Black Sheep's Revenge

Just about every Thai can tell you the that in olden days in the South, the least favored children in the family inherit beach front land, while "good" children receive inland plots with fertile soil and less exposure to wind and sand.

A few generations later, many of the black sheep and their decendants are very rich indeed. Prime beach front land in resorts such as Huahin, Phuket, and Koh Samui are fetching $3 million an acre.

This doesn't mean that being the family's outcast is a good long-term investment strategy, but rather that coastal land prices reflect adoption of western values and aesthetic sense.

Even today, villagers who have beach front land build their houses facing the dirt road and other houses, not the sea. The structure closest to the beach is usually the outhouse, and it should have view windows but doesn't! If the view means anything to local residents, it would be something foreboding. As fishermen, they know that their next trip out to sea may be their last. And besides, one takes for granted what one has in abundance, even something beautiful.

The beaches in the photos are in Bang Saphan Noi. Come over and I'll show you around. We'll hike, bike, and camp on the beach. At sunrise, you'll float effortlessly on water while lying on your back. The sea will be almost as calm as a lake and you'll be surrounded by the sun rays' shimmering golden ripples as gentle waves move you up and down.

It's not a bad alternative to driving in Bangkok traffic, or to most anything else, provided, of course, that you do not see, from a corner of your eye, dark triangular fins slicing quietly through the water and forming tighter and tighter circles around you, with ominous background movie score going tum, tum, tum, tum.

Photo location: Baan Saithong, Prachuabkhirikan province