Thai islands

Trang and the islands

Firstly, sorry (not sorry) for my gratuitous, gloating pics of beaches.

Statue in Trang

We arrived in Trang after an uneventful flight from Bangkok and soon found our hotel for the night. Trang is a province south of the better known Krabi but we wanted somewhere less busy but just as beautiful. Trang city itself was small and we had a few hours to explore the cute night market which sold mainly food and other bits and pieces like hairbands, shoes and clothing. We didn’t have a meal, we just picked on the street food which was perfect. Chicken skewers, seafood salad, pad thai, coconut jelly, mango and sticky rice, sweet pancakes. I am beginning to think my life revolves around food and drink.

Koh Muk

The next day we were picked up and taken to the pier to get the longtail boat to Koh Mook, or Koh Muk. After maybe half an hour we arrived at the island. This is the largest of the more local islands, with a sizeable village population and a number of resorts, bars and restaurants. Saying that, the island was not heaving with tourists by any means, and we were staying on the less touristy side of the island, close to Sivalai beach, rather than Charlie Beach or Farang Beach (which means foreigner beach) which seemed to be much more popular. We made the right choice for us as we were in the more traditional village part of the island, and our beach was beautiful with white sand like icing sugar. Our bungalow (Lucky Bungalow) was great, just what we needed with plenty of space to hang our clothes up to dry, a fridge and a big bathroom.

The lady that worked there had a shop next door, where she lived with her family and as we passed one day, I noticed she had a sewing machine. We’ve been using these zip up packing cubes for our clothes and one of mine had burst as I am carrying too much stuff. I asked her if she would sew it up for me which she did, and wouldn’t accept any payment for it. The people there were so friendly, and went out of their way to help us. All of the locals had several jobs; our first taxi driver worked in the café where we stopped for lunch on the first day, and he also worked in the shop where I topped up my phone credit. Island life!

At 3pm on the first day we were caught in torrential rain on the beach and took shelter underneath a tree where Baby D amused himself on the swing. We took a taxi (tuk-tuk with a pillion) to the other beach which was maybe a bit more beautiful as there were fewer fishing boats, but there were more tourists. Later on we found a restaurant selling barbecued seafood and we had squid, prawns and barracuda, all of which was super fresh and tasty. 

Our second day on the island and we had booked to go to Emerald Cave; the official name is Morakot Cave. We were in two minds about going, mainly because I didn’t want my new tattoo to get wet! We were also worried about whether we should risk taking a camera, as we would need to swim in darkness through the cave which was about 80m in length, and 12m deep at high tide. We decided it wasn’t to be missed and we weren’t likely to go back there any time soon, so we should do it. 

 

As you swim through the cave you emerge into a tiny beach, completely secluded and hidden. This cave was discovered by locals and used by pirates to store their wares. The cave is called Emerald Cave because at certain parts of the day, the sun shines through the tunnel and the walls almost glow green. We were a bit early to see that, but the colour of the water when we swam back through was exactly that colour.

We went first thing in the morning because we had heard that hundreds and hundreds of tourists flocked there on a daily basis. That information wasn’t wrong either; there were about 8 to 15 people there with us, and we stayed for around 45 minutes. But when we exited the mouth of the tunnel, there were around 50 people connected to a rope going in. 

The sun hits the small beach around 1.30pm so we didn’t sunbathe as it was much earlier than that, and the beach was shady, but we got chatting to a couple from Wales who offered to send us some pics as we hadn’t taken the camera. Everyone else had taken theirs though, as they had been told they could put their cameras or phones in a floating box or in a bag tied to a rubber ring, but somehow we missed that memo! As luck would have it, our new friends just so happened to be professional photographers! 

I managed to swim all the way through using one arm and keeping my new tattoo out of the water, so no damage there either. It was a beautiful place and well worth the trip. We hired our own longboat and guide and it cost us 800 baht for both of us, from our side of the island. From Charlie beach I think it’s cheaper as it is much closer, and I think people can even kayak across from there. It is possible to take a small kayak or raft through the tunnel but only really at low tide. We did see a couple of people do it but they risk banging their heads any other time and I think at high tide it’s a no-no. We were also told that later on in the day, there are guards that are free to charge an entry fee of 200 baht per person because the cave is part of the national park. We were advised that this is less likely to happen first thing in the morning. (We were on the boat at about 8am, and at the cave by about 8.30am. We left about 9.15am).

That afternoon we relaxed on the deserted beach near our bungalow, watching the tide go out in the afternoon, uncovering hundreds of crabs and sea life. I was like a 7 year old again, crabbing and collecting shells. It was amazing to hear the crabs clicking away as they reclaimed the beach from the tourists. 

