Island-hopping Thai style
There are Thai islands and there are Thai islands – not all of them are swamped with backpackers wanting to party. Steve McKenna tries out the best ones to escape to.
Ever since a fresh-faced Leonardo DiCaprio discovered The Beach, we’ve all been searching for – or at least daydreaming about – stumbling across our own (seemingly) idyllic southeast Asian paradise.
Let’s face it, though. Most of us don’t have the time, energy, or intrepidness. But that doesn’t mean we always have to stick to the tried, tested, and crowded. My partner, Celine, and I are going Thai island-hopping for a fortnight.
We’re over hardcore backpacking – and those fancooled $5-a-night bamboo shacks with cold showers – but we still yearn for adventure (as long as it comes with air-conditioned rooms, heated water, and wi-fi). We’ll skip old flames and the usual suspects – Ko Samui, PhaNgan, Phuket, and Phi-Phi – and hit places we’ve never been before. Chillaxation is a priority, so, after scouring maps, guidebooks, and the web, we target a cluster of relatively untrampled islands off the aweinspiring Andaman coast.
Ko Lipe
L-shaped Lipe is past its best. Too busy. Too commercialised. Spoilt. Or so say some travellers, who’ve loved and left Lipe, their mind’s eye on pastures purer. Yet it’s hard not to feel a wave of contentment as we take a languid, post-lunch stroll on Hat Chao Ley (or Sunrise Beach).
Reaching the wide, northern tip of this two-kilometre strip of powder white sand, we spot just six other people, all couples. One pair are dozing on an elephantsized sarong in the shadow of a lurching coconut tree. Another pair are wading into the calm, turquoise, bath-tub warm sea, and the other canoeing in the channel separating Lipe from the mountainous, densely jungled island of Adang (which, like Lipe, is part of Tarutao National Marine Park).
Adang, we’re told, is great for hiking, if you can summon the energy, which, truth be told in this muggy tropical climate, we can’t. Not today anyway, especially after the feast we’ve had: grilled squid with coconut sauce, white snapper with lime and chilli, sticky rice and green curry, and four papaya juices. The bill? About $35 – with free entertainment thrown in (courtesy of the owner’s toddler son, whose barebottomed paddling antics in the sea sends his mama and her customers into fits of laughter).
This joint – Coco Beach Bungalows – is among a string of family-run establishments and Padi-certified diving resorts on Sunrise’s slimmer, built-up southern end. Alfresco bars and resorts also hug Hat Pattaya (where most inter-island boats and long-tails anchor).
The biggest sprawl of development is between the two beaches. You’ll find everything you need – and plenty you don’t – on Walking Street, including 7-Eleven, pharmacies, massage haunts, souvenir shops, wi-fi hotspots, cafes, open-air bars, and ATMs (none of the other islands on our itinerary have any, incidentally).
You’ll probably hear Madame Yoohoo! before you see her. As she conjures her finger-lickingly good crepes, this wizened Walking Street stalwart sings: ‘‘Pancake! Pancake! Yoohoo! Yoohoo!’’, luring and amusing onlookers (who often record her on their smartphones and upload clips to YouTube).
Ko Muk
So rustic and blissfully serene is Muk – a jewel in the sleepy Trang archipelago, 70 kilometres north of Lipe – that it makes laidback Lipe feel a bit like, well, Phuket. A typical day on Muk (or Mook) goes something like this: you awake, possibly to birds tweeting and roosters crowing, just after sunrise. If you’re staying in the island’s east, like we are, breakfast at Sugar’s, where smiley staff serve good espresso, and mango, watermelon, and yoghurt by Hat Sivalai, a beach wedged between mangroves and a down-to-earth fishing village.
Then grab a bicycle – if your accommodation doesn’t have any, they’ll arrange something (Muslim-majority Muk is a closeknit place, everyone knows everyone). It’ll take about 15 minutes to pedal across the island (there’s one moderately steep hill, and beware children on bicycles and scooters, zipping to school). Park up beneath the giant palm trees at Charlie Beach Resort, and kayak – or snorkel – through the serene jade waters that surround an island characterised by its soaring forested peaks (such is their Jurassic Park-like quality, you half-imagine pterodactyls flying out of them).
Paddle over to Tham Morakot (Emerald Cave). Apparently pirates used to hoard their treasure in this once-secret tunnel, which leads to a gorgeous, swimmable lagoon. You won’t have it to yourself (especially in high season – November to April – it’s a popular stop for boat tours from the larger islands). Return to Muk, cycle some more, or lounge on scenic Charlie Beach (Hat Farang). When the sky pinkens, scale up to the beach’s rickety Ko Yao Viewpoint bar for ice-cool Chang beers (or fruit juices), and a (normally) sublime sunset.
Muk isn’t short of charming little eateries. We have huge, phenomenal portions of Pha Nang chicken curry (a thick, salty, and sweet red curry with a nutty peanut flavour) at Hilltop Restaurant, and spicy squid salads at Team restaurant. It’s a coconut’s throw from Farmville, a bar, eatery, and shop with a surprisingly cool selection of T-shirts and caps (don’t expect ‘‘Same Same But Different’’ singlets).
Ko Ngai
Touring Thailand’s Andaman coast, you lose count of the number of vegetation-cloaked karst (limestone) outcrops jutting from the water, looking like potential Bond villain lairs.