Quick Swim

Before returning to shore our boat stopped at an island about half way back. It had a nice beach (I guess) and we were encouraged to have a swim & cool off. The water wasn't much for cooling off unfortunately. It was like a warm bath. It did take the edge off the heat once we got out of the water.The trip back was uneventful & the van ride back to the hotel took forever & it was dark by the time we arrived. That night, I think we had dinner, wandered around a bit and did some shopping, then had a swim in the hotel pool. The next morning we were on the move again to Phi Phi Island.

Koh Hong

The locals call Koh Hong "Little James Bond Island". Not too many kilometres north of here is the island where the James bond movie, The Man with the Golden Gun, was shot. The formation above is like a mini version of that island, hence the name.

Either way the scenery is awesome and the water had this incredible turquoise colour to it.

Inside the island were are series of small jungle surrounded hongs.

Inside one of them was a strange looking stone structure (below). A baby elephant if you can't see it.
Beautiful place. It was such a shame when we had to leave.

Koh Panak - Part 2

Instead of bringing us back to the boat, our chauffeurs took us along beside the outer shore of the island. The strange overhangs were a good way of keeping out of the sun & heat of the day.

The overhanging greenery also harboured the Brown Winged Kingfisher below. He was patiently on the lookout for lunch but our presence wasn't helping.

After a short paddle we entered another cave & were soon in another hong.

This one wasn't as big but just as nice. It had some interesting rock formations, Monkeys & even Flying Foxes (or Fruit Bats).

The Fruit bats were a noisy clan. They supposedly sleep during the day but they're like a bunch of kids on camp at night, chattering & squabbling. I can't see how they sleep at all.

We left Koh Panak and headed for Koh Hong.

Phang Nga Bay - Koh Panak - Part 1

We were up bright and early the next morning only to be bundled into a van to head north (back toward the airport). We hadn't even seen the beach yet....

Our target for the day was a boat/canoeing tour around Phang Nga Bay & its strange limestone atolls. We set off in the boat and headed out into the bay. There were maybe 12 people on the boat (mainly Aussies, but who would have guessed?...).

First stop was Koh Panak (Koh = Island) but we weren't alone. There were already 3 similar boats moored at the island.

Our guides set the blow up canoes in the water for us to climb aboard. We weren't given paddles but were instead chauffeured about the islands. Our chauffeurs paddled us into a cave in at the bottom of the cliff. You'll be able to see the cave entrance between the left & middle boats in the photo above. Below you can see that the cave is much larger than it looks in the wider shot.

Inside the cave was a bit like one of those rides at the amusement parks, but without the tacky decorations. This cave was decorated with stalagmites & bats.

As we went deeper into the cave, the roof started to get lower. Right at the end it closed right up & we had to lie back in the canoe. We could see the light coming from the outside.

We popped out into the light & into this strange lagoon in the middle of the island. The photo below is only a small part of the picture.

Inside the hong (island lagoon) the local inhabitants were there to welcome us. These Long-Tailed Macaques were going about their noisy business around the water's edge picking off mollusks.As nice as it was we had to leave this little haven. So it was back to the slot where we'd come out of. We did the canoe limbo again & we were back in the cave with the bats.