We were collected from Phang-Nga Guest House by utility vehicle and transported our luggage to the Sayan Tours shop for safe keeping while we were on a tour. With the backpacks safely stowed we jumped into the back of the ute and travelled to the jetty. On the way I removed my Tilley hat for fear of losing it off the back of the ute. Simultaneously I warned Ian to hang on to his, right before the wind lifted it from his head and out the back of the truck! I leaped after it, being closest to the rear, and waited for it to appear in the road. It didn't. As I leaned over the back of the ute I was quite surprised to see it had wedged itself between the rear bumper and the vehicle. I returned it to Ian who then held onto it until we came to rest at the jetty. We were surprised to find Scott and Joanne on the same tour, a couple we met on the ferry out to Pulau Perhentian Besar.
We settled into a long tail boat and set off to explore the labrynthine river network of Phang-Nga Bay. The riverbanks were busy with mangroves and the river was very silty.
We reached Tham Lod, a cave in Takua Thung, which is high enough above water level to allow the long tail boats to pass through. It was full of stalactites which the light reflected as superb colours of reds and greens. Then we turned round and passed through it again before sighting Kao Matju which from a distance resembles a poodle. We had a bit of a James Bond moment as another long tail boat passed us by in the narrow channel! By this time we had begun to encounter other long tail boats full of tourists.
We passed through another cave to exit the labrynthine rivers, Talu cave, and progressed to Kao Pingkan in the scorching sunlight, Ian exposing his legs and feet to the suns rays now he is susceptible to tanning. As we approached Kao Pingkan Ian identified Kao Tapoo from a distance, it being better well known as James Bond Island since it featured in the film 'The Man With The Golden Gun'. It looked much smaller than all of us expected as we all recalled it being rather large in the film. We landed at Kao Pingkan and clambered up some steps to arrive at the beach on which James Bond beached his small aircraft during the film. This is now completely littered with Thai people trying to sell souvenirs to many tourists. Still, it was nice to see it in reality.
Our next stop was at another cave. To reach it we passed by Koh Hong which is an island creating a gateway to a beautiful peaceful lagoon. There were plenty of tourists in this area being forced to lay down in kayaks while their guides squeezed them through caves practically touching their noses! Not for the claustrophobic! When we reached Koh Phanak we alighted the long tail boat and walked through a cave which as it got shorter and shorter we had to stoop further and further, like a scene from 'Alice in Wonderland'. The other side of the cave was like a tranquil lagoon, much more turquoise in colour than elsewhere in Phang-Nga Bay. We could see small fish and flutemouths swimming around.
Lunch was held on a murky little beach beside mucky looking water which was a huge disappointment. The picture postcard the guides showed us at which we would have lunch was the deal clincher that made us agree to a full day tour. We had expected to swim here, in the beautiful clear waters at the golden sandy beach, but it was a far cry from the picture we saw so chose not to swim. Had we known it would be so mucky we would have resigned to a half day tour instead. We spent a couple of hours here which was dull and far too long.
On our return to the jetty we made a visit to Koh Panyee, a floating Muslim fishing village. Here we were greeted by numerous souvenir stalls and were once again reminded of our tourist status. Many people tried to sell us crafts and t-shirts. Still we are not interested. At the far end of the village a group of men asked us if we were American to which we replied 'no'. 'Are you English?' they asked. 'Yes,' we replied. 'Ah, Tony Blair. He's no good' was the response. Unwilling to be brought into a discussion about the suitability and actions of our Prime Minister we acknowledged their comments and moved on. [Editors Note: it wasn't until we arrived in Patong Beach three days later that we learned the commencement of the war in Irag was the previous day to our visit to the fishing village and the relevance of these comments].
We didn't feel particularly welcome at the village and we equally didn't approve of their keeping fish eagles in small cages, however we kept our opinions to ourselves and waited for the boat to depart.
When we left Koh Panyee we bypassed Koh Khien which has historical drawings painted on it which date back to at three thousand years. It was very pretty in Phang-Nga Bay.
Back at the jetty we noticed the great speed at which the river was travelling, certainly faster than the flow of the Zambezi river in Zambia at 6 kph! It was still exceptionally silty too. We leaped into the back of the ute and hanging on to our hats raced back to Phang-Nga where we collected our luggage from the Sayan Tours office and awaited our bus to Phuket.
The Thai news programme was broadcasting news about Iraq but we couldn't ascertain what had happened. A bus arrived going to Phuket but it was allegedly full so we waited another 30 minutes for the next one. On instruction we moved towards the bus, bought two TBT 65 tickets to Phuket and loaded our baggage into the stowage. We tried to get onto the already overcrowded bus and were told, by signage, to squeeze ourselves down the bus. Laden with other bags and cameras and drinks and stinking worse than skunks we did as instructed with little assistance. Then everyone was forced back some more to allow room for some more passengers. I was so tired and hot and my feet already ached from the short standing. Ian was holding onto the overhead rack which meant that I was being subjected to his ripe underarms too which didn't help my situation much. We remained like this for over an hour which wasn't pleasant. Eventually people started disembarking and an asian chap made room for me on his seat so there were three of us sat across two seats. He then took the opportunity to speak some English to me and was keen to tell me about his daughter who is studying at Liverpool university. What a small world, I thought, indicating to him that Ian grew up in Liverpool. He also told me that there are many big European women who visit Thailand but I was small, I was the size of a Thai woman, which I took to be a compliment. He was telling me of his opinion that English and Swiss people are good, but Italian and Germans are no good. Lucky for me then that I am English!
Arriving at Phuket bus terminal he wished me luck and said goodbye. Ian and I collected our backpacks and unbeknownst as to where we might be staying we headed straight for beer, ignoring the chap who was persistently following us down the road with an open map...
Having perused the Lonely Planet guide over beer, again accompanied by geckos, we agreed to a taxi driver taking us to Patong Beach and finding us a room for less than TBT 1,000. We also explained that we wanted to find out about some diving trips. He killed two birds with one stone, took us over the 'big mountain' to Patong Beach, locking the car as we reached and stopped at traffic lights in Phuket, and stopped at a tourist information come guesthouse place. Ian left the arranging in my capable hands so on investigating diving liveaboards we agreed to a three day, two night trip to the Similan Islands on which we will do eleven dives and the air conditioned room with hot water shower would cost us TBT 700 for the night. We settled into Chong Ko Guesthouse after paying for our dive trip, a huge TBT 24,000! It was 21:00 by this time so we went straight out for some dinner and immediately consumed two jugs of beer between us.
In the middle of our meal I ventured into the still open dive shop and tipsily struck a deal whereby I got an underwater shaker and a tank banger for seventy five per cent of the selling price. It was either that or no sale as I only had TBT 1,000 on me and I was adamant I would achieve my goal. The closing words from the friendly guy at West Coast Divers was 'you don't need a receipt.' 'Thanks!' I acknowledged as I left the shop and returned to my beer. Ian had sent me in there with TBT 1,000 telling me to buy a shaker and a banger with it. When I returned with my bag he assumed I'd just bought the shaker and was a little bit pleased when I later presented him with a bright green banger.
Quite drunk I fell asleep on reaching our room at the guesthouse, leaving Ian to write his journal.
Ian had burned his legs in the sun during our tour of Phang-Nga Bay.
Copyright 2003 Helen Fuller. All rights reserved.