Visible from our hotel in Krabi, the islands (at least a subset of them) are simply breathtaking. They rise dramatically out of the sea, large limestone cliffs, remnants of a vast karst plain dating millions of years back. Flooded eventually by the invading sea, only the largest of these porous limestone edifices form the islands in Phang Nga bay.
I've always loved their grandeur, as portrayed in the movies (specifically, The Beach and The Man with the Golden Gun), and was looking forward to taking a closer look, racing across the wide stretches of sea to experience the dramatic geology.
Trip One: Hong and Surrounding Islands
We signed up for a full day excursion. Picked up at our hotel, we made the 20 minute drive to what is called the Ao Nang pier, but is, in fact, simply a narrow, shallow channel where speedboats (powered mostly by twin 225hp engines) simply back into the beach for passenger embarkation.
Holding around 20 passengers or so, we staked out the uncovered bow of the speedboat for maximum sun and 360 degree views of our surroundings. Remember, this is the low season, yet the 'pier' was packed with tourists all waiting for their chance to view these remarkable islands.
Though Hong island was our primary destination, and the location where we spent the most time lounging on the beach, our things constantly under threat of being soaked by the flooding tide, we made a few stops to snorkel, take photos and admire the dramatic beauty of these islands.
First off, these are no Maldives, where maximum elevation is measured in feet and sometimes inches. These limestone giants, with rich green vegetation taking root along the steep cliffs rise hundreds of feet, reaching high into the sky. This particular chain of islands was tightly grouped, and it was breathtaking as the speedboat weaved in and out of them, leaving one behind, turning a corner only to face another monolithic geological wonder.
Though I brought my camera and host of lenses, it was extremely frustrating trying to capture the grandeur of the scenery. The scale is simply too large to adequately capture, even with a 24mm wide angle lens.
Our first stop was Phak Bia island. Connecting two looming limestone islands, a small accessible sandy beach allowed our speedboat to pull in, and drop us off for 45 minutes or so. Unfortunately, throughout the islands, the fish life is pretty limited. Though (donning mask and snorkel) Liam saw a few varieties, they were nothing spectacular, and certainly no reef to serve as host to a greater variety of sea creatures.
Next stop was Paradise beach on Koh Ra Ding island. This island is actually inhabited. It sounds like a horrible experience - no electricity, water gathered likely by the monsoon rains. The beach and the small natural bay were breathtaking. In the distance, as background, was another towering island. Here, we were served boxed lunches of some type of chicken concoction on steamed rice (with a fried egg served up in its own individually wrapped packet). Among the many speedboats, there were also privately hired long tail boats (named for the distinctive propeller that spins on the end of a long (I'm talking 20 feet plus) crank shaft. This is yet another way to explore the islands, but given the slow speeds of the long tails, and their susceptibility to being impacted more severely by rough seas than the speedboats, it's something we choose not to utilize.
Finally, we made the short five minute ride (always at speeds of close to 30 knots) to Hong island. A very large island, its two features are a mangrove ringed lagoon, only accessible during high tide, and a lovely beach cove with lots of great swimming. After a jaunt around the lagoon, where I felt like I was in the presence of a primeval geological wonder (towering cliffs, screaming monkeys, lush vegetation), we spun around to the other side of the island, where we were let off for a couple hours to snorkel and sunbathe. The water was more green than blue, but it was refreshing, with many of the shallow areas covered in shade by trees growing out and overhanging the water. A few smaller haystack islands added a nice photogenic quality, and we spent the time playing in the water and enjoying the atmosphere.
Finally, after a 20 minute ride back to Ao Nang, the sun was falling in the west, and it was time to head back to the hotel - exhausted by the heat and humidity, but thrilled by the experience.
Trip Two: Heading south to the Phi Phi island group
On our trip to Hong island, we were sitting next to an older couple from Sydney. She mentioned that she was more impressed with the southern islands since the water there was more blue (as opposed to the green of the Hone island group). After a few days at the resort (and a wonderful spa treatment - including a chocolate rub down followed by a Thai massage), we decided to spend our last making the long trek to the Phi Phi islands. They happen to be equidistant from Phuket, so the tourist throngs were overwhelming.
