Monday 8 December 2025
A short excursion to Thai Mueang, aka Turtle Beach

On the Andaman coast in the Phang Nga Province in southern Thailand is a very small town on the beach called Thai Mueang. This is about 30 minute’s drive north of Phuket. Sea turtles live along this stretch of quiet ocean, and there is a Sea Turtle Conservation, Research, and Development center there. Every year, hundreds of small turtles are released into the sea during a week-long turtle festival in Thai Mueang. Thus, the local expats have taken to calling this town Turtle Beach.

I have gotten to know an Australian expat and an American expat living there through their YouTube channels. The Australian, Tim Newton, has an English language Thai news program called Tim Newton Today. He also has renovated 4 bungalows along Thai Mueang Beach Road, and rents them on Airbnb. I have watched Tim Newton for at least five years, and heard him talk about how in Turtle Beach, there is nothing to do but chill. There are no bars, no erotic massage parlors (for those so inclined), no entertainment venues, nothing to do but hang out by the beach and chill. So feeling called to an adventure and a chill time, I rented one of his beach houses for three nights, and made arrangements to fly to Phuket on Monday, December 8, 2025.

The flight from Chiang Mai to Phuket is a two-hour flight. I arrived in Phuket at 2 in the afternoon. There was a miscommunication where I thought Tim would be picking me up at the airport, but Tim had no record of that. The only contact I had for him was an e-mail address which he did not monitor constantly. When we finally sorted everything out, we agreed that the easiest thing to do was for me to get a Grab (same as Uber in the U.S.). He sent me the exact address for the beach house in Thai Mueang. Given the distance, the cost was about $40. Tim met me when I arrived. It turns out that the beach house in which I would be staying was adjacent to the house Tim lives in. And just as he had described, there is a road, a few trees, and then the beach.

The first thing I did, after noting just how hot and humid it was in Thai Mueang, was to go across the road and take photos of the beach. It is quiet, almost solitary, and beautiful.

Later, I took a photo of the “official” Thai Mueang Beach sign and turtle statue. There are almost always kids playing on it; they seem to love the big turtle.

A little farther south is what looks like another official sign that also says “Thai Mueang.” Both are well-used for photo-ops.

A highlight of Thai Mueang Beach are the sunsets. They do sunsets well, once a day, every day. Here are two views of the sunset that first day in Thai Mueang Beach. My only thought was, “beautiful!”

Steve Rosse and the Turtles

Steve Rosse is an American expat who now lives in Thai Mueang. Years ago, he lived in Phuket and wrote a popular newspaper column about entertainment and life in Phuket. He returned to the U.S., working with a dream of returning to Thailand. He has published a few books about his life in Thailand and his leaving Thailand, which are on Amazon. One is: https://www.amazon.com/Leaving-Thailand-Memoir-Steve-Rosse-ebook/. After retiring, he was able to return to Thailand, as was his dream, and settled in Thai Mueang. He started an art project using mostly cigarette lighters and plastic bottle tops he found on the beach to make small turtle statues. It is a bit shocking how many cigarette lighters he has found on the beach. He has thousands of them in all colors. The turtle statues have become popular in Thai Mueang, and many restaurants like having them outside. Here are three I photographed as I walked down the beach road looking for dinner that first night.

It is, after all, Turtle Beach.

Next: Thai Mueang Day 2