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Backpackers Hostel Story |
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Koh Yao
Story By: Jamie Monk
We have been meaning to take
a trip to Koh Yao for years,
but you know how it is, when
you live in a place you keep
putting it off in favor of
going shopping or having a
lazy day at home. I had a
couple of weeks holiday in
April and with my parents
visiting from the UK, we
made an effort to be active.
Too active - by the end of
the holiday I needed a
holiday! Koh Yao was one of
the many places we visited -
some are in the blog
already, others may appear
later.
Koh Yao consists of 2 main
islands - Koh Yao Yai (Big)
and Koh Yao Noi (Small). The
small island has the main
population, though you can
also visit the bigger
island. Koh Yao Yai is big -
about the same size as Koh
Lanta. Koh Yao Noi is less
than half that size, but
anyway too big to really
explore on a day trip with
my parents and 2 kids. One
day we'll go back again and
leave the kids with my
wife's mother. You can rent
a motorbike on the island
for just 200 Baht a day.

The ferry to Koh Yao Noi
leaves from Bang Rong, on
the NE coast of Phuket.
Coming from the south on the
main airport road, turn
right at the Heroines
monument, and drive another
10km or so. You pass the
entrance to Bang Pae on the
left and after another few
km come to the Bang Rong
road on the right. Ferry
departs at 8am, 9:30am,
11am. The last one back to
Phuket is 4pm. If you want a
full day, start early! We
thought there was a 10am
ferry, arrived before 10am
and thus had a 1 hour wait.
Luckily, there is a small
restaurant there floating in
the mangroves where we have
eaten before. The ferry is
not huge. An oversized
longtail with a roof. Along
with about 30 people were
several motorbikes.
Other
large baggage was loaded on
the roof. Last year one of
these ferries sank in rough
water during a sudden storm
due to overloading. I
noticed that a
uniformed officer (coast
guard?) was on hand to make
sure everyone had a life
vest... The ride to Koh Yao
Noi took about an hour. The
scenery is great on the east
coast of Phuket. Koh Yao is
on the edge of Phang Nga Bay
and you can see some of the
limestone rock formations
across the sea. It was a
sunny old day. We sat
outside with the motorbikes
(all seats inside were
taken, see below). Aside
from us, there was an
English couple heading over
for a day trip. They were
Phuket fans and (as we do)
enjoyed renting a bike and
exploring the back roads.
Pictures on the ferry below:
Once
there, we found several tuk
tuks on the pier ready to
take people around the
island. We chose the most
beat up looking one, and
agreed a 200 Baht fee to
take us to a beach. We were
not fussed where exactly,
just A beach where the kids
could dig in the sand.
Stopping off at the islands
7-11 for a drink, we rattled
along the tidy road through
the village and then through
the fields and trees until
we reached the shoreline on
the east side of Koh Yao Noi
with views over towards the
islands and limestone
formations to the North of
Krabi. Along this coast
there are several small
resorts such as Lom Lae
Beach Resort, Sabai Corner
etc.. We found a stretch of
beach. Nobody else there.
Nice beach although the tide
was quite low and there were
rocks just under the water,
making it hard to even go
for a paddle. What is
important here is the peace
and quiet. Just a small dirt
road. Saw a handful of
vehicles in the few hours we
were there, and had a
kilometer of beach to
ourselves. Kids played in
the sand. We walked along
the beach picking up shells.
The view across the sea was
great, looking across to
some small islands such as
Koh Hong, just to the NW of
Railey beach (Krabi).
We
ate some decent food at the
Lom Lae resort (see link
below), where they didn't
seem to have any guests for
their bungalows. They were
charging 1500 Baht, though I
think low season would be
much cheaper, and this coast
is protected from the SW
winds during the summer,
meaning no big waves on the
beach, so would be a decent
place to stay in low season.
They were friendly folk and
gave us the key to a
bathroom in the resort so we
could shower. Too soon time
to leave and our rattly tuk
tuk returned. Rattling back
to the ferry (not so crowded
this time), and back to big
bad Phuket. Koh Yao is a
great get away even for just
a few hours. We'll be
back...
ORIGINAL source, which is
Jamie's Phuket Blog -
http://jamie-monk.blogspot.com/ |
Miracle-vision on Koh Yao
Noi
Story by Rolf Potts

Just over a month ago, there
was a miracle on Koh Yao Noi,
an island one hour east of
Phuket in Thailand's
Phang-Nga Bay. As the story
goes, a blind man from the
mainland visited Koh Yao Noi,
bathed in a freshwater
spring on one of the tidal
flats and suddenly found his
vision restored. Word has
spread, and now the daily
ferries to Koh Yao (which
has never been much of a
tourist destination) are
full of hopeful Thai seekers
looking to get a piece the
of the miracle. A couple
weeks ago, I was one of
those seekers.
