Taeki Chan I came to Samila Beach in Songkhla, Thailand, like many other visitors do — to enjoy the sea, walk along the beach and see one of the area’s most famous landmarks.
But as I walked along the beach, something caught my attention.
There she was — the Golden Mermaid of Samila Beach, sitting by the sea.
The moment I saw her, I suddenly thought of Copenhagen.
I had seen another famous mermaid during my trip to Denmark — The Little Mermaid sitting quietly on a rock beside Copenhagen’s harbour.
Two mermaids.
Two completely different countries.
And somehow, both had become iconic symbols of their cities.
From Samila Beach to Copenhagen
Standing in front of the Golden Mermaid in Songkhla immediately brought back memories of my Copenhagen trip.
I remembered visiting Langelinie and seeing Copenhagen’s Little Mermaid for the first time. She is based on the famous fairy tale by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, and the statue has become one of Copenhagen’s most recognizable landmarks.
Now, here I was in Thailand, standing in front of another famous mermaid.
The similarities were impossible not to notice.
Both are beside the sea.
Both have become famous tourist attractions.
And both have become closely connected with the identity of their cities.
But their stories are actually very different.
The Story Behind Samila’s Golden Mermaid
The Golden Mermaid at Samila Beach comes from a local legend.
According to the story, a mermaid would come ashore at night to comb her hair with a golden comb. One day, a fisherman encountered her and frightened her back into the sea.
She left her golden comb behind, and although the fisherman waited for her return, she never came back.
The statue at Samila Beach depicts the mermaid sitting by the sea and combing her hair, bringing this local legend to life.
So when I looked at the statue, I wasn’t just looking at another tourist attraction.
I was looking at a character from a story that had been connected with this place for generations.
A Different Mermaid in Copenhagen
Copenhagen’s Little Mermaid tells a very different story.
The statue was inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s famous fairy tale, The Little Mermaid. In the original story, the mermaid dreams of becoming human and falls in love with a prince.
The story is one of longing, love and sacrifice.
And unlike Samila’s Golden Mermaid, Copenhagen’s Little Mermaid isn’t based on a local beach legend. She was brought to life through literature and later became one of Denmark’s most recognizable landmarks.
Yet both mermaids ended up beside the sea.
Why Do We Keep Finding Mermaids by the Sea?
This made me think about something else.
Why are mermaids such a common part of stories around the world?
Perhaps it’s because the sea has always been mysterious to us.
We can see its surface, but we don’t know everything that lies beneath it. For centuries, people travelled across oceans without knowing what they might encounter.
So it’s perhaps not surprising that humans created stories about mysterious creatures living beneath the waves.
Different cultures developed their own legends, but the idea of a beautiful, mysterious woman connected to the sea appears again and again.
One Mermaid, Then Another
What I love about travelling is that sometimes one place unexpectedly reminds you of another place you’ve visited before.
I didn’t come to Samila Beach thinking about Copenhagen.
I came to see the beach and the famous Golden Mermaid.
But the moment I saw her, my memories went straight back to Denmark.
And suddenly, two completely different travel experiences became connected in my mind.
One was in Thailand.
One was in Denmark.
One mermaid came from a local legend.
The other came from a famous fairy tale.
But both were sitting beside the sea, becoming symbols of the places they called home.
Maybe that’s one of the best things about travelling.
You don’t just collect places. You collect memories — and sometimes, one new place brings an old memory back to life.