Koh Ngai 

We took a speedboat over to Koh Ngai and relaxed for a few hours. There was not loads to do here but it was idyllic. We were a bit worried about the resort we’d booked as I did it just as I was falling asleep a few nights before and it had no reviews. I would never normally book without reading a few reviews but I thought oh well, it’s only 2 nights. When the boatman didn’t know where it was, and it was obvious that the islanders hadn’t heard of it, I started to worry a bit. Five minutes later our fears were allayed as we arrived at our bungalow which was set in lovely gardens, right beside the beach. I think we were the only guests, so we had the airy, bright resort pretty much to ourselves. The only annoyance was that it had no wifi. We think it was a new resort, hence why no reviews, or no one had heard of it – and probably why there was no wifi, but I would definitely stay there again. The staff were friendly but didn’t intrude, food was good and reasonably priced, and it had a little bar which seemed to be open later than most other places (after 10pm!) 

 

We caught up with our pals we’d met at Emerald Cave for drinks and dinner, who had also just arrived on Koh Ngai. We were staying about halfway down the east side and Sacha and Andy were right at the top so we walked up the beach to meet them. By the time we went back, five hours later, there was no beach to walk on as the tide was in so we took the path alongside the beach which after a few drinks was a bit trippy. Luckily Andy lent us a torch otherwise we would have ended up swimming home. We found a bar that had a lonely looking guitar and microphone and Baby D decided to entertain the last few customers…who left about a minute later thankfully. He is shall we say, a little bit rusty, especially after a few beers although he sounded better and better to me after another pina colada.

Baby D woke up with a bit of a sore head and in a wild panic about the whereabouts of his phone. He pulled some shorts on and retraced his steps along the path we took home last night to look for it. I followed 10 minutes behind and walked for about a kilometre before heading back to let Baby D back in. After a futile search, I took another look in his bag, although he had already checked there. What did I find? The phone. Lucky boy.

After breakfast we thought we would check out the south of the island. There are two other beaches on Koh Ngai so we wandered down thinking we may have to cut inland before heading back out. A nice stroll to clear our heads. We should probably do our research a bit better before we venture out next time. We ended up trekking through the jungle for half an hour – at some points we had to use a rope to climb, and in flipflops going up is no easy task. Going down is even harder when the sweat is pouring off you and your feet are sliding all over the place because of it! 

 

The beach, when we finally arrived, was lovely, and very quiet. Obviously a lot of people are put off because of the hike and there is a perfectly good beach which is more accessible. Coming back was easier, probably because we knew what to expect and how long it would take. On the way in we saw what I had first thought was a crocodile, but actually turned out to be a huge monitor lizard. Unfortunately he was shy so we didn’t get a photo, but on the way back we spied his little brother who was a bit more forthcoming. 

Koh Kradan

Woke up early after a late night last night with Sacha and Andy where we ended up having a few late drinks (late for this island anyway, when everyone is in bed by 10pm) in the bar that Baby D and I had found last night, run by My Miyagi’s longhaired younger brother who was a Jim Morrison superfan. Hence the name of the bar being ‘Light my fire’.  We left Sacha and Andy on Koh Ngai and headed off to Koh Kradan. The weather had taken a turn for the worse and it actually ended up being a full on storm. We had to sit in for most of the day so I used my time wisely and finally finished typing up the blog and did a few hours work. The weather improved for an hour so we took a walk down the beach after lunch. Once we had walked the full length of the beach, which is about 2km long on Kradan, we turned round to head back and the heavens opened. Speed walking up the beach is not easy. There are not that many resorts on this island, and most of them are further up so we couldn’t even stop for shelter. 

The place we stayed in was quite expensive and well over our budget, but it had good reviews and as there weren’t many resorts on the island that would suit us (cheap, available, beach-front, private bathroom) we pushed the boat out and decided to go with it. From what I’d read, Kradan was coming out as the nicest of these three islands, and our hotel was coming out as the best out of the ones we’d picked on the islands. 

Yeah, so I need to learn to lower my expectations then I won’t be disappointed. 

Fair enough, the weather didn’t help, but the beach on Kradan at high tide was about a metre wide and the resorts didn’t do much to sweep up the debris and litter like they did every morning on the other islands. There were a lot of low hanging trees on the beach so a lot of it was shady. Our resort was really popular (busy) and a bit cramped so it felt quite claustrophobic. There were flies and ants everywhere which made me question how clean it was. The actual cabin we stayed in was quite cute, small but when you just want somewhere to sleep and dump your gear for a couple of days, size doesn’t matter. The bathroom was interesting, only half of it had a roof; the shower part had a net which was cool, but the drainage was through stones, not a plug, so I wonder how clean that was – those stones were pretty hairy. Only one socket in the room was not good enough either. At double the price of the other resorts we stayed at on Koh Muk and Koh Ngai, it was a rip-off. 

I was not that impressed with the island either; it is a gorgeous tropical island and if we had gone there first I would have loved it I’m sure, but having been to 2 much nicer islands, and finishing our island hop there, it was a let-down. I had been holding off on getting a pedicure and massage since Bangkok, and everywhere we’ve been has had an abundance of massage places -  except here. There goes that idea, we’re leaving early tomorrow to go to Myanmar. 

#thailand #trang #kohkradan #kohmuk #kohngai #emeraldcavethailand