IT seems all roads led to Bang Saen beach at next door Chonburi province today (June 3) with numerous Bangkokians having the same idea of going there to mark Her Majesty the Queen’s royal birthday with this leading to severe traffic jams on the roads to this beautiful beach, Sanook.com reported this afternoon.
Bang Saen beach had just been reopened on Monday June 1 after the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) launched the phase 3 easing of the lockdown measures to control the spread of Covid-19.
Even the road along beach was heavily congested with no parking spaces available at all.
Mr Narongchai Khunpluem, mayor of Saen Suk Municipality in Chonburi province, popularly called Mayor Tui, said in his Facebook post that the heavy influx of holidaymakers had now made it difficult to maintain the social distancing necessary to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
To cope with the situation the municipality has now closed the Bang Saen roundabout and all alleys leading to the beach to traffic.
Bang Saen beach is famous throughout Thailand and it is the closest pleasant beach getaway spot from Bangkok as well as provinces north of Chonburi. It is much closer, cheaper and is less hassle than Hua Hin’s beaches or Pattaya’s beaches, according to Wikitravel
Bang Saen is a sleepy town during the weekdays but it turns into a fantastic city on the weekends. The town is a host to a major university, Burapha University. During the day, most of the people you will see are students from the university. On the weekends, travellers, families or groups of friends, come from surrounding areas or other provinces in Thailand to spend the day at the beach.
While there are foreign tourists all year round, most of the tourists to Bang Saen are still local because when compared with any other nearby beaches, such as Pattaya, it is the cheapest beach to visit.
Though foreigners are small in number, there still is a Scandinavian village in Bang Saen. There are probably around 200-300 Scandinavians living there and maybe 100-200 more foreigners on top of that. Most of the foreigners who live in Bang Saen work as teachers in the Burapha University or as local guides. For this reason, many menus and shop names are bilingual.
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Top: A road leading to Bang Saen beach is chock-a-block with traffic today. Photo: Sanook.com
Below: Despite the massive traffic congestion people who reach the beach are enjoying themselves. Photo: Sanook.com
