Awakening l still felt some queasiness but l felt the best l had for quite a few days. As we drew back the curtains, we saw a not so sunny day, with dark clouds and light drizzle upon us. We again woke to the alarm as we had to get a feed for breaky and be ready in the foyer for pick up by 7:30am. Again, even though the weather didn't seem in our favour, we were all pretty excited for our day trip to James Bond Island. Yet another place to check off our bucket list!
Awaiting in the foyer we were picked up promptly and headed around town to pick up everyone else. We ended up being the only ones with kids, but we met a young Australian couple who were on holiday who were teachers and got along well with the girls.
As we arrived at Ao-Por Peir, we walked down to a double story boat that was moored. It looked well worn in and not as flash as the Phi Phi Island tour, but l was sure we were safe. After getting seated, we had an introduction from the young crew, who seemed very lively and ready to entertain us for the day at sea. With a run down of our excursion for the day, they then brought out a Thai style breakfast for us to have with some fresh fruit. I was still feeling a bit funny in the tummy, so didn't have much. As it was, anything that entered my belly wanted to leave my body quickly (if you know what l mean).
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| Not liking those clouds.... |
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| Grey skies about.... |
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| "We're kings of the world"!!! Bow pic on the boat.... |
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| Soft drink in the morning....why not?! |
During the slow drift around the islands the crew took us to a place where it was known by them to have many sea eagles. They let out a calling loudly and started throwing bits of food in the air over the ocean, suddenly we had tens of eagles swooping to try and catch a mouthful. Was pretty cool!
After the bird feeding they took us closer to the island where they pointed out the monkeys feeding in the caved out parts of the rocky shore. You had to be quick to catch a glimpse as a nearby tourist boat overtook our views and we set off on further explorations of the area.
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| Spot the monkey....very camouflaged! |
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| Little cave monkey houses... |
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| That tour boat got close to them! |
As we looked in the horizon we were getting closer to the first main event of our day, yes you got, James Bond Island, or as the locals call it, Khao Ping Gun. As we had to island set in sights we slowed down to where the boat stopped and put an anchor out. We then had a long tailed boat pull up where we proceeded to board. I didn't know why the boat was called that until we took off and l could see the huge rooster tail of water out the back! Looked pretty cool, but boy was the motor loud! We pulled up at the mooring and departed the boat, having half an hour to explore the bay. We walked pass some markets full of tourist buys and set our sights on getting our James Bond pick. Many people had the same idea so had to wait a little. This set of islands is famous, of course as the name suggests, by the movie James Bond and his boat chasing scene. After getting our pic, which one of the crew grabbed our camera's and took many family pics for us, we made our way up the stoned path around part of the island and into part of a cave. We were laughing the whole time with our crew performing many jokes on people and playing around. The mood was set for the whole day as we laughed and felt happy all the time.
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| There it is....in the distance! |
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| Loving the colours in the cliff faces... |
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The plastic rose made from straws by the
crew for the girls! |
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| James Bond Island....the clouds are clearing!!! |
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| Our long tail boat coming to get us... |
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| Time to get off! |
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| Girls holding "James Bond Island" up!!! |
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| Walk around the island... |
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| Different angle of pic this time! |
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| Our crew giving a massage, all in the service! |
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| ...one way or another! |
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| Always pranking... |
After the cave we went back down to the bottom where Boo found a broom, which she thought looked like a witches broom and pretended she was flying by jumping up in the air! Behind us was a ginormous steep angled carved out rock that formed part of a cave, was a good place to cool off!
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Crew sneaked up and playing another
prank on Meg! |
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Girls attempting to hold the leaning
wall up...lol! |
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| View looking up! |
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| Textures amazing... |
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| Can always find a Buddha!! |
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| The markets.... |
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| So many people coming and going... |
Our half hour was up and we boarded our long tail boat to set back off to the seas and visit a fisherman village. On arriving it looked almost to be a floating city with built on the ocean! The crew took us thru the village, all lined with market stalls, the crew telling us this is how they make most of their money to live apart from fishing. The village people themselves must get sick of tourists visiting their island as they didn't look to be too friendly unless you wanted to buy something of course. But l totally understand that they might get sick of people coming and looking at them and their houses all the time like they are the side show!
Anyway the crew walked around, mingling with the locals and having a joke with them. They showed us the local school, which totally amazed me at how little they had but how their classrooms still reflected that of our own back in Australia. They had a huge play area to play sports too. Pity school was out when we were there, would have been good to see some kids.
The island itself, was very crowded in housing and people. Every part of space was utilised in some way. Their life looked simple but effective. It also looked hard, but that would seem that way to a Westerner who had modern technology and convenience available at our fingertips. The electricity was powered by a generator, they did seem to have some phone connections and they were surrounded with sustainable food through sea and land. I was calmed with their way of life and the simplicity it provided, but l wasn't envious about their hardships they would have been facing. I wasn't that naive....
