Category Archives: Thailand

Khanom: Top To Toe…

…A quick tour of Khanom Town.

It’s a strange place. It seems to be in a number of pieces. You see, Khanom really only exits as a beach resort. The road adjacent to the beach is about ten kilometers long, and some 500 meters inland there’s a parallel road. That’s where you can find the town, or the bits of it.

Actually, the first part of the town starts a little ways north of the beach area, and is more of a fishing port really. That’s where I started my mini-tour.

travel, thailand, khanom, town

In the middle of the fishing town there’s a bridge over the river, where you can get fine views of the activities…

travel, thailand, khanom, town

travel, thailand, khanom, town

Moving south there’s a gap of 2kms or so with not much of anything, before reaching what I’d call the main Khanom town. It’s grown up around a crossroads, where the road from the 401 highway comes into the town and crosses to go to the beach area.

travel, thailand, khanom, town
The main crossroads, where no one seems to have right of way, except for farangs in large red pickups.

And of course, as with any Thai town, the main part is where you’ll find the ubiquitous 7/11…

travel, thailand, khanom, town

Most residents, whether Thai or farang, will say they can’t live without a 7/11, but to be honest, I almost never go in one. An emergency beer supply would be about my only reason. Everything else seems to be junk food and drink. I’m told it’s possible in some of them to buy beer outside the government mandated hours of 11am to 2pm and 5pm to midnight, but I’ve never needed to try. You can ask ten Thai people why this law exists and you’ll get ten different answers, but it seems to be loosely related to restricting sales to school children – even though stores close to schools are not allowed to sell any beer or liquor at any time. However; if you want to buy in bulk, like a dozen bottles of scotch, this law doesn’t apply. Go figure.

Here’s a few of the stores close to the crossroads…

travel, thailand, khanom, town
The kind of store where whatever you want, they have it.
travel, thailand, khanom, town
Seems like every third store is a dressmaker.
travel, thailand, khanom, town
I felt like going in and asking for a kilo of mangoes.
travel, thailand, khanom, town
Oh. So that’s what you do with the bananas. Fritter ’em.
travel, thailand, khanom, town
Well, Khanom is a beach resort.
travel, thailand, khanom, town
If I ever want my deceased relatives living with me, I’ll buy one of these.
travel, thailand, khanom, town
Everyone needs a songbird in a cage.
travel, thailand, khanom, town
“I can’t think why the lights are not working. I’ve checked the wiring and everything looks fine.”
travel, thailand, khanom, town
A future MotoGP star?

Moving south from the crossroads there’s a small outdoor market – that was closed today – followed by not much of anything for several kilometers excepts for some nice scenery…

travel, thailand, khanom, town

…until you reach this…

travel, thailand, khanom, town
Here you can have a coffee, a haircut and your car cleaned, all while imagining you are in the Netherlands.

wwiAfter which, the town road joins the beach road, and my tour ended. At least you now have an idea where the Twitterings Blogperson is located.