You can be a non comprehending tourist or experience all 6 Ko Larn Island Beaches by renting a motorbike
by Jack Corbett
The choice is yours. But if you go as a tourist, you will walk to a group of Songthaews (baht taxis) following the rest of the herd. You have to wait until the Songthaew is full of people. Which might take a bit long due to a lot of people not knowing how to walk. Instead, they lumber slowly. The Songthaew now begins its journey. The highpoint of your ride is literally the highest point on Ko Larn which is 1200 feet or so above sea level. You are then greeted by a sensational view of the Gulf of Thailand and the beach the Songthaew is descending to. Once you hit bottom, it's everyone out. You pay your bill which is about 40 baht a person. And then you walk to a group of tables and recliners with the rest of the herd. Here you will be waited on. Where you can buy beer and other drinks along with some food you can order from a menu. Which amounts to a pleasant afternoon in the sun. And a little swimming in water that is infinitely more crystal clear than you can ever experience in Pattaya. But you get to see just one beach.
Or you can do what I do. At the end of the long pier everyone has to walk down upon arrival from the ferry you will see a number of motorbikes and a few Thais tending to them. I don't let a single minute pass before I start talking to one of the motorbike care takers. If the person I'm talking to gives me a price of 300 baht for the afternoon's rental I counter with 250 baht. Which is accepted everytime. Before 3 minutes have passed after my arrival to the pier, I am on my way driving past what still remains of the lumbering herd of tourists who are heading to the songthaews that are parked roughly 300 meters from the pier.
My ride is pure magic. It starts out with my traversing couble stoned streets. Like they had in medieval Europe. At this juncture I have to decide where I'm going to go. If I want, I can take the direct way upwards to the top of Ko Larn and then down to Samae Beach which is the route most Songthaews take that are parked near the main pier. Or I can keep heading to my left where hopefully I will eventually wind up at Nual Beach. Which is the least crowded of the top three Ko Larn Island beaches. Or I might keep heading towards my right where I take an entirely different route to the Ko Larn Island Beaches I wish to visit. This is the way I get to Taiwen Beach. I don't know if I spelled this beach correctly but my friends and I often call it China Beach. And to remember it I think of Taiman. This beach has by far the most shops, hotels and vendors. And also the most Asians by far.
So this is what you've got. There's the three main beaches, Taiwen, Nual Beach and Samae Beach. Then there's something like three more. All much smaller than the main ones, each one with its own kind of charm. There's also a shooting range but I never visited it. But the tourists won't even know it's there or how to find it unless they rent motorbikes.
The views you will get if you rent a motorbike are stunning. You won't find better whereever you go to find Thailand Beaches. Whether it's Krabi, Phi Phi, Phuket, Ko Chang or Ko Samet. Now I'm not knocking the terrific scenery you would be getting at these other beach destinations. What I am saying is none of them are better than what you are going to find here on Ko Larn. While I'd rate the actual experience of driving your own motobike rental to explore Ko Larn as absolutely sublime.
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