Well, where did we go today? The clue is in the post title: ‘007’.
A second clue…
A third clue. Not that you need it?!
Answer: Khao Phing Kan (เขาพิงกัน) a.k.a. ‘James Bond Island’.
Khao Phing Kan or Ko Khao Phing Kan is an island in Thailand, in Phang Nga Bay northeast of Phuket. It was used as one of the settings for the James Bond film, The Man with the Golden Gun. Hence it commonly being referred to as ‘James Bond Island’.
Phang Nga Bay (อ่าวพังงา) is a 400 km2 bay in the Andaman Sea between the island of Phuket and the mainland of the Kra Isthmus of southern Thailand.
It is truly stunning!
Khao Phing Kan (James Bond Island) is beautiful in itself but it is very much a tourist honey trap.
Im sure that Francisco Scaramanga (Christopher Lee) and James Bond (Roger Moore) would not recognise it now if it wasn’t for that limestone pillar in the cove.
Our day was made special by the journey itself, visiting other islands, canoeing through caves and lolling on a beach straight from the set of Robinson Crusoe.
We got to Phang Nga Bay and got around and back by speedboat.
We were in the company of a number of people from different nations. We had lunch with a German man and his son and talked about a number of things, including the goal machine that is Harry Kane. We had a couple of beers with 3 Irish lads, having fun after attending a trade fair in China. They thanked us and said they’d enjoyed the craic. We did too, lads.
As said, the scenery was just stunning.
I have shared my fascination with trees before now (Day 7: Angkor Wat; Day 10: Hanoi and Day 12: Hanoi). The interest today was more about how they come to be. That is, come to be in the places we went to and around. How could a tiny little seed germinate, grow, and become some of these wondrous things? Take a look. What are the odds?
And then we came across this one…
Assorted others…
Ok, I hear you! Enough of trees.
We stopped at a ‘floating village’, (Koh Panyee) for lunch. It was in fact a village on stilts, something akin to Venice but not quite so grand. Or mobbed, for that matter.
The original settlers here came from Java in Indonesia, hence the mosque and the fact that 90% of villagers are Moslem. Formerly, village economy was based on fishing in the local waters and selling at market on the mainland. Now they rely on income generated from tourism, which is kind of sad, I think, but who am I to say, tourist as I was, today.
The community was in fact founded by just three seafaring fishing families from Java. They were looking for a good location with lots of fish. Once they found the place they let others know by hoisting a flag on top of the limestone rock top so others could join them. Over time, more people joined them and now 400 families are living there. Nowadays only the older generation in the village still speaks Bahasa Indonesia, the younger generation mainly speaks Thai. Fifty per cent of the stalls on Khao Phing Kan (James Bond Island) are from the women living on Koh Panyee.
We did come across a couple of oddities, ones I cannot recall seeing in Venice.
If I’d known, I’d have worn my Boro shirt! For the avoidance of doubt that’s Middlesbrough, the mighty Boro.
And maybe a football, too, for they had a ‘floating football pitch’ at the school.
On the way back, we grabbed our opportunity to sit at the front of the boat. It was quite a day!
Our visit was arranged through Andaman Leisure Phuket and led by Oak (our guide) and team. It was extremely well organised, relaxed and yet a full day, and I would highly recommend them.
A Dragon Apparent 
Leave a comment