Phuket, Thailand Surf Trip

Temples and Waves 

Thailand, the land of coconuts, spicy food, amazing people and, above all, there are the waves. Oh yeah, there are the waves!  I spent 2 weeks in the Phuket countryside at a place called Nai Thon Beach! Nai Thon is a quiet little beach town in the middle of nowhere. Really, in the middle of nowhere! If I were a tourist, not a surfer, I might have been scared. But hell, I am a surfer and we find the stoke everywhere it is. We hear all the time how ‘amazing the locals are’. Have you ever wondered about that statement…wondered if it were true?

 


OHM catching a wave.

Well, if you surf with locals around the world, you know it’s true. The locals at Nai Thon Beach actually take turns acting as lifeguards, not just for the locals, but also for the foreigners coming there to surf. They take turns when the waves are up and are always on it. I had the pleasure of spending most of my time there surfing, making friends, eating local food and sharing waves with some amazing and generous people.

The first day I went for a swim with my camera I met a guy named OHM. A Nai Thon resident, with roots going back generations, he is as inventive as he is fun to be around. OHM makes his living renting boards and selling a tasty homebrewed beer and freshly chopped coconut. What more could a hungry, tired surfer ask for.

I gotta tell you, chilling with OHM was a real pleasure. Over the next few days, he showed me the local surf scene. He seemed to have as much fun showing me the local life style as I had rolling with it. It pretty much consisted of surf all day, eat some spicy Pad Thai, cool your burning mouth with OHM’s homebrew, then do it all over again the next day. Oh, and don’t forget, listening to some locals playing guitar while your belly is still rumbling from that amazing, spicy as hell, $3 Pad Thai. Kicking back and looking around, all I could see was Stoke!!!

 Surfing Local 

To be a surfer in Nai Thon, or anywhere in Phuket Province, you need the right storm to get things moving. Sometimes that means you also need to have some patience. August is their low season and I came at the right time, having surf almost every day!!   

The water was so clear I got some amazing shots.
This is OHM taking a break.

 When the surf is down, you run to one of the other local gifts from Mother Nature, PHI PHI Island (Say Pee Pee), but that’s another story. And, yeah, we will tell it. It’s enough right now to say I had the pleasure of being in the middle of the surf culture in Phuket, Thailand. A place that will always make me grateful for what is given to us if we just open our eyes and look. The people there are rich and warm and welcoming.  If you ever need a stoke recharge and you are willing to embrace the local culture, not the tourist culture, head for Phuket and Nai Thon beach. Have a local brew with OHM and tell him Cory says hey.

 

For the full photo essay of our surf trip to Phuket/Nai Thon beach visit www.corypphotography.com .