Phuket Day 3: Cruising Phang Nga Bay
Trip Start
Oct 15, 2009
1
9
14
Trip End
Oct 30, 2009
Where I stayed
Residents Resorts & Villas
Phuket, Thailand
Saturday, October 24, 2009
The morning was overcast but the skies cleared up in the afternoon. Our guide, Johny (all the guides had nicknames to make it easier on the English speaking tourists), pulled down a map of the Bay and explained that we would visit four island including the famous Ko Tapu (James Bond Island). At two of our stops, we disembarked from the boat and boarded canoes...each with a member of the crew steering. It would become obvious why they didn't want the tourists steering their own canoes. The itinerary would take us through some caves with very low clearance and narrow waterways. We were almost laying flat and it was basically pitch black. We couldn't figure out how the guides were able to get through the abyss without hitting their heads on the sharp stalactite rock formations. On the other side of the caves were lagoons, calm bodies of water completely surrounded by steep cliffs.
We canoed for about 30 minutes at each of our first two stops. We were served a buffet lunch on board en route to James Bond Island. After 30 minutes, we reached the dock and stepped onto the island that became famous following the 1974 filming of The Man With the Golden Gun. Everyone took turns getting photos in front of Ko Tapu, including the illusion of holding the rock formation in the palm of your hand. It was very cool to finally see the famous rock formation and at the same time it was dwarfed by the surrounding cliffs. We did some quick souvernir shopping and were quite disappointed by the lack of options. Seemed every stall had the almost the exact same wares for sale. We grabbed a few magnets and went back to the dock. One more 007 locale to check off the list.
Our last stop was near a secluded beach where they dropped anchor and let everyone either canoe on their own or swim near the boat. We opted to take the canoe for a spin. The return trip was about 60 minutes. Johny and the crew decided to go the extra mile by singing, dancing one by one and then inviting the crowd to join in. They definitely were great guides and went out of their way to make sure everyone enjoyed the tour.
When we got back, we decided to see if we could find a copy of The Man With The Golden Gun so we could see on film what we had just seen with our own eyes. Unfortunately, neither the video store nor Tesco had what we were looking for. We opted for the Black Cat Restaurant, recommended by our host at the villa. Their menu offered a variety of Thai and seafood as well as pizza, sandwiches and western food. I decided to try a fusion of east / west and ordered a Thai pizza. Quite a tasty sauce and a good spice level. Buddy was our server and aside from explaining menu items and bringing the food, he also offered the services of a driver if we needed to get around on the island. He said his driver's nickname was Mr. Bum! Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to meet Mr Bum, but we hope it wasn't English speakers that came up with that name for him.
