Map Book Khao Lak

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The Elephant Village was created in the foothills of Ban Lam Kaen in 2005 by the elephant guide Simon from Asian Safaris under the guidance of Peter Stiller.

The Elephant Village consists of a natural garden with an orchid exhibition in the front and a mini-zoo inside giving a few homeless monkeys, birds, crocodiles, and water buffalo's a new home. This is also the resting area of the elephants that can be hired during the day for elephant rides in the jungle above the Elephant Village. Beware: the paths are very steep and are not recommended for children needing the help of parents.

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The afternoon market of Bang Niang takes place every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday from 14.00 hours until nightfall around 18.30 hours. On Saturday hundreds of customers flock to the market creating quite a traffic jam on the access roads.
Villagers, business people from near and afar, and quite a few tourists come to buy all sorts of provisions, mainly vegetables, fruits, seafood, housewares, and clothes. Several stalls sell food like Khanom Chin, grilled Chicken pieces with Kao Niau, grilled fish of various types, packed salad ready to eat, Thai sweets, among them my favourites Mango with Sticky Rice and Pumpkin filled with Pudding. Also some souvenir shops have joined the crowd and sell their products at fair prices.

The market is located behind the landmark 7eleven in the center of Ban Bang Niang right behind the taxi stand. It is made up of makeshift roofs of palm leaves and some plastic foil. When it is raining the market literally drowns in the waters running everywhere.

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The local temple of Bang Niang Village between Petchkasem Highway and the Andaman Sea.

The temple has recently been renovated. It has a peaceful atmosphere and is used for ceremonies by the locals.

Situated in the fields to the west of the water tank, 400 meters from the highway.

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A beautiful part of Bang Sak Beach with no development to the north of the Le Meridien Resort.

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The Poh Ta Khao Lak is a shrine on the mountain heading south out of Khao Lak.
The so called "Shrine of the Khaolak God" is situated opposite the police station. Every car driver who knows about the existence of this shrine, honks his horn three times to honor the shrine and to ask for a good trip.
Many local people come here to make offerings in various forms: incense, fruit, firecrackers, paper money, garlands, ceramic statues. They are placed in front of the various statues that are honored here.

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The Police Patrol Boat 813 was washed 1.3 km inland by the Tsunami of December 26, 2004. Eyewitnesses saw the boat under full power navigating against the huge wave, but nevertheless riding backwards across Bang Niang River and being stranded 200 meters from Phetkasem Highway. As it is impossible to move the big boat from there to the sea, it is left there as the most remarkable Tsunami Memorial. In 2012 a new road was built to the boat passing the Tsunami Memorial Sculpture "Stabile".
On December 26, 2004, the police boat 813 was safeguarding the daughter of the King of Thailand and her son, who as guests of the La Flora Resort were enjoying Bang Niang Beach. On various videos the boat is seen in calm waters, then being abruptly lifted up by the approaching wave. Still at that moment nobody could expect the extreme speed and power of the wave. Most probably the water was so full of air that the propellers of the boat could not exercise their full thrust.

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Sai Rung Waterfall is also called Rainbow Waterfall and is probably identical to Pakweep Waterfall.

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When the Tsunami hit Ban Nam Khem on the 26th of December 2004 at 10.40 a.m. the big fishing vessel "Krisana Sakorn" was floating from the harbor into the village of Nam Khem with one Burmese man aboard.
When passing through the village the huge boat did not destroy any building nor did it overrun any victims in the water. Instead a father with his daughter in his arm managed to cling on to the boat and was subsequently rescued.
When the waters receded the big boat was stranded in the middle of the village like a dozen other fishing vessels.
The Krisana Sakorn together with its less fortunate counterpart "The Red Devil" just a few meters away became an attraction for visitors to Nam Khem and was transformed into one of several tsunami monuments in the area.


The location is to the left of the main road when driving through the outskirts of the town.
Its GPS location is 8.8601981, 98.2756450

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The Tsunami Memorial of Nam Khem is built at the rivermouth of Takua Pa river out into the Andaman Sea.

