Day 4 Phuket, Koh Phang Nga & Koh Panyee

This morning we awoke early to travel to Koh Phang Nga. We travel by bus to the pier, over an hour away from Patong. The weather was poor, raining heavily. However, this didn’t stop us, in fact it made the day hilarious.

Firstly, a stray dog decided to jump on our bus to shelter from the rain. Now remember what I told you about the dog out here. It hid under a ladies chair next to Steve. The Thai people were trying to lure it of the bus with food, however, the dog was not interested. So instead the driver decided to beat it with a stick, the worse thing you could do. The dog began to run around the bus barking and screeching. Everyone started running to the back of the bus, so small it could only carry 8-10 people. In the end the dog jumped of the bus and we drove on. You would have thought the driver learnt his lesson, but at the next he lefy the door wide open again.

An hour and a half later we arrived at the pier, if you can call it that. There was a small community living in run down hits, chickens running wild and the peer consisted of a rather unsteady, floating planks of wood that lead the way to a long til boat. If you haven’t seen one before, it’s a larger version of a canoe, fitting 20 people in and has a motorized engine. However, it was only inches about water level and didn’t look like the safest mode of transport for this weather.

We brought a couple of ponchos off a man in his hut and braved our way across the pier. Boarding was not easy either, having to balance on the rim of the boat and lower yourself in.

We set off, the oat having more power and speed than expected. We made or way out to sea via murky, winding lakes. Smaller routed sprouting of the main route and lined with floating bushes. As we made our way further out, large, magestic, limestone rock, rising tall out of the water came into view. It looked incredible, beautiful and surreal. This was the Thailand we had been waiting to see.

Moments later we were pulling into a cove embedded amounst lime stone rock. Here we had to balance on the rim of the boat and pull ourselves up onto the bank. Nothing is easy out here. We had arrived at the James Bon Island, an image seen on many postcards and brochures. It is like a secret lagoon hidden among the Andaman sea. It was tiny, taking seconds to walk around it and full of natural beauty. Here we found locals with market stools; they must make their way here daily by boat. The water was a dark green colour but clean and clear. There were caves you could climb in to and limestone rock shelters you in the cove.

We spent 30 minutes here jetting off for a once in a lifetime experience at sea canoeing. Miles out to sea, nestles between limestone rocks, we found a floating pontoon. We climbed aboard and were shown to our canoe. Carefully we lowered ourselves into a canoe where we were greeted by a very young boy who would be rowing our canoe. The canoe was small, made of rubber, filled with air. I was terrified of sharks; I couldn’t believe I was doing this. We made our way away from the floating pontoon and head for limestone rocks. We had to lie down to enter the caves inside the rock as the entrances were so tight. It didn’t help that we had a crazy rower who insisted on taking the almost impossible routes into the caves, with rock cm above our faces. Everyone else took the easier and safer route. He kept rocking the canoe and shouting “happy, happy”, this I was not.

Inside the caves was the most beautiful sight. The water was only inches deep and the rock was covered in leaved branches, climbing to the top of the rock, he sun struggled to creep between the branches and the rain poured down making it resemble a rainforest. We spent 45 minutes winding in and out of caves, sometimes venturing further out to open water (scary). At the end of the 45 minutes I was so proud and happy to have done it. Steve loved it, finding it beautiful and adventurous.

We climb back on board the long tail boat with much difficulty and traveled to Koh Panyee, a floating village where we had lunch. We sat on a table with six Aussies, a young couple for Perth, another young couple for New Castle and an older couple from Brisbane (they were so lovely and chatty). The Aussies out here are great, so lively, happy, bubbly etc. I imagine we are going to have a great laugh in Oz. The lunch was plentiful, offering green curry, rice, chicken, vegetables etc. It was delicious. We looked around the markets, carefully stepping over loose planks inches above the sea. Steve enjoyed watching the fish, some had illuminous noses.

After lunch we made our way back to land and drove to the elephant ranch where we experiences elephant trekking through the plantations. Climbing onto the elephant was a challenge and staying on was the most comfortable. However, it was an amazing experience, one we won’t forget. After we enjoyed Ox cart riding, an elephant show and learnt how they make rubber from trees.

This evening we decided to try out a Thai themed night in the hotel. It was a buffet style, so kept going up for more and more. The food was delicious, offering noodles, fresh seafood, meats, vegetables, salad and desserts. Today has been amazing. We have discovered the Thailand we came to see. It was full of challenges and adventure. Tonight we have to get to bed early as tomorrow we make our way to Koh Phi Phi Don.