The Fishing Pier

The first photo on today’s entry on Doodee’s Thailand shows an area of Cha-am which is commonly known as The Fishing Pier. The Fishing Pier is situated at the mouth of a small river at the northern end of Cha-am.

You can click on the photo to enlarge it.


The Fishing Pier contains the principal wharf in the locality at which fishing boats bring their catch ashore. It’s is a fascinating place to visit. It always seems to be busy. There’s almost always a situation arising or something taking place there that will capture the observer’s attention.


Fishing boats chug and churn their way back and forth along the shallow river which runs adjacent to The Fishing Pier. A seemingly endless procession of fishmongers, restaurateurs, and other assorted traders appear and then disappear, each one hurrying off with their purchases, anxious to sell them whilst they’re still fresh. And there’s a constant flow of tourists through the area too.

But for all of its activity The Fishing Pier also exudes a serenity, a calmness, a naturally structured, primordial, orderly feel that is truly most intoxicating. It’s a great place to go and watch other people working (I would recommend the watching of other people working as an excellent hobby).

There are a number of excellent sea-food restaurants to be found in and around the area of The Fishing Pier. I understand that the tariff at these restaurants is very reasonable.


I was keen to learn a little about the work and the lives of the fishing community during our visit to The Fishing Pier. In pursuit of this aim I decided that it would be best to engage one of the local mariners in a little light conversation. I knew that if I showed a real and genuine interest in his occupation and his lifestyle he would be sure to respond by imparting a wealth of fascinating information upon me. I quickly found a fishing boat captain. He was squatting on the deck of his boat, attending to maintenance on his nets. So, in my very best Thai, I cheerfully opened our conversation with:
“Hiya Skip’. How’s the catch today?”

It transpired that the captain that I had chosen to speak with is a man of few words. He looked up at me, somewhat coldly, and in a deadpan voice replied, “We catch fish every day. It’s what we do”.

I felt that my initial enquiry must have lost much of its allure in translation, so I decided that I would have to turn up the old Doodee charm a notch or two with my second question. I knew that if I could bolster the captain’s self-esteem, and try to help him to feel a little more relaxed and comfortable with me, then a fascinating dialogue would surely grow between us. And so I continued:
“I marvel at you guys. The ocean’s a big place. Tell me Skip’, how do you old sea salts know exactly where to find the fish?”

He rose from his squatting position and walked towards me. He halted, standing a metre or so in front of me. And then, with a sweeping gesture of his right arm which narrowly missed my nose, but clearly was made to indicate the massive expanse of the great blue yonder (any incursion toward my nose area was obviously accidental), he replied:
“We know that we’ll find the fish in the sea, because that’s where they live. They’re always to be found there – in the sea”.
And then he returned to tend to his nets.

At this point in the conversation I yielded to the realization that my hail-fellow-well-met attitude and the fruits of my schooling as a gentleman of Old England were not cutting the mustard on this occasion. And so I moved on.

I soon found a delightful quayside restaurant in which to imbibe a bottle or two of iced water. As I did so, the fishing boat featured in the final photo on today’s entry (and known in Thai as a reu-a tung gae) drew in to port. And the episode that followed this boat’s arrival was both extraordinary and fascinating. And I’ll tell you about it and show you photos of it in the next entry on Doodee’s Thailand. I hope that you’ll pop back for a look.

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