in this small bay, Haad Thian Beach Resort which has aircon, tv and hot water rooms/bungalows, quite a few big enough for families. Some of the more expensive bungalows are very flash but cheaper ones are more flashpacker. Unlike Kruad, you can enter the water off the beach as shown in this low tide shot and there is also a pool.

Had Yao (west coast) is about 20 minutes walk from Cookies (but another 10 from other Had Salad Resorts) either by the main coastal branch road which is now paved all the way between the major beaches, or by continuing along the walking track from Had Thian's access road (keep going straight ahead where this track branches left uphill). Nice beach with lots of accommodation and facilities - a bit like a quieter Had Rin. This is a low tide shot - the water tends to be pretty shallow close to shore.

To the north of Had Salad is Mae Had (Hat Mae, Haad Mae etc). This is shot from the sandspit out to Ko Ma looking south. A northern section of the beach which is not quite as attractive curves away behind camera. Like Had Salad, water can get pretty shallow at lowest tide inside the fringing reef, but because Ko Ma has probably the best coral in Phangan on its southern side and those trees provide nice shade, this beach is very popular with the daytripping boats. There are some interesting clumps of coral in the lagoon off the beach and on the reef drop-off out from the beach too.

There are some real nice bungalow places behind the trees, the front rowers right on the sand. I noticed many have upgraded since my last visit and tend to have aircon etc and were asking around the 1000 mark for front row high season.

The beach is about a 4km walk from Had Salad, but the road out of Salad has a killer hill and is a real good workout. So much so that I grabbed a bicycle at a yoga joint at the top of the hill (100 baht per day - pretty good bike for a change). The yoga place featured a collection of real sleek dudes and dudettes lounging around prior to doing and instructors' course. Hey you new-agers will also like this joint - cosmic tarrot card reading, herbal steam, reiki treatment with chakra balancing etc. Gourmets may appreciate the Thai cooking class. THE YOGA RETREAT.

OTHER YOGA JOINTS - there is quite a selection on Phangan. Matordor Trips has a list, some info on each and sublinks HERE.

To the east of Mae Had heading along the north coast of Phangan

The western section of the big bay at Chaloklum on the island's north coast. Chalok's pier can be seen at the left, but the town and the eastern section of the bay are hidden by the near vegetation. Chalok is popular with some old time travellers because it is still a working fishing town but also has the usual traveller restaurants/tour bookings/internet etc, plus several low key bungalow places along the bay. Access from Thong Sala is by good concrete road. The beaches and water are okay to both sides of the town, but it does get shallow with an exposed section of reef low tide in the western 20% of the bay, so maybe consult your maps before booking.

I shot this from a viewpoint restaurant along the road to Had Khom, an excellent place for a recovery beer or four after riding my hire bicycle up the killer hill from Chalok.

People are always asking for elephants. These dudes were close to Chaloklum on the main road from Thong Sala and I saw a similar place on the steep hill just north of the Mae Had turn-off on the west coast road. Rides in the jungle etc are available if that sort of thing floats yer boat.

Coral Beach (Had Khom) is about 3 km east of Chaloklum on the north coast. I found it much easier to access than previously - a newish concrete road leads from Chalok over steepish hills to a point just past Had Khum and there ares several bungalow access tracks to get down to the beach. There are 3 bungalow outfits on the beach and another on the western headland. As you can see, the beach itself is pretty sweet, and the water was deep enough close to shore for easy swimming low tide. I reckon this is kinda like Bottle Beach (further east) last time I saw it, but easier to access. I'm pencilling this in for my next trip.

Bungalows on the sand at Had Khom. These belong to Coral Bay Bungalows.

THAN SADET

For the second part of the latest Phangan trip I went across to Than Sadet on the east coast, a place I've visited several times before on daytrips. The word on the forums is that Mai Pen Rai on Had Sadet is the place to stay.

Than Sadet actually refers to the small river which flows out at the southern end of the beach.

The bungalows at the beach have a songthaew taxi which takes off from Teep's Than Sadet Travel Agency in Thong Sala just across from the piers at 1330. This cost 150baht per passenger. Mai Pen Rai can arrange transfers at other times for 800 per vehicle. The road up into the highlands has more paving now but is still super rough and steep in parts. I still don't recommend it for amateur motorcyclists although plenty were doing it.

You can also access Had Sadet from Had Rin by longtail or the on Samui-Thong Nai Pan ferry.

Verandah of Tezza's rockside bungalow at Mai Pen Rai. The bunglow room's front to left is covered by vegetation but with sufficient clearing for the window view 2 shots down. A cliffside boulder behind actually overhangs the rear bathroom to form a roof.

Beach view from Chez Tezza verandah. People are always asking for a bungalow on the sand - well Had Sadet has them. Some belong to Mai Pen Rai, others to JS Hut. Mai Pen Rai's atmospheric beach restaurant is at the far end of the beach. Food and prices are average for island budget bungalows. Mai Pen Rai's riverside bungalows start that end - you can see the small bridge crossing the river far left.

Bear right past the bungalows for about 50 m and then walk up the slope to Tree House Phangan's restaurant at neighbouring Had Thong Reng.

That's the Phangan east coast ferry which runs across to Samui and back each day nosing into the beach. For details see Phangan Part One towards the bottom of the page and Mai Pen Rai's access page (it has a shot of the slightly smaller ferry which seemed to alternate with this one).

