Island Hopping in Thailand
The much-sought castaway island experience can be found a mere stone’s throw from Phuket. Sarah Fung loses herself in the understated pleasures of Koh Yao Noi. Photos by Malcolm Minns.
Between Krabi and Phuket, amongst the limestone karst spikes that rise up out of Phang Nga Bay, are two often-overlooked Thai islands. Known as Koh Yao Noi and Koh Yao Yai, these sleepy isles have miraculously evaded the rampant development that has claimed its more famous neighbors. The 5,000 or so inhabitants still practice their traditional livelihoods of fishing and rubber harvesting, and spend their days weaving fishing nets, building longtail boats or tending their trees and paddies. The more developed Yao Noi hosts a mere handful of guesthouses and just three higher-end resorts. Koh Yao Yai, the larger island, is more rugged still.
There are a couple of reasons why Koh Yao Noi has so far stayed successfully off the mass-tourism radar. One reason is that the predominantly teetotal Muslim population is fiercely proud of its island, and has no desire to turn its quiet roads into the next Patpong, complete with girly bars and Full Moon Party douchebags. The other reason is that the island lacks the pristine white sand beaches of its neighbors. At low tide, the water recedes to mud flats, and the beaches can be rocky. But if you are willing to travel a little further afield for your sand and sea, you’ll find yourself richly rewarded by the island’s other charms.
Getting Around
Most of the guest houses and resorts are located beside the beaches on the eastern side of the island, while mangroves line the western side. It’s almost essential that you navigate the island by scooter (or mountain bike, if you want to work a little harder). Fortunately, scooters aren’t the death trap they can be on backpacker-heavy islands. Koh Yao Noi’s quiet, gently-sloping roads mean that you can explore everything from the rubber plantations, mangrove forests, farms and villages to the jungle interior in relative safety and at your own pace—provided you don’t try and “off-road” some of the less well-developed paths.
Kayak the Coastline
If you really want some alone time, then the tiny island of Koh Nok is about half an hour from Koh Yao Noi’s western coast by kayak. Essentially a sand spit attached to a dinky little karst peak, this petite beach is where you’ll get to experience real seclusion; pack a lunch and make an afternoon of it. To get there, launch your kayak off the eastern coast and head south, hugging the coastline all the way down. Once you get to the bottom end of the island, Koh Nok is in plain sight.
If you’ve seen enough beaches, kayak is also an excellent way to explore the mangrove forest from nearby Thalane pier in Krabi. Covering some 30 square miles, these eerie waterways are home to a magnificent network of large mangrove trees and an abundance of wildlife, including monkeys, alligators, pythons, monitor lizards and tropical birds. Some tour operators call this the “Jurassic” tour—and for good reason. Limestone caves and enormous ferns rise up along the banks, animal calls ring out from deep within the thick of the jungle and the entire place is unnervingly still.
Phang Nga by Longtail
A 20-minute boat ride away is Koh Hong, a cluster of karst formations not unlike the famous Koh Phi-Phi, though far less visited. A longtail boat can take you into the interior of the cluster, where you’ll find a sheltered lagoon, surrounded on all sides by tree-covered rocky peaks. Once you’ve had a paddle there, the boat will take you back around the coast to a pristine, white sand cove, where you can snorkel, swim in the perfectly clear waters, and lie in the sun.