Thankyou all!
On the BKK-KBV flight, the left side, where I was, I think gave the best views, as the plane only banked left. So you get to see straight down over the bays at Krabi and Ao Nang. Don't know if this is a regular thing. It seemed pretty strange, for an airport handling 4 flights a day, to have to overfly the airport, and circle round to get to the runway...