Our first stop was Phi Phi island proper. It was all but hidden behind the massive, populated island of Koh Phi Phi Don (by the way, 'ph' in Thai is pronounced with a 'p' sound...so we were visiting pee pee island). Once we rounded the larger island, we saw Phi Phi looming large on the horizon. It looked like something straight out of Treasure Island or any other book where mysterious happenings occur.
Our first stop was Maya Bay. Famous (extremely famous) for its role in the Leonardo DiCaprio movie "The Beach" (it's one of those movies if showing on TBS or some other cable network, I'll always tune in). In the movie, some CGI magic was applied to make the bay look more like a lagoon, with no outlet to the sea, In reality, it's a national park, and for the movie, the beach was flattened, white sand shipped in, and palm trees added. It didn't go over well with the local governments. Fortunately (or not), the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004 returned the beach to its original state.
First impression of the beach/bay? Huge disappointment. Throngs, literally hundreds of tourists had overrun the beach while we were visiting. Dozens of speedboats and long tail boats where anchored on the beach, leaving a small length of beach from which tourists could snorkel. Another surprise? It's much smaller than it looks like in the movie. No doubt, it's a beautiful beach and bay, but we encountered much more beautiful ones on the rest of this journey and our trip to the Hong archipelago.
After only 20 minutes there (thankfully, our guide realized the insanity of staying longer), we whipped around the to the lee side of the island, anchored, and jumped off into some beautiful blue water. About three meters deep, the azure waters were framed by the towering limestone cliffs, slowly eroding from the water lapping at their bases, and the wind howling across their faces.
After one final stop in the lagoon that reaches deep into Phi Phi island (accessible only during high tide), we headed to Koh Phi Phi Don - a much larger island home to a substantial population and several high end resorts.
We stopped briefly at Monkey beach. Aptly named, as there were hordes of the things along the water's edge (and even venturing into the water, which surprised me) to feed on the bananas and other treats tourists were throwing them.
Once arriving at the main part of Koh Phi Phi Don, we enjoyed a buffet lunch, and Leslie & Lily did a little shopping. Our guide told us, quietly and with sadness, that the tsunami waves had crested well above the tall palm tree tops, and over 5000 residents, most living in the more habitable, low lying areas, perished from the surge. Everything on the island, to the last building, was built anew in the last nine years since that dreadful event.
Finally, we stopped at Bamboo island, about half the distance from the Phi Phi islands to our port of Ao Nang, and was given an hour there. Granted, there was snorkeling, but most passengers found some shade (ironically, no bamboos were present) under the beach pine trees, and simply escaped the scorching sun. Our final day in Thailand, and our day at sea, was by far the most beautiful - cloudless, blue, but scorching.
Well burned from the sun, but extremely happy we decided to head to the southern islands, we made our way back to Ao Nang, and began the extremely stressful and time consuming activity of packing up our eight suitcases - including all the dirty clothes we've accumulated over the previous two weeks.
I've always loved their grandeur, as portrayed in the movies (specifically, The Beach and The Man with the Golden Gun), and was looking forward to taking a closer look, racing across the wide stretches of sea to experience the dramatic geology.
Trip One: Hong and Surrounding Islands
We signed up for a full day excursion. Picked up at our hotel, we made the 20 minute drive to what is called the Ao Nang pier, but is, in fact, simply a narrow, shallow channel where speedboats (powered mostly by twin 225hp engines) simply back into the beach for passenger embarkation.
Holding around 20 passengers or so, we staked out the uncovered bow of the speedboat for maximum sun and 360 degree views of our surroundings. Remember, this is the low season, yet the 'pier' was packed with tourists all waiting for their chance to view these remarkable islands.
 |
| One of many nearly vertical islands where vegetation has a tenuous hold on the sheer limestone cliff faces |
Though Hong island was our primary destination, and the location where we spent the most time lounging on the beach, our things constantly under threat of being soaked by the flooding tide, we made a few stops to snorkel, take photos and admire the dramatic beauty of these islands.
