There are no roads in Bang Chan. For families in this “no land village” off the coast of Chantaburi, going to work or just to visit a neighbor requires a boat.
Much like the more-famous “floating villages” of Myanmar’s Inle Lake, Bang Chan, in Chantaburi’s Lung District, is a fishing village built on the water. Houses rest on stilts, even the children paddle around and success is judged by the size of the day’s catch.
Life has remained unchanged here for decades, except for the slowly increasing numbers of tourists. They come from the cities, and a few from the west, to see the way things used to be in Thailand, before neon and shopping malls. They’re not disappointed.