Actually, I didn't go to Koh
Yao Noi to get healed, but
to research an unrelated
magazine story. I did,
however, manage to learn a
lesson about vision -- not
from the tidal-flat spring
(though I did bathe there),
but from the Thai Muslim
fishermen who live on the
island. Indeed, when I went
out fishing with these
folks, I was amazed by their
ability to spot wildlife in
the islands of the bay.
Where I saw tangled jungle
and rocky shoreline, the
fishermen saw gibbons,
hornbills, sea eagles, fruit
bats, and the telltale
tracks of monitor lizards. I
was raised by a biologist --
and I've been living near
the Thai rainforest off and
on for the last couple years
-- but it still took me
upwards of ten minutes to
spot what the fishermen
could see in an instant.
The subject of vision has
been in the news of late,
primarily in a
well-circulated story about
how video games have been
found to improve one's
visual skills. Perhaps there
is some validity to this,
but I think that true vision
is simply a matter of what
you condition yourself to
see. For an American
suburban kid, it's a video
game bad-guy jumping out
from nowhere; for a Thai
Muslim fisherman, it's the
intricate details of the
natural world upon which
your survival depends. I'd
like to think, of course,
that -- after years of
Backpackers Hostel -- my vision is
closer to that of the
fisherman, but I'd reckon my
eyes still have a suburban
American tint. After all, I
may see the jungle every day
outside my window, but my
survival still depends on
ATMs and market stalls.
Nevertheless, I have
resolved to keep exercising
my eyeballs as I Backpackers Hostel --
to look for patterns in the
wilderness as well as the
city. After all, the true
miracle of vision is often
the simple ability to spot
what's right in front of
your eyes.
|
Thai Sea Village Fishes for
Tourists, Traditionally
By Rolf Potts, National
Geographic Backpackers Hosteler
Koh
Yao Noi, Thailand
Cruising Phangnga Bay with a
sun-browned Thai fisherman,
Dusit Buttree, it's hard to
believe that we're just an
hour from some of the
biggest mass-tourism
destinations in Thailand.
Unlike nearby Phuket, with
its souvenir vendors and
go-go bars, Buttree's home
island of Koh Yao Noi
retains its fishing villages
and mangrove forests.
Gibbons still haunt the
outlying islands here, sea
eagles soar in the skies,
and the seas yield enough
fish to give Buttree's
family a stable income.
It nearly wasn't this way.
Just over a decade ago,
trawlers from the mainland
were illegally overfishing
these waters, and mass
tourism from Phuket
threatened to disrupt the
cultural traditions of Koh
Yao Noi's 4,500 mostly
Muslim residents. Afraid of
being overwhelmed by
outsiders, villagers sought
the help of the Responsible
Ecological Social Tours
project (REST), a
Bangkok-based group that
works with locals to develop
community-based tourism,
promote conservation, and
develop a sustainable
economy.
REST encouraged the Koh Yao
Noi villagers to organize
tour programs, host visitors
in their homes, and share
with them their traditional
way of life. Buttree isn't
just taking me on a tour of
Phangnga Bay, after all—he's
also fishing for his day's
keep. He can host tourists
on his own terms, while I
can experience a slice of
Thai life in a way that no
beach resort could provide.
What's more, the REST
arrangement has instilled
Koh Yao Noi villagers with a
sense of confidence and
grassroots power that
benefits the community long
after tourists have gone
home.
"We welcome our visitors
like cousins," Buttree tells
me as he hauls in his nets.
"When they go home, our
village has a face to the
rest of Thailand and the
rest of the world. That
helps us resist those who
want to overfish our waters
and develop our island for
their own interests."
Thanks to its empowered
community, Koh Yao Noi
should be able to offer
visitors an authentic Thai
Backpackers Hostel experience for years
to come.
That night, we return to
Buttree's stilted wood
house, where his wife,
Busaba, prepares a sumptuous
dinner of blue crab, red
snapper, and lobsterlike
mantis shrimp. As I dig in,
I tell Buttree this is the
freshest seafood I've ever
eaten. I should know: I
watched him catch it.