First off, these are no Maldives, where maximum elevation is measured in feet and sometimes inches. These limestone giants, with rich green vegetation taking root along the steep cliffs rise hundreds of feet, reaching high into the sky. This particular chain of islands was tightly grouped, and it was breathtaking as the speedboat weaved in and out of them, leaving one behind, turning a corner only to face another monolithic geological wonder.
Though I brought my camera and host of lenses, it was extremely frustrating trying to capture the grandeur of the scenery. The scale is simply too large to adequately capture, even with a 24mm wide angle lens.
Our first stop was Phak Bia island. Connecting two looming limestone islands, a small accessible sandy beach allowed our speedboat to pull in, and drop us off for 45 minutes or so. Unfortunately, throughout the islands, the fish life is pretty limited. Though (donning mask and snorkel) Liam saw a few varieties, they were nothing spectacular, and certainly no reef to serve as host to a greater variety of sea creatures.
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| Leslie at Phak Bia |
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| One of the few photos with me in it...I'm usually behind the lens |
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| The fam with the looming limestone islets |
Next stop was Paradise beach on Koh Ra Ding island. This island is actually inhabited. It sounds like a horrible experience - no electricity, water gathered likely by the monsoon rains. The beach and the small natural bay were breathtaking. In the distance, as background, was another towering island. Here, we were served boxed lunches of some type of chicken concoction on steamed rice (with a fried egg served up in its own individually wrapped packet). Among the many speedboats, there were also privately hired long tail boats (named for the distinctive propeller that spins on the end of a long (I'm talking 20 feet plus) crank shaft. This is yet another way to explore the islands, but given the slow speeds of the long tails, and their susceptibility to being impacted more severely by rough seas than the speedboats, it's something we choose not to utilize.
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| The view from Paradise beach on Koh Ra Ding island |
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| Lily snorkeling - not the abundance of fish surrounding her |
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| Looking inland (what there is of it) on Koh Ra Ding. The large containers hold drinking water for the residents. |
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| Looking out from Paradise beach at the island opposite |
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| Though the locals charged 10 baht to use the toilets (about thirty cents), Leslie said they were unusable - stinky, splattered with feces...pretty nasty |
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| I'd guess this is a cooking area for the locals on Paradise beach |
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| Leslie and Liam returning from snorkeling |
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| Liam and I walked through a poorly marked trail to the other side of Koh Ra Ding Island. Nothing there but a small bay surrounded by mangroves |
Finally, we made the short five minute ride (always at speeds of close to 30 knots) to Hong island. A very large island, its two features are a mangrove ringed lagoon, only accessible during high tide, and a lovely beach cove with lots of great swimming. After a jaunt around the lagoon, where I felt like I was in the presence of a primeval geological wonder (towering cliffs, screaming monkeys, lush vegetation), we spun around to the other side of the island, where we were let off for a couple hours to snorkel and sunbathe. The water was more green than blue, but it was refreshing, with many of the shallow areas covered in shade by trees growing out and overhanging the water. A few smaller haystack islands added a nice photogenic quality, and we spent the time playing in the water and enjoying the atmosphere.
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| Approaching Hong Island |
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| Entrance to the lagoon on Hong Island |
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| View of the lagoon's narrow inlet from the inside |
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| Leslie and Lily, with the towering walls of the lagoon as a backdrop |
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| View from the beach on Hong Island. Photos can't adequately capture the astounding beauty |
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| Liam snorkeling on Hong beach |
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| The girls on Hong beach |
Finally, after a 20 minute ride back to Ao Nang, the sun was falling in the west, and it was time to head back to the hotel - exhausted by the heat and humidity, but thrilled by the experience.
Trip Two: Heading south to the Phi Phi island group
On our trip to Hong island, we were sitting next to an older couple from Sydney. She mentioned that she was more impressed with the southern islands since the water there was more blue (as opposed to the green of the Hone island group). After a few days at the resort (and a wonderful spa treatment - including a chocolate rub down followed by a Thai massage), we decided to spend our last making the long trek to the Phi Phi islands. They happen to be equidistant from Phuket, so the tourist throngs were overwhelming.
