Bangsaphan Guide

Post by **buksida** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 2:04 pm

We've updated the site a little now with all the places to eat and drink included. Anyone thinking about going down there give us a shout and maybe we can meet up at Why-Not or Montri's, any questions post them on the forum!

http://www.bangsaphanguide.com/

Post by **BaaBaa.** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 2:07 pm

Cheers for updating it Buksida.

I was just looking at the site the other day.

I might take a trip down there in December.

Post by **hhfarang** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 2:31 pm

Lots of good info for a future trip... thanks Buksida!

Post by **moja** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 4:00 pm

was looking at the site this morning as we are considering a trip down there at the beginning of Nov.

Will now check out the updates

Post by **buksida** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 4:06 pm

Hope to add some better maps soon as the area is very spread out and can be confusing to navigate for the first time visitor.

Post by **bajm** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 4:20 pm

Buksida, thanks for the update of the website.
On my next visit to Ban Krut / Bang Saphan, I will certainly visit some of these businesses.

I am also looking forward to the new maps, because I can confirm that the area is confusing.
A few years ago, I started creating my own maps with GPS, since I got terribly lost between Ban Krut and Bang Saphan, when my wife was not with me.

Post by **Guess** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 5:52 pm

There are no decent street maps of Bang Saphan or Ban Krut so the have to be made manually for now.

It is easy to get lost. There are three roads from Bang Saphan to Ban Krut and none of them are straight forward. BS itself is quite simple but it spreads over about 10 KM along the coast with no actual coast road.

Post by **migrant** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 7:25 pm

The guide looks great, thanks guys for all your hard work!

Post by **buksida** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 3:39 pm

There are some more detailed maps of BS now on the site ...

http://www.bangsaphanguide.com/bangsaphan-maps.htm

Post by **Big Boy** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 4:01 am

Having visited BS in May, I'm not so sure the new maps would have helped us a lot. The area we struggled with was the bit from Ban Krut down to BS.

Having read the guide, we mistakenly thought we would use budget accomodation. The maps at that time made the task look simple - it was actually far from simple. The road ran out a few times, and it was fortunate I had hired a 4 x 4.

What we could have used was a larger version of the top new map, showing all roads/tracks, and more importantly precise plotting of (as a minimum) the hotels and guest houses mentioned in the guide.

Finally, some of the descriptions of the accomodation are very kind eg

Dang Bungalows are all situated on the Beach Road between Why Not and the GK restaurant and minimart. They all offer similar beach front accommodation starting at ฿300 baht for a single night. They are all within walking distance of each other so you can make your choice when you arrive.

When we eventally found Daeng Bungalows, they were very dingy, and overwhelmed with livestock. I would have had a problem putting a dog in there for a night. IMHO, they not habitable. We certainly made our choice - we moved on quickly.

Post by **buksida** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 12:37 pm

I think you're being a tad unfair there BB, it is a Bangsaphan site, not Ban Krut which is as north as Cha-am is from Hua Hin. That said maybe we should include maps of the Ban Krut area as I agree, it can be a bit of a maze to navigate.

Also you're unlikely to get a palace for 300 baht a night ... anywhere! Budget bungalows are fine for backpackers which is who they aim at. I have stayed at Daeng's on my first trip to the area several years ago and they were fine then ... may have gone down hill a bit now though as you say.

Post by **Big Boy** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 11:47 pm

The journey was Ban Krut to Bang Saphan. Maybe one of the problems was the lack of a scale. I think we were probably looking for accomadation far too soon. All I know is that what looked to be a very simple task turned out to be quite exciting - going off road as we had to, being abushed by paint ballers etc was really enjoyable (or it was when we realised the guns were only loaded with paint).

There were a lot of holiday type properties en-route, had we had a map with holiday properties, we would have had some recognisable landmarks at the very least.

Regarding the budget properties, we weren't expecting a palace, but we weren't expecting the lady who showed us the room to run out because she was overwhelmed by lizards either.

I read both your guide and another I found on the Internet. Both seemed to struggle with accurate maps that I could use to locate the various holiday resorts. Neither really described what you got for your money - I was actually looking for rough, but not that rough

Incidentally, we have found adequate accomodation in the past for similar amounts of money in Isaan.