This highly impressive Tsunami Memorial was built by Thyssen-Krupp from Germany. It is designed with a real floating fishing boat and a long wave shaped corridor where the names of victims are displayed as chosen by their relatives.
The solemn structure is well integrated in a public health park together with a Prince of Chumphon Shrine in honour of the founder of the Thai Navy.

You drive all the way through the rebuilt fishing town Nam Khem towards the end of the river at the Andaman Sea.

You drive all the way through the rebuilt fishing town Nam Khem towards the end of the river at the Andaman Sea.

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The Tsunami Memorial Sculpture "Stabile" was erected in Bang Niang near the Police Boat 813. It was designed by a Swedish artist.

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The "Khao Lak Museum" was created by the long time residents Franky Gun and Richard Doring, commemorating Khao Lak's 25th birthday. In July 2015 it was renamed to "Tsunami Museum Khao Lak" and moved to the road leading to the Police Boat 813, where many more visitors are aware of its existence. The museum shows the history of tourism in the Khao Lak region. Many hotels, restaurants, tour agencies, dive centers and other businesses of Khao Lak display their history since the year 1987, when the first tourist business, the Khao Lak Bungalows, was opened in Khao Lak. Other historical artifacts, maps, pictures and documents are also presented in the 40 square meter exhibition room.
The "Tsunami Exhibition" honors the efforts of the Khao Lak people and their friends to reconstruct Khao Lak in the year following the disastrous Tsunami of December 2004. Original documents show the help of the true friends of Khao Lak, help by means of donations for specific Tsunami victims and by goods that alleviated the severe pain of effected Khao Lak residents. Videos about the Tsunami in Khao Lak are displayed.
Entrance is free, a donation can be given at the discretion of visitors.
The museum guide, Khun Id, can give explanations in Thai and English. A glass of water is offered free of charge. At a counter in front of the museum competent staff from T-Tour gives information about the attractions in the Khao Lak area. They can also arrange a taxi for visiting Tsunami related memorials.

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Small rapids in the river with wide swimming and bathing areas.

The area around Wang Kieng Koo Waterfall is very popular among the local people who come here on the weekends for a picnic along the river and under the trees. Several foodstalls and restaurants offer simple Thai food and snacks. They undertake also the task to entertain all the visitors with very loud music.
If you come during the week you may experience a peaceful setting as long as the restaurant staff don't feel their duty has come to entertain you with Thai songs from their powerful music boxes. Further up the Wang Kieng Koo River bamboo rafting is a popular pastime. After the ride down the river the bamboo rafts are hauled up to the road, trucked to the starting point upriver and are used over and over again for tourists coming from as far away far as Phuket.

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The extensive local Buddhist Temple of Khuk Khak Village contains all the buildings required for a big Buddhist temple. There are also many interesting statues to admire.

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Arguably White Sand Beach is the most beautiful beach of Khao Lak with fine white sand and crystal clear water, now decorated with many rows of deck chairs and umbrellas on private land beside the beach.

For many years thousands of tourists considered Ao Thong Beach or Oaw Thong Beach in the misspelled version the most beautiful beach in the Khao Lak region. A few years ago the owner of the lone restaurant beside Sarojin Resort distributed his property among his three children. Each of them started a new restaurant. One was called White Sand, and soon the whole beach became known as White Sand Beach. As now three families had to live from the income generated by three competing restaurants, the three owners had to up with some new ideas. So they built a few bungalows behind the restaurants, all in the same typical Thai style with air conditioning but windows without mosquito screens, and all for the same price of about 1500 Baht. Income was not enough, so a new idea was born: Rental of deck chairs and umbrellas along the beach on their own properties. So up to 5 rows of deck chairs now create the real holiday feeling for those tourists who need them for a perfect holiday.  

Latitude: 8.73925, Longitude: 98.24315, Distance from Khao Lak Town: 12,5 km to the north

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