PROOF OF PARADISE - SURROUNDING ISLANDS OF THAILAND

I set off in search of paradise and white sandy beaches.  If there is such a thing as paradise, I came as close to it as possible in the Phang Nga Bay area of Thailand.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, but here's what I did.  I flew into Phuket, spent one night on one of the beaches in Rawai, which is the Southernmost tip of the island, and the least trafficked by backpackers and drunken tourists.  I sat on a rock in the Adaman Sea, on what felt like my own private beach, and started writing a play.  It was a lovely time and I could've easily stayed longer, but the next day, I hopped on a water taxi that transports locals to the smaller islands, and stopped off at Koh Yao Noi, an as of yet, un-commercialized beach, not really traversed by tourists, with a few bungalow-style beach resorts for those who do venture this way.  This relatively untainted island is made up of little villages with a total population of 6,000, mostly Thai-Muslim families.  Yao Noi is proud to open its first Seven Eleven, which houses their very first ATM.  In order to get to this Seven Eleven, I had to bike 4km in the heat.  Credit cards are non-existent here.


I stayed at a place called Lom Lae, and the beach was literally on my doorstop.  It was low tide and the deserted beach had an atmospheric quality I couldn't resist but photograph.  

I stayed here two nights in a bungalow that doesn't even have central plumbing!  But my hut has a patio with a hammock and it is steps away from the sea.  Apparently, it's not so much a tourist destination b/c the tides get really low here, so it's not easy for swimming, but the view makes up for that!  I kept working on my play over some pad thai and spring rolls, and the next day, I chartered a boat to take me around the Phang Nga Bay area.  This was 360 degrees of spectacular!  Definitely the best day of my semester, perhaps of the whole time I've been in Asia.  This was paradise.  This was me on a ship, and nothing but the water, which was as if it was a reflection of the clear blue sky above, and these amazing rock formations.  Lots of little islands, and lagoons jutting out all around you!  And caves!  It was unlike anything I'd ever seen.  And it was that image that comes to my mind when I think of Paradise.  I can't believe there are places out there that are just natural beauty, uninhabited, for miles and miles and miles!


I swam to a cave, and I saw several islands, including (the one touristy place I went...) "James Bond Island" named for The Man With the Golden Gun, which was shot there... (that was a tourist trap...it wasn't until I got there that I even saw other people on the water.)  And I went to a Muslim fishing village (that's what they called it) and ate fresh crab, and it was absolutely delicious.  I paid something like $5 bucks for 3 crabs.  Not a fork in sight, just my bare hands.  I was so focused on that thing.  It was yummy.   Then I took a nice nap on the boat in the middle of the day.  And got ridiculously sunburned.

PHUKET

KOH YAO NOI

PHANG NGA BAY