Our first stop was Phi Phi island proper. It was all but hidden behind the massive, populated island of Koh Phi Phi Don (by the way, 'ph' in Thai is pronounced with a 'p' sound...so we were visiting pee pee island). Once we rounded the larger island, we saw Phi Phi looming large on the horizon. It looked like something straight out of Treasure Island or any other book where mysterious happenings occur.
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| Phi Phi island. "The Beach" beach is on the other side |
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| The girls on 'The Beach" |
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| The view from the beach of Maya bay...throngs of tourists. I can't imagine how bad it gets during the high season. |
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| That's Liam on the bottom in the skull swim shirt...the rest are a combinations of Aussies, Brits, Russians, Koreans, Chinese and who knows what else. |
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| The fam on the Beach |
Our first stop was Maya Bay. Famous (extremely famous) for its role in the Leonardo DiCaprio movie "The Beach" (it's one of those movies if showing on TBS or some other cable network, I'll always tune in). In the movie, some CGI magic was applied to make the bay look more like a lagoon, with no outlet to the sea, In reality, it's a national park, and for the movie, the beach was flattened, white sand shipped in, and palm trees added. It didn't go over well with the local governments. Fortunately (or not), the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004 returned the beach to its original state.
First impression of the beach/bay? Huge disappointment. Throngs, literally hundreds of tourists had overrun the beach while we were visiting. Dozens of speedboats and long tail boats where anchored on the beach, leaving a small length of beach from which tourists could snorkel. Another surprise? It's much smaller than it looks like in the movie. No doubt, it's a beautiful beach and bay, but we encountered much more beautiful ones on the rest of this journey and our trip to the Hong archipelago.
After only 20 minutes there (thankfully, our guide realized the insanity of staying longer), we whipped around the to the lee side of the island, anchored, and jumped off into some beautiful blue water. About three meters deep, the azure waters were framed by the towering limestone cliffs, slowly eroding from the water lapping at their bases, and the wind howling across their faces.
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| Lily leaping into the warm, blue water. |
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| Liam showing off for the camera |
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| View of the area where we jumped off the boat to snorkel |
After one final stop in the lagoon that reaches deep into Phi Phi island (accessible only during high tide), we headed to Koh Phi Phi Don - a much larger island home to a substantial population and several high end resorts.
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| Phi Phi island lagoon - only accessible during high tide (as you can see from the shallow depths) |
We stopped briefly at Monkey beach. Aptly named, as there were hordes of the things along the water's edge (and even venturing into the water, which surprised me) to feed on the bananas and other treats tourists were throwing them.
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| Looking for a bite |
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| Wading into the water looking for treats |
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| It's a family affair - mom and baby looking for handouts in the water |
Once arriving at the main part of Koh Phi Phi Don, we enjoyed a buffet lunch, and Leslie & Lily did a little shopping. Our guide told us, quietly and with sadness, that the tsunami waves had crested well above the tall palm tree tops, and over 5000 residents, most living in the more habitable, low lying areas, perished from the surge. Everything on the island, to the last building, was built anew in the last nine years since that dreadful event.
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| An example of a building built from scratch after the tsunami |
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| Hard to fathom that the tsunami's surge was higher than this palm tree...complete destruction |
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| Lily and I |
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| Liam |
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| The beautiful coast of Koh Phi Phi Don |
Finally, we stopped at Bamboo island, about half the distance from the Phi Phi islands to our port of Ao Nang, and was given an hour there. Granted, there was snorkeling, but most passengers found some shade (ironically, no bamboos were present) under the beach pine trees, and simply escaped the scorching sun. Our final day in Thailand, and our day at sea, was by far the most beautiful - cloudless, blue, but scorching.
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| Bamboo Island |
Well burned from the sun, but extremely happy we decided to head to the southern islands, we made our way back to Ao Nang, and began the extremely stressful and time consuming activity of packing up our eight suitcases - including all the dirty clothes we've accumulated over the previous two weeks.
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