A Visit To Pak Phanang - Nakhon Si Thammarat

[sbk]

Feast for the senses

A riverside community in the South delights with its natural bounty

Writer: KARNJANA KARNJANATAWE

Published: 17/09/2009 at 12:00 AM

There's a host of things to see and do and lots of tasty tidbits to sample during a day's outing to Pak Phanang, 36 kilometres east of Nakhon Si Thammarat town.

During the 19th and early 20th centuries this district was the rice bowl of the far South. Its strategic location near the mouth (pak) of the Phanang River made it convenient for ships from British Malaya and even from as far away as Java to dock and load up with hulled rice from the steam-powered mills that lined a long stretch of the waterway.

''Commercial vessels no longer tie up along here,'' said Paisarn Wipoosanapat, a local resident who'd volunteered to be our guide for the day, ''but we've preserved the old wooden shophouses and I think the atmosphere is similar to what it must have been like in the past.''

King Chulalongkorn, who paid a visit in 1906, near the end of his reign, is on record as saying: ''I had been aware of the importance of this district, but ... it far exceeded my expectations.

continued here: http://www.bangkokpost.com/travel/travelsc...-for-the-senses

-- Bangkok Post 2009/09/17

[Mosha]

Feast for the senses

A riverside community in the South delights with its natural bounty

Writer: KARNJANA KARNJANATAWE

Published: 17/09/2009 at 12:00 AM

There's a host of things to see and do and lots of tasty tidbits to sample during a day's outing to Pak Phanang, 36 kilometres east of Nakhon Si Thammarat town.

During the 19th and early 20th centuries this district was the rice bowl of the far South. Its strategic location near the mouth (pak) of the Phanang River made it convenient for ships from British Malaya and even from as far away as Java to dock and load up with hulled rice from the steam-powered mills that lined a long stretch of the waterway.

''Commercial vessels no longer tie up along here,'' said Paisarn Wipoosanapat, a local resident who'd volunteered to be our guide for the day, ''but we've preserved the old wooden shophouses and I think the atmosphere is similar to what it must have been like in the past.''

King Chulalongkorn, who paid a visit in 1906, near the end of his reign, is on record as saying: ''I had been aware of the importance of this district, but ... it far exceeded my expectations.

continued here: http://www.bangkokpost.com/travel/travelsc...-for-the-senses

-- Bangkok Post 2009/09/17

My wife is a Pak PhaNang girl, and she has a lot of family still there. The place though a little run down is an interesting place to visit, we usually have a long w/end there once or twice a year. If you carry on to the coast, there are a few beach restaurants that sell good food.