The Beach

I've never read Memoirs Of A Geisha but Captain Corelli's Mandolin is one of my all-time faves!

I also loved those 2 books. 😍

I love the film but love thr book more. I still have a copy and read it every so often for nostalgia. I visited Thailand in the late 1990s and 2000s, it just takes me back. I bet Khao San Road is completely different now!

Watching this now.

I was a teenager when I first saw it, with no idea I'd be backpacking in Thailand 3 years later (life plan went off piste after A Levels).

I can't believe how ridiculous it is! I liked the Thailand nostalgia, but the people being attacked by sharks is ridiculous. Also all the backpackers seem unpleasant, shallow, and really reactive. Nothing like the lovely, kind, thoughtful people I met travelling! It's like a dark hellish version of my time there. (I'm talking about the stuff before being in the community, the "normal" backpacker stuff.)

Haven't read the book, so I don't know how that compares.

gosh it was such a long time ago, I feel so old!
I remember loving the book, then being disappointed with the film. The people and locations were gorgeous but that was it, really.

We had this conversation yesterday with much older friends. Life in Britain feels grim and bleak now compared to the nineties when Blair was just in and there was just huge optimism, plenty of jobs and affordable rent. We were just talking about no wonder young people feel depressed now 😕 They can look forward to baked in inflation, climate change, AI stealing jobs and completely unaffordable housing. Our teen was saying how their teacher is always telling them they're all doomed because of climate change.

The nineties everyone was still happy the ozone layer was repairing!

I've never seen the film, but when I was in my very early 20s my colleague/friend and I used to have a competition to see who could spot the most copies of the book being read on our Tube journeys home each day. We played the same game with Captain Corelli's Mandolin and Memoirs Of A Geisha.

Thailand is starting to take massive steps in trying to preserve the coral. Just this month they have banned all novice divers from taking underwater pictures as too many were banging into the coral when doing so.

Also no swimming or snorkelling if the sea level isn’t at least 2m above the coral. When snorkelling in coral areas you must also now wear a lifejacket at all times and be taught how to use fins before they can snorkel.

Let’s hope people listen to and enforce these rules and allow the coral to replenish.

Yes, we snorkelled in the bay there before heading around the corner and mooring for a short trip on land to visit the beach itself.
Totally agree with the no swim policy, and actually think they should go further and limit numbers landing to visit.
Actually, the number if boats in the bay was excessive too!

Oh I absolutely loved the soundtrack. Reminds me of DH and I when we were very young and on our holidays. The Moby track was on a chilled Ibiza album I had, and I can vividly recall walking along the beach front in Mallorca going for dinner in my navy blue one shoulder dress and golden tan. Wonderful times. I have such nostalgia hearing that music.
I haven't seen the film for a while now, but I also remember thinking Leo was miscast. Loved the book.

I was actually diving just off this beach yesterday. We were moored up finishing our surface interval time and you could hear an official on the beach shouting over a loudspeaker every few minutes for people to get out of the water.
no swimming is allowed from that beach as the sea level is less than 2m above the coral which has been destroyed by swimmers/snorkelers over the years.
Not sure I’d be happy to pay to spend a day on the beach (or any beach) and not be allowed to swim, though I totally agree with the current ban. Just think that maybe they should stop trips to this beach for now, especially since it’s changed so much since the filming anyway.

I was a Lonely P gal myself. But yes.. internet cafes...oh how the world was back then. Absolutely loved every nano second of travelling

And the All Saints song. When I hear it I am magically young again and reminded of this film and also travelling.

@Minesril Danny Boyle wanted Ewan McGregor after the huge success of Trainspotting, but the studio pressured him to use Leonardo Dicaprio as he was such a box office draw, and it caused a huge rift between the two. They’ve made up now though 🙂.

‘Lo, though I walk through the valley of death I will fear no evil, for I am the evilest mother fucker in the valley.’

I read the book when I was about 17 - loved it, didn’t like the film as it was far too unfaithful. Maybe it deserves a rewatch!

Surely the role would have been too close to Trainspotting for Ewan McGregor?

Backpacked all around the world in the 90's. Thailand included, it was so indescribably beautiful and the people lovely. The Beach fascinated me as we'd been to so many of the places, I think I'd probably cry if I went back now

I'm in my late, very late, 50's. Don't regret a thing.

Visited The Beach in 2023.
It was absolutely rammed, and you weren’t allowed to swim out of it. Shame.

I read the book whilst backpacking round Vietnam. Everyone was reading it. The amount of bullshitters who claimed to know where The Beach was ..

Didn't rate the film too much, I can imagine it would very much of its day. YOUNG

I loved the internet cafe scene at the end, it took me right back to sending those monthly emails to friends and family! I'm so glad that was the era I travelled in, it was possible to completely disconnect. I didn't even travel with a brick mobile, just my trusty Rough Guide for company.

I was 25 and just had my first baby I remember it was one of the films we watched on video when you’re in your cozy little new family bubble and you barely go out coz the baby’s so new. I’d like to go back for that and the moby soundtrack you can keep Leo though 😉