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| What a feast!!!! |
We made a journey across the open sea to Koh Panyee where we anchored once again and found this is where our canoeing expedition would start. Looked a bit scary as l thought we were to canoe ourselves around thru the caves, luckily we were paired together and had our own canoeist to take us on the journey. Marty and Boo went together and Meg and l went on another canoe, both the girls taking the front position whilst Marty and l sat behind in front of our canoeists. As Marty and Boo set off, l was instructed to lie down as this Thai boy set to paddling. His English was limited and the trip was silent apart from him pointing out things in the jungle. I was in awe, the islands stood tall with dense lush forests lining the shores and the water we floated on was a glorious blue. I felt a bit bad for the boy paddling and wanted to help, but that was not going to happen. We spent an hour paddling through many caves, the first we entered l nearly hit my head as l didn't duck quick enough. Some entrances to the caves were pretty tight, bit of a squeeze to get through, the canoeists definitely know their stuff. It was like a maze and l would have most certainly got lost in amongst the islands cave system. Everytime we came out of a cave we were presented with another fascinating and beautiful scene. Wee bumped into Marty and Boo who were being serenaded by their Thai man all thru the caves, he had a wonderful voice, really relaxing. I think he was our Thai boys dad or uncle as they seemed to share a closeness. They both collected floating banana vines and had made a rose for the girls each, absolutely loved it. After our feast for our eyes, we sadly made our way back to the boat were we tried to exit our canoes gracefully, but failed dismally. I felt a bit bad as the crew told us it would be nice if we wanted, to tip our canoeists, which we did but not much as we didn't bring much cash with us.
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| Chilling on the long boat.... |
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| Our boat the pride of the sea!!! |
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| Koh Panyee... |
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| Here the canoes come... |
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| Time to get on board...how's this boy going to cope with us? |
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| Marty's view on board the canoe.... |
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| Coming out of a cave..... |
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| And Meg and l are out.....WOW! |
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| James Bond in the horizon.... |
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| The line up to wait to go in the cave... |
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| The view on the other side of the cave.... |
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| Think you need to start ducking down Boo.... |
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| Marty's man whistling away.... |
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| Marty pointing out for Boo to duck...pity he's behind her!!!! |
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| Continually lying down enjoying the spectacular views! |
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| Starting a race between us both... |
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| Safe to sit up for a while.... |
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| My turn to capture the beauty with the GoPro... |
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| Heading back to our boat :( |
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| Marty's smiling serenading canoeist... |
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| Meg and my quiet boy canoeist... |
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| The girls loved their banana vine made flowers... |
Whilst we waved goodbye to our floating cave paddlers, we set off for our last stop for the day to Naka Island. It was a longish trip but it seemed to go quickly as we moored close to the beach. Our crew went and got a floating step to get off the boat safely and we made our way up the beach to chill out and relax for an hour. It looked like an island that you would end up on if shipwrecked, lined with palm trees and underfoot had white sand with crystal clear water. We swam, canoed and got an ice cream treat from the local markets. Loved lazing on the beach, especially when the crew entertained the girls with their shenanigans. The girls even found a huge swing to amuse themselves happily. As the afternoon passed quickly, it was time to board the boat for the last time today and head back to the pier.
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| Bye bye..... |
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| Time to entertain and play.... |
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| The crew chilling taking in the open views.... |
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| Naka Island...... |
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| Time for a swim and cool off.... |
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| Found the swing... |
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| Had to watch our food with this one around!!! |
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| Canoe time!!! |
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| Then back to the swing.... |
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| Singing on a swing.... |
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| ...good way to quieten them down, icecream on a swing! |
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| This is the life... |
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| Happiness on our faces from such a great day! |
It was a very long distance back to the pier but time was passed easily as the crew let their hair down even further by having the music pumping and having a dance. This tour of James Bond Island from Asia Canoe Thailand Company has been totally amazing and we would definitely recommend it to anyone going to Thailand. Amongst all the natural beauty and culture that we had been shared, the crew were absolutely wonderful. All so vibrant and happy, comical and warm. Whether sitting and chatting to us, having fun with the girls playing practical jokes or acting hilarious in comical characters. We haven't laughed so much forever, such a happy experience all round.....
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| Bit crazy now.... |
After another huge day, we said farewell to our amazing crew and got on our bus for the long trip back to the resort. It felt like forever and we were so knackered, l think most people on the bus were as it was a very quiet trip home. Back at the resort we opted to order off the room service menu for dinner, l know lavish hey! Boo and l had Nasi Goreng whilst Meg had chips and Marty yet another burger!
Bell Xxx
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