First trip of 2015 was to get back to the land of smiles - Thailand! I've got a great deal from Jetstar with a buy one free one promotion to Phuket. So off I head to Phuket and this time, I've decided to take up a day tour to Phang Nga Bay and James Bond Island.
We engaged Phuket Tours Direct to get on their James Bond Island Tours by cruise ship. This is the cheapest deal you can get in town. I've checked a number of website offering similar experience and this has the best value at 1400 THB.
The tour itself comes with a canoe experience, with a guide of course, because Phang Nga Bay area is known for its many little caves around.
We were picked up from our accommodation at about 7am to get to the pier. From there, we boarded the cruise ship (which wasn't too shabby, to my relief) and headed towards Naka Island area first.
Here, we were given a while to just relax by the beach. Many of the tourists went for a dip in the water while waiting for the tour operators to signal to us to get to our next destination. While the island itself has nothing much to do and offer, if you're just there to have a relaxing trip, it's good to just stop and enjoy the smell of the sea with a cup of coffee.
Phang Nga Bay is famously known as Halong Bay of Thailand. There are many little limestone cliffs, bat caves and collapsed caves if you're a keen explorer. The view itself is really amazing, surrounded by blue sky and green sea waters. You could just imagine how tranquil it was in the past before tourist started buzzing around these sites on a daily basis.
We continued our journey from Naka Island towards Panak Island and were served lunch on board with in-house entertainers. It is not uncommon to find transvestites in Thailand, so unsurprisingly a few of the tour operators were cross-dressers who are keen singers. That aside, you'll also be served with free flow of soft drinks and the best of it, is the novelty of having them in glass bottles just like the good old days!
By the time we're done with lunch, the cruise with at least 10 crews on board have already prepared the canoe with a guide on each of it. Everyone is paired up and gets assigned to a canoe guide who will then paddle over to the bat caves while we, the tourists, started snapping away.
Some of the sights of these caves are really mesmerizing, and it was indeed a good respite from the sweltering heat. Also, these guides are really experienced in manoeuvring their way around the narrow and sharp edges from one bat caves to another. Many of them know the geographical build of the island at the back of their mind.
We spent about a good hour or so canoeing before we packed up (and after some water fun) and headed towards the most popular limestone in that area, James Bond Island. We took the cruise up to a certain distance near the island before changing to a long-tailed boat to get there. The surroundings were a lot narrower so perhaps that's why cruise ships aren't allowed into the vicinity.
Nope, the above picture isn't the said James Bond Island. I couldn't get a really nice view without heads bobbing up and down. This is probably the most crowded site as there were vendors and many tourists trying to get a picture of the popular stone. In fact, this James Bond movie isn't one from recent times either! I think the marketing gimmick of using the name James Bond really does hyped up the whole place.
While waiting for the boat to pick us up, I explored inland and saw this huge slab of slanted limestone. It's really mind-boggling how nature can on its own make sure a clean cut on such a huge piece of concrete. Wonderful hands of the Creator!
And these are what you can't miss out at such a touristy spot. Our tour ended by about 5pm. We were driven back to our respective accommodation and since we stayed not too far away from town, it was a good stop to head to town in search of dinner!
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