If you're in Phuket, you can
take one of the daily boats
to Koh Yao Noi from the Bang
Rong Pier on Phuket's
northeast coast. |
Thailand: Ko Yao -- the
islands you've been looking
for
If you're looking for
trackless forest and untamed
wilderness, the best advice
is usually to head to
northern Thailand, or better
yet, northern Laos. But just
an hour away from Phuket,
lie two islands where KFC
has yet to even think of
opening up its doors, where
dirt roads turn unexpectedly
into cow paths before being
engulfed in forests of wild
coconut palms and mangroves,
where tourism is still an
after thought, and where the
clamorous din of commerce is
nowhere to be heard. Welcome
to the Ko Yao islands.
Ko Yao Noi and
Ko Yao Yai (Little Long
Island and Big Long Island)
remain one of the last
refuges for Backpackers Hostellers who
kick it 'old school'. While
the vast majority of
Backpackers Hostellers consider these
islands to be too far out of
the way, we think Ko Yao Noi
and Ko Yao Yai just about
top the list of places you
absolutely positively must
visit during your trip to
Thailand. To those who feel
that their wanderlust has
been thwarted by the islands
and beaches elsewher, listen
up, this is where you've
been looking for.
The Ko Yao Islands have been
spared until now for a few
simple reasons. For one
thing, the beaches aren't as
perfect as they are on the
Andaman side of Phuket -- at
low tide, they full of rocks
and no good for swimming.
The Thais here are observant
Muslims, and while there is
certainly no separatist
violence, they aren't quick
to give up their land and
their ideals to Western
encroachment either. Alcohol
consumption is still frowned
upon in most restaurants --
at least those not oriented
towards tourists, of which
there are precious few.
Finally, the low-quality of
the eastern beaches of
Phuket Island have pushed
developed west and to the
north, not to the east.

The Yao islands are
technically part of Phang
Nga province and while
accessible by boat from both
Krabi and Phang Nga, the
cheapest, easiest way to get
there if from the eastern
ports on Phuket Island --
with those showing up
looking for girlie bars and
night clubs quickly put on
the next boat going back to
Phuket. A trip is taken on a
public ferry, nothing like
the spiffy cruisers that ply
their way daily to Phi Phi,
and at a fraction of the
price. The pier on Ko Yao
Noi is not crowded with
shops, touts, nor tuk-tuk
drivers waiting to nab
tourists the minute they
step off the boat. In fact,
it's a long ride to the
centre of town. Once there,
it's hard to believe this is
the 'centre,' but this is
where they put the lone
7-eleven two years ago, so
it must be the centre.
Otherwise, a few Thai shops
and stalls, only one
centrally-located guest
house, and one
bar/restaurant for expats
and tourists to hang out in.
Ko Yao Noi, to date, has
hosted most of the
guesthouses and resorts,
which embodies the state of
transition in which the
Island now finds itself. For
the most part, the bungalows
and guest houses here seem
to be more oriented towards
enjoying quality of life
rather than quantity of
income. Those 'in the know'
make their way here
faithfully, mostly in high
season, and stay for the
whole summer. That's been
enough to keep the local
tourist business afloat, and
few here want that to ever
change.

True, the Ko Yao Island
Resort has been operating
for a while, with its
unique, open-plan luxury
bungalows, but the owners
have been working hard to
fly below the radar, and
keep it special. There's one
true luxury resort, The
Paradise, in an stunning
location amid limestone
cliffs on the northern tip
of the Island. But most of
the guests there arrive and
depart by boat, and rarely
see the rest of the island.
Investors may own the patch
of land upon which the
resort sits, but the jungle
still has possession of the
six kilometre dirt road
leading overland towards it
-- treacherous hills,
creased by deep runnels and
pocked with mires of mud big
enough to swallow a tuk-tuk
whole. Up until now, in the
battle between the Island
and its would-be developers,
the island has been winning.
This would seem to be even
more true of Ko Yao Yai,
which despite its size, has
far fewer places to stay.
The bungalow operations
around the Lohjak pier are
so scraggly and misbegotten,
it's hard to believe some of
them are even in open for
business. The Yao Yai Island
Resort, with its collection
of modest thatch bungalows
giving on to the beach, has
been the only prime
destination for foreign
tourists.
But all this is about to
change. The Evason is
undertaking a huge project
on Ko Yao Noi, and this
time, between the site and
the town, there's no buffer
of jungle. As many as eight
luxury resorts are set to be
built on Ko Yao Yai in the
next two years. New boat
departures are already being
added to the ferry schedule
in preparation for the
construction phase and the
subsequent boom in tourism.
The Koh Yao Islands
represent something of a
final frontier, and the rail
road is a comin'.
Hopefully the lessons of Ko
Phi Phi and Patong have been
learned, and the tourist
industry will work with the
local population to preserve
its character and way of
life. Not to mention its
dignity. But just in case
that doesn't happen, you
better head here now before
it's too late. |
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