They stopped off, looked around, saw plenty of edible
wildlife and thought that the island would suit them nicely. A few
generations later and the patriarch of the family that owned most of the
land in the Kai Bae area decided to split his land between his children.
The favoured kids got the valuable, inland farmland where they could grow
rubber, coconuts, bananas etc . The four unfortunate kids who must
have upset Dad at some point in their lives, got the virtually useless,
unfertile land by the sea.
And then, in the mid 80s, a few adventurous
backpackers began to appear and started asking around for places to stay,
there weren't any so the families near the beach let people stay for free or
a token 20 baht a night. Those backpackers told their friends and soon
the first guesthouses on the island opened up in Kai Bae. The rest as
they say is history, the beachside resorts in Kai Bae are all still owned by
members of the same family and they seem to be making a pretty good living
off what was until twenty years ago considered worthless land.
The oldest inhabitant of Koh Chang also
lives here, the mother and grandmother of many of families that own most of
the land and many of the bungalow resorts in the area. She thinks she's 108,
family members aren't sure of her age exactly but are sure she's over 100.
You'll see her pottering around KB Hut.
The amount of development is quite surprising given
that the beach at Kai Bae is nothing special when compared
to the northern half of White Sand Beach, most of Klong Prao beach or Lonely Beach.
Yet the overall ambience is a good compromise
between the touristy yet convenient White Sand Beach and the independent, thatched
hut dwelling traveller vibe of Lonely Beach all rolled in with a small
community of local villagers.
The vast majority of the accommodation is pricier than
Lonely Beach, Porn's bungalows next to Sea View Resort & the newer Siam
Cottage being the 300 - 800 baht/night exceptions. But rooms are also a step
or two up in quality i.e. you can get water 24 hours a day, your hut has
glass in the windows, a non-leak roof and is clean and comfortable.
My favourite places to stay here are KB Resort (
formerly KB Bungalows) and Kai Bae Beach Bungalows (which has a very nice
beachfront restaurant) both have a choice of fan and AC rooms but prices
seem to increase by 20% a year, so whilst they are good bets for families
and anyone on a 2 week holiday, they aren't for people with limited budgets. KB
Resort also boasts a new pool and family sized luxury teak wood bungalows.
Coral Resort is another decent mid range choice, mainly because
of the large pool & excellent views. The photo above is looking
north from Coral Resort. The range of new bungalows have satellite TV and a
daily maid service - a good choice, if pink paintwork doesn't upset
you too much.
Two large resorts at the northern end of the beach
occupy most of the prime real estate in that are - Cliff beach and Chang
Park are both showing their age. Some good rooms, but some in dire
need of renovation. Cliff Beach is the better bet for couples, head up
to the clifftop pool to escape the brats & Chang Park for families - plenty
of open garden area near the pool for kids to play in.
Roadside offers the usual hotch-potch of
restaurants, bars, tailors, internet cafes, minimarts etc. At the very
north of the beach, opposite Cliff Beach Resort, a rather horrible looking little shopping side street
has been built, hardly any of the min-shop units have been occupied - which
isn't surprising. On the
opposite side of the street more mini-shop units not more than 8 or 9 sqm each
line one side of the road - very good Gelato sold in one of them - whilst a
mini crazy golf course lies is opposite, tucked behind two rarely visited
beer bars.
Just south,
'339 Avenue' offers a more upmarket shopping experience, at least that was
the plan. The roadside shops, an Italian & Indian Restaurants, dive
shop, bookshop, beachwear shop etc tend to be quite busy but those at the rear of the plaza
are deathly quiet. Moving south you pass
the first of the two 7-eleven minimarts, clusters of shops selling
identical beachwear, small restaurants and a section of road where you'll
see half a dozen tailors shops in the space of 100 metres. Also in
this area 'Kai Bae Wine Gallery'
is a good place
to stock up on hard to find imported beers & wines.
The central section of the beach is only now being
developed with the newly built 5,000 baht/night boutique Gajapuri Resort
sitting next to the cheap & cheerful 500 baht/night Siam Cottage.
Nearby construction of another new resort got underway in early 2008.
After a 200 metre long lull in the roadside development you arrive at yet
more small shops & restaurants plus a handful of beer bars catering to the needs of lonely single guys in need of a
wallet lightening, ego massage in the
privacy of their hotel room. (You always knew you were a 'hansum man' with a
'good heart'. But be wary of any stories which relate to 'Mama cannot
pay bill for sick buffalo' Sob, sniff, tears etc)
Moving swiftly on you'll pass longstanding French
restaurant 'Fredo's', and several other small eateries including the new
'Rock Sugar' that seems to have got the mix of Thai & Western food plus live
music right. Live music can also be found on the opposite side of the road
in Garden Resort, hidden away behind the 7-eleven, you'll find these nice
spacious bungalows, pool & restaurant. Opposite the 7-eleven is the access
road for KB Hut, if you need to rent a speedboat - book it here.
As you near the southern end of the beach you'll pass
'Kai Bae Marina' - not a yacht in sight but they do good pizza and
European food, plus have a small home cinema with huge choice of movies.
Next door, in another small roadside shopping plaza is 'Moccachino' -
a good internet / coffee shop that makes a nice spot to people watch in the
morning, but a bit on the pricey side.
There are no real shopping highlights. The saving graces
for anyone who wants a decent meal being a couple of Thai food shacks (midway
between Ploy Scuba bar & Ziva restaurant) which offer most excellent Thai
food; O2 restaurant which is a typical 'one stop shop' you can get a decent Thai or farang
meal, book a tour, learn Thai cookery, use the internet etc; Lek Diner serves up the tried and tested wallet emptying
combination of cheap beer, relatively expensive food and comely serving
wenches and Papa's Deli where you can get
a good approximation to a real French baguette or croissant in air-conditioned comfort.
For cheap - 25 baht - food there are three
sure fire bets in Kai Bae. Noodles - try, what in English is called
'Pao Pak Noodles', but the large roadside sign is mostly in Thai. This
is in a stand alone building with car park just south of the tailors row and LaLuna guesthouse, opposite the turning for
Gajapuri Resort, a new 4 star boutique hotel.
The owner speaks very good English and runs a franchise of a famous Thai
brand of noodle soup - from the north of Thailand. (The place gets
packed with Thais at the weekends). Further south, take the turn for
Kai Bae Hut Resort and 20 metres down the road you'll see a restaurant on
the left. Again, excellent noodles, but also very good regular Thai
food.
Saving the best for last, head south from Lek Diner, past O2
, and another 50 metres south, the restaurant has a phone booth outside it
and part of the restaurant is now a print shop run by the
owner's son & daughter. A sign on the shop just says 'Thai Foods' - no
restaurant name. We've been going here for around 4 years & never had
a bad meal - must have had well over 100 meals here in all. Consistently good,
cheap food. There's a menu in a kind of English too.
You'll find more info
on booking Kai Bae Hotels
in the Accommodation section of this site