Neat outlook from bungalow itself. This place had plenty of room for 2 people and their gear, a nice 4 poster bed (the posts were stained sapling branches) with a nicely fitted mozzie net and a thin but fairly comfortable Thai queen size mattress backing up to that window. The place was clean and the fan quiet but the generator cut out about midnight. Towels, drinking water, soap and toiletpaper were supplied and the funky indoor/outdoor bathroom as mentioned had an overhanging boulder as a roof - plus a concreted pebble floor and slate featured walls. There was a western flush toilet and a bum spritzer. Cold water shower had good water pressure.

Not sure about value - this was a backpacker not flashpacker standard room as far as amenities were concerned and at 650 baht (no brekka) was pretty expensive. But what price do you add for the views and the funky artiness of design? To tell the truth I'd easily add 150 to the typical high-season 500baht Andaman bungalow.

Note that each bungalow is individually designed. Quite a few have lofts and there are plenty of family bungalows. Mai Pen Rai's website shows dozens of pictures of interiors and exteriors.

The north headland at Sadet. There are at least 4 bungalow operations on this headland - Mai Pen Rai's bungalow operations take the first 2 levels behind the furthest boat and continue around the rocks away fron the camera for at least 150m - Plaa's is above them and Silver Cliff is to Plaa's left. That's Silver Cliff's restaurant high left with the white roof (see the fabulous view below) and Plaa's restaurant furthest right at top. The big building just above the end of the beach is another restaurant - this is JS Hut's second restaurant with some beachfront and lower rock bungalows. The more expensive mid-beachfront restaurant for JS Hut is out of shot left of camera and Mai Pen Rai's popular restaurant is at the other end of the beach behind camera. The small twin peaks of Chez Tezza's bungalow-verandah roofs can just be seen peeking over the vegetation just above the for'ard flag mast of the most distant boat.

Fabulous view from Silver Cliff Bungalows' restaurant - almost as good as near neighbour Plaa's Thansadet Resort (see the shot 70% down Phangan Part 1. Worth the climb alone, but I also found prices in both these better than the beach-level restaurants. The food at Plaa's was better too - exceptional. I didn't get a chance to eat at Silver Cliff, but made a point of finding time for a beer or more up here. Bungalow prices were considerably lower at both than Mai Pen Rai but you have to consider the climb and I'm not sure if they offer the same degree of artistic funkiness.

A fair few daytrip boats put in making for some longtail noise but also some interesting people watching - particularly the rich dudes and their babes/hot daughters who hop off the speedboats. Most daytrippers walk up to the falls, grab some sun or swim time on the beach and take a meal or snack in the restaurants. Daytrippers might note that the most obvious of these in the middle of the beach is considerably dearer than the ones at both ends and way dearer than Plaa's or Silver Cliff's.

SNORKELLING AT THAN SADET

Coral does not like fresh or less than pristinely clear water. For that reason I gave checking the bay at Sadet the big miss - the river water flowing into the bay was a bit murky. Neighbouring Had Thong Reng had much clearer water and no appreciable stream flowing into it. There was some coral of various types off the rocks both sides of the bay but disappointing in having little variety and no vibrancy in colour. Ditto fish life.

AROUND THAN SADET

Had Thong Reng is just over the small headland south of Than Sadet and can be accessed by a track off the river bridge at Sadet in less than 5 minutes. The small bay has a nice beach and had much clearer water than Sadet. The bungalow operation here is Tree House and the promotional blurb they gave me says this is the new location for the old Ko Chang Tree House people. They had quite a big range of nice looking bungalows between 250 and 550 baht located back of beach and up on the headland to the right of shot. The restaurant is also top of headland and that big shack central beach-front is the beach bar. www.tree-house.org

There are 3 "waterfalls" moving inland from Sadet beach and adjacent to the access road. This is the best - Thong Nang Waterfall (and various other names) and can be reached from the beach in less than 15 minutes of easy walking. Like many Thai falls, it is less than whelming, but the pool is usually real nice for a cool swim. I have visited at other times and there was a much better, clearer flow of water. In low flow times like the above, most of the water enters the pool by a shute which goes under that big rock back-left. It was possible on a previous trip to slide down this shute into a cave under the rock and then swim underwater into the pool. However the shute seemed partially blocked by debris this trip and looked too small for a human to pass. So I gave it a miss.

You can walk to Thong Nai Pan Yai from Than Sadet on a trail considerably closer to the coast than the roads. This leaves Sadet about 5 minutes up the main Sadet access road just inland from the Ranger Station - follow the signs to Viewpoint Bungalows but go straight ahead where the track to Viewpoint turns hard right uphill after another 5 minutes. This track is not for motorbikes being super rutted and steep in sections and narrowing to a one-person rainforest path in the highest third. It dumps out adjacent the small supermarket/travel agency/motorbike hire place about midway along TNP Yai's inland main street. The track took me 55 minutes to walk - beach to beach 65 minutes. Above is the first sight you get of Thong Nai Pan Yao and Noi (most distant) from the path.

Some nice scenery from the east coast ferry as it makes its way down to Had Rin on the way to Samui. This is Had Wai Nam - Had Thian (east), the new agers'/detoxers'/retoxers' beach is just over the low saddle to the south

Tezza freeloads on glamour shoot from Mai Pen Rai bungalow verandah hide-away

Note there are more pix of Sadet, Salad and many of the other places on this page on the Phangan Part One page - plus info/pix on a lot of other Phangan locations, transport info, when to go etc.

If you have any questions, please ask them in THE FORUM rather than below. I don't get a chance to check all threads daily, but unless I'm travelling I'll try to monitor THE FORUM regularly, If you see mistakes or have additional info, please post it below.