Please understand, I am not criticising the guide, just trying to explain my personal difficulties earlier in the year Ie I thought it would help you to have a Bang Saphan virgin's views. We honestly thought we were in the Bang Saphan area much sooner than we actually were.

Post by **Guess** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 2:35 am

Big Boy wrote:.................. Maybe one of the problems was the lack of a scale. I think we were probably looking for accomadation far too soon. All I know is that what looked to be a very simple task turned out to be quite exciting

Two things to point out here. The Ban Krut section has not yet been updated. There have been several new resorts opened since the guide was first published and it will be updated soon. As Buksi says it is as far as Hua Hin to Cha Am so cannot be bundled together. The scenic route (and there are at lest three ways of getting from BK to BS) is like all Thai beach roads and keeps running out. It would be an arduous task to detail every turning which leads to the second point. There no maps of the scale and accuracy to highlight the resorts and the problems you have described. I have driven the whole coastline between Ban Leam and the Narratiwat/Malaysian border and it's the same problem for most of the journey.

Perhaps a drive through description of the coast road between BK and BS would be feasible along with a diagram showing all the landmarks and resort areas.

BK itself and the quiet beachfront resorts to the north are at least 7 KM alone. You then have another 10 or 12 KM to the Mae Rampheung headland. Then there is 2 or 3 KM of Hat Mae Rampheung and a further 5 KM south before you get to the resort area where Dang bungalows are.

Big Boy wrote: Regarding the budget properties, we weren't expecting a palace, but we weren't expecting the lady who showed us the room to run out because she was overwhelmed by lizards either.

Feedback is what is needed. We always check out rooms before committing. One or two Jing Joks are OK and welcome. Any more and I am off to the next resort. It sounds like they had a few nests in that bungalow.

Big Boy wrote: ....................Both seemed to struggle with accurate maps that I could use to locate the various holiday resorts.
Neither really described what you got for your money - I was actually looking for rough, but not that rough Incidentally, we have found adequate accommodation in the past for similar amounts of money in Isaan.

Maps already covered. The large area map is due to be updated to show where the various resort areas are.

I have traveled all over Thailand, including Isan and you just cannot compare the two. I have stayed in a very clean business hotel in Ban Phai, Kon Kaen with air con for 400 Baht and then gone to Koh Chang and paid 750 Baht for a high season dirty bungalow. If you make a comparison regarding Bang Saphan it should be with the islands or other beach front resorts. The land costs are eight or ten times that of Isan and labour is double.

Anyway a good point about the maps and something can be done about it in time but short of renting an aircraft and a high speed camera we are never going to get a decent scaled map, so diagrams will have to do. The Google satellite images revert to low res somewhere between Kao Tao and Pran Buri.

Also it should be pointed out that with the low end bungalows, (incidentally, you just happened to pick the lowest of the low end) are included for completeness and for use by people on low budgets (backpackers) rather than for review purposes. There is nothing much to review. They are all on similar plots and the only differences are the state of upkeep. This can easily change over a season.

This kind of report is what is needed though. Different travelers have different requirements.

Every palm tree starts with a coconut.

Post by **Big Boy** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 3:00 am

Guess wrote:

incidentally, you just happened to pick the lowest of the low end

We didn't pick it, it was just one of the ones we found

The way that woman ran out of the room was quite memorable.

Incidentally, we ended up taking a couple of rooms on the Beach at Bang Saphan Noi. The resort was very clean, the rooms were well appointed and the price was very reasonable at 800 Baht per room per night. We stayed at Had Son Resort - the first place we came to that had vacancies, and passed my wife & daughter's habitability test. We obviously chose a busy couple of days.

Post by **bajm** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 2:37 pm

Maybe I can help you guys with a map, which I have created with my GPS, when I was touring through the area.
It roughly covers the area from Ban Krut to Bang Saphan Noi and contains several landmarks and most resorts.
It’s created using GPS, so the scale is accurate.
The file itself is not in a format, which can be published on the website.
Buksidia demonstrated, that he has real graphical design talents, so maybe my map could be helpful to create an area map for the website.

If you want to view it, download the Mapwel demo version from “mapwel dot biz”, pm me with an e-mail address and I will send you a zip file with my map.