Day 9 - Thursday 3 December 2015

Koh Yao Noi departure……..Unfortunately Koh Yao Noi departure means not only departure from this interesting island but signals the end of not only this tour but the end of all tours for this year. The island has certainly lived up to my expectations. It’s quiet, not too expensive and convenient. Unlike Koh Tao it is much more my style. I think I’m going to miss it.
I wake to the alarm at 5.45am and get ready. There’s time to grab something for breakfast and sit on the veranda. I wish I could daydream all day but at 7am there is a songtheaw waiting out on the road. OK just one glance back at the bay and it’s off to the pier to wait for the 7.30am boat departure.

Koh Banyee……..The day is sunny with well broken cloud as the boat departs for Tha Dan Pier in Phang Nga. However don’t write this tour off yet! The bay won’t disappear for another hour and well, make that three. There’s no way I can make it back to Bangkok in one day so with two easy days I’m going to keep the tour alive for the moment. Instead of heading directly to the pier we arrange to break the journey at Koh Banyee, the Muslim stilt village that has become a tourist attraction in itself. Before we headed for Koh Yao Noi we had the idea to add another tour, the classic James Bond Island Tour. This is normally arranged on the mainland but from Koh Banyee the islands are closer but we still need to get to Tha Dan Pier later. We arrange with a boatman for the tour and transport on to Phang Nga. Katoon has managed to get a price of 1,300 baht, a saving of 200 on the normal price and save time as well. Now it’s still not 9am so we decide to have a look around. The town, despite being tourist orientated, functions as a normal town. It has a school, a mosque and even a football pitch, all built on stilts on the mudflats beside the mountain. Now nearer to 10pm it’s time to take the tour.

James Bond Island Tour……..I’m reluctant to use the name of ‘James Bond’, as this island was christened after 1974, when it was featured in the James Bond movies The Man with the Golden Gun and Tomorrow Never Dies. The island referred to is an islet, 20 metres tall called Koh Tapu. It lies alongside the small island of Koh Khao Phing Kan in the Ao Phang Nga National Park in the west of the bay. The boat we use is a similar long-tailed boat to the one used yesterday so would accommodate more than two people and its powerful diesel engine powers it away from Koh Banyee and out into the bay once more. It now comes up close to the ring of islands that offer spectacular views of the tower karst mountains and islands of the park.
Koh Talu Ok........Koh Talu Ok lies about 4km south of Koh Banyee. This island is popular for kayaking as its split in three parts. The lagoon in the centre supports a kayak stations were you can hire a kayak for 500 baht. This is a magnificent island to visit and for kayakers there is a natural cave to enter. Our long tailed boat manages to pass through it but it’s not suitable for bigger craft.

Koh Khao Phing Kan........As mentioned, Koh Khao Phing Kan is possibly the most famous island in the bay with wonderful views of Koh Tapu. These days, boats are not allowed to pass near the islet for reasons of conservation but they are allowed to land visitors onto Koh Khao Phing Kan. I can reveal that this is not the first time I’ve been here. After scratching my head for a while, I’ve come up with a date of 1989 and in the intervening years, things have changed. The park was established in 1981 but I don’t remember paying a fee. When I arrived here from Koh Banyee I was the only passenger as other family members considered the sea too rough. It had been raining which is quite typical here but I remember walking onto the sand bar totally alone. Not so today. There is a landing fee of 300 baht and the bar in filled with a concrete wall in front of which are souvenir shops and food stalls. As I’ve been here before under more interesting circumstances I don’t land on the island so I don’t have to pay the fee. Given the fact that I’ve made it here for little more than half the price I would have paid in Phuket, I am more than happy with this tour. As we head back past Koh Banyee there are ancient rock paintings on a rock face some 3,000 years old but now it’s on up the Pan Yi River to Tha Dan Pier to collect the car.

Khao Chang (Elephant Mountain)........As I head back into Phang Nga this tour still refuses to die. At Khao Chang to the left of the main road leading into the city is Khao Chang. This is another limestone cave system which has an interesting origin related to the story of a domestic elephant that was accidentally killed at this spot. There are two options to enter the cave system. You can walk through it but it takes an hour and you need a flashlight. Alternatively you can take a canoe. The price is 300 baht per person but that includes a guide. With the time moving towards lunch and the fact that I cannot take photographs inside the cave, neither of these options are taken up. Instead there is one more location that I can cover in Phang Nga.

Tham Ta Pan........Tham Ta Pan, also known as Dragon Cave, is a monastery just 300 metres from the main road in Phang Nga. This is the third of the three temples that I mentioned earlier as an optional tour of Phang Nga. This temple has a limestone cave with a large cavern but nowhere near as spectacular as the one at Wat Sawankhuha. The temple houses a dragon, with an entrance through its mouth. Its body is a passageway leading some 50 metres emerging near the cave. On the way back is a park where there are grotesque images of scenes from heaven and hell that are not uncommon in Buddhist temples. This location doesn’t warrant much more than 30 minutes. It’s time for lunch now in the city.

Phang Nga to Prachuap Khiri Khan........After stretching this tour as long as I dare, now into the 16th day, it really is time to make a move closer to Bangkok. Using a slightly different route which takes us briefly into Krabi Province along highway 415, we head for Surat Thani but not before we locate a new temple complex at Wat Bang Thon. This temple is a new build and consists of a gorgious stupa in Indian Phuttkaya style.Finally I manage to get my head down for an hour by which time we’re ready to connect to highway 401 again. Everything from here is now the same as the route here except that it’s raining again. Rejoining highway 41 near Surat Thani, we head north towards Chumphon. Although I’ve used this route a number of times it still amazes me the distances involved. From Surat Thani to Chumphon is a two hour drive with a similar time from Chumphon to Prachuap Khiri Khan. I see no need at this stage to drive in the dark along poor roads and heavy traffic but after leaving Chumphon there’s still about 45 minutes of daylight so we press on. As darkness falls we debate over what to do about an overnight stop. There’s nothing I’m familiar with along this stretch of road unless we head to the coast. Katoon says she will drive and heads for Prachuap Khiri Khan but that means we won’t arrive before 7.30pm. She is worried about traffic if we arrive late in Bangkok tomorrow. Fortunately the roads are not as busy as we expect and we reduce speed just keeping up a steady pace.

Prachuap Khiri Khan........We arrive at Prachuap just after 7.30pm and I’m for using a hotel we used before on an earlier tour but Katoon stops to enquire at a couple of others. They turn out to be more expensive so we head on into the city and find Palm Sweet Hotel opposite the railway line. By now the luggage has got really disorganised with dirty washing everywhere. I just about have a change of clothes for tomorrow but at least I need very little to take to the room. I take the computer as well but will I have time to use it? As we already know there is nothing nearby in the way of a restaurant so we head for the city square where the mobile vendors are still busy. Well past 8pm there’s little else I can do today now except: Eat pork and drink beer! There no shortage of either. As I turn in I’ve done no work on my blog for today or even edited my blog from yesterday. It’ll have to wait till I get back to Bangkok. Next Page.