The final trip of my week in Phuket was to head out to Phang Nga Bay. The reason? I was desperate to see James Bond Island. It’s one of the most popular tourist attractions in the area, but having been such a huge James Bond fan back in my early years I knew I had to go there.
I got a pretty good deal on a package trip (booked on the roadside in Patong). I was incredibly fortunate to make the tour though – a mistake my end meant I’d got my days mixed up and it was only drunkenly fooling around at about 3am the night before that I realised my mistake!
The first stop on our trip was at Suwankuha Temple (Monkey Temple). I’ll be honest … I found this a bit boring. I suppose I was pretty templed out still from the amazing Bangkok and Chiang Mai. A good chance to grab a coffee however. After this we boarded longtail boats and started heading out into Phang Nga Bay. From a small river, this quickly becomes an awe dropping sight with turquoise sea and beautiful islands aplenty.
First stop was for lunch at Ko Panyee, which is a Muslim floating fishing village. Lunch was good. Not an awful lot of time to explore sadly – lots of touristy fare shops. Apparently they have a floating football pitch – but I missed that. Next up was James Bond Island. It’s absolutely beautiful, tiny … and completely crowded with tourists! Oh, it must be fantastic to hire a private boat and be there for sunrise or sunset … the middle of the day is still wonderful, just busy!
Second stop was at Talu Island for some sea kayaking. This was really relaxing and I wish I’d had my Sunco to hand to take some shots and grab some video footage. The ones I did grab were from the boat as we were leaving. The kayaks actually take you into the interior of the island (under the limestone cliffs) where it’s eerily quiet and peaceful. I loved it.
After this I had just a couple of days left in Patong and then would begin the long journey home (via a couple of mad days in Pattaya which there is no chance of me blogging about!).
There’s only one more post from this 2015 trip to come, which will be a few words about my time in Patong. Possibly one of my most favourite places on Earth!
