HIDDEN THAILAND EXPLORED ON A KAYAKING TRIP UP COUNTRY’S ANDAMAN COAST, WITH UNTAMED NATURE AND UNIQUE LODGINGS EN ROUTE
- An 18-day kayak trip from Satun to Phuket along the Andaman Sea coast reveals beaches and islets that would otherwise go unseen in a quiet part of Thailand
- On our journey we take in mangroves, estuaries and coastal villages. Some of the best views are enjoyed from affordable accommodation with plenty of character
In 2006, German travel magazine Hidden Europe published A Manifesto for Slow Travel - an essay that argues journeys should be "a moment to relax rather than a stressful interlude imposed between home and destination.
"Slow travel," it continues, "re-engineers time, transforming it into a commodity of abundance rather than scarcity. And slow travel also reshapes our relationship with places, encouraging and allowing us to engage more intimately with the communities through which we travel."
Recently, I "slow travelled" from Satun, the southernmost town and province on Thailand's Andaman coast, to the resort island of Phuket. The journey takes seven or eight hours in a car or bus, but I did it in a kayak over 18 days.
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The slow pace allowed me to completely absorb the nuanced beauty of the Andaman coast and its offshore islands, spend quality time with locals and discover a number of outstanding beaches, islets, villages and hotels I otherwise would never have seen.
I come across the first of these gems on my second day at sea after pausing for a break at an archipelago of two islets in the Mu Ko Phetra National Park. The gin-clear waters of the narrow channel between the islands are as calm as a lake and possess coral gardens alive with tropical fish.
When I land on a sugar white beach on Koh Lidi Yai, the larger of the two islets a ranger moves me on, as it is a reserve for endangered swiftlets that make edible birds' nests, a delicacy always in demand around Asia.
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The reception is different on the smaller island of Koh Lidi Lek, where a ranger gives me a free packed lunch. The only other visitors are a family from Malaysia mucking around on kayaks, which are also freely provided. There is next to nothing online about Koh Lidi Lek or how to get there. But I later learn you can charter a wooden boat at port town Pak Bara.
The following afternoon, having planned to camp on Koh Sukon, an unexpected downpour drives me towards Thung Wa, a little visited coastal district of caramel-coloured rivers and mangrove forests. Thung Wa can be reached on land via a 15-minute detour from Route 416, the main road connecting Satun province and Trang province, to the north.
There, on a grassy headland carpeted with casuarina trees between the Wang Won River and the sea, I find the Nava Nelayan Homestay, which cannot be booked yet on booking websites.
The property consists of five Swedish-style bungalows with beachfront or mangrove views and a 100-year-old teak homestead with five bedrooms that was lovingly restored by the new owner, Yokfa Chonlasakpipat, of Bangkok, who bought the place on a whim after staying here as a guest.
"The previous owner was too old to take care of everything so the place was a little rundown. But I saw its potential," she says. "We spent a lot of time cleaning and fixing things up.
"This part of Thailand," she adds, "is not famous like Phuket or Pattaya but here the nature is pure. It is very peaceful and there are very few tourists. You can walk along the beach and you won't see anyone other than fishermen catching crabs."
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After nine days at sea, I reach Koh Lanta, the halfway mark of my journey.
Koh Lanta welcomes throngs of tourists every day during the high season but is larger than other islands in the Andamans, about 35km (22 miles) from end to end, and therefore still harbours paradisiacal undeveloped beaches such as Bamboo, the most southerly cove on the island's west coast.
Bamboo Beach is by no means hidden - there are a few hundred tourists here when I make landfall - but it does not feel busy, as visitors are spread out over more than a kilometre of fine white sand or dozing on daybeds and hammocks surrounding one of two rustic beach bars that sell beers, smoothies and sandwiches.
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The closest hotel stands a few hundred metres behind the beach but if you bring a tent, like I have, you can pitch it on a grassy knoll overlooking the beach for only 150 baht (US$4), which includes access to clean toilets and shower facilities.
The Boho Hostel and Restaurant is set in a whitewashed stilt home with polished wooden floorboards just a few doors down from Sala Dan Pier, on the southern bank of Koh Lanta's Lat Bo Nae River, and has eight guest rooms.
The first seven are boxlike but room No. 8, which is set right on the riverfront and has a large picture window and private deck, offers exceptional value at 900 baht per night.
Even if this room is booked, you can still while away time watching boats coming and going at a riverfront restaurant that offers well-presented tourist staples such as green curry and pad Thai noodles with prawns.
Boho is also owned by a former guest who fell in love with the place.
"Most people who visit Koh Lanta stay on the beach because it is so beautiful, but during the high season it can get noisy there with parties. But on the river, it's always chilled, and a great place to relax," says co-owner Zsofia Zsigri, from Hungary. "So when the opportunity came out to take on the lease after Covid, we jumped on it.
"It took six months to do the renovations. We've been open for two years now and we're full nearly every day."
I find another riverfront hotel worth writing home about the following day at a fishing village on Koh Jum (Crab Island), an extinct volcano just north of Koh Lanta.
Most of the tourists who come here stay at one of the 30-odd properties on the Andaman Sea, or the west side, of the island. But I approached Koh Jum from the coastal side, paddling up a long, narrow estuary until I reached a fishing village set at an intersection in the sea broken up by half a dozen islets.
The village is home to friendly Muslim fisherfolk and the Bankruchaem Homestay. Like Boho Hostel, it is set over a river, with three freshly painted rooms with futon mattresses and decorative crab pillows, each at 900 baht a night. There is also a family room with four bunk beds.
Relaxing on a beanbag on the deck at dusk while listening to the water lap under the river house as birds and fish jump in and out of the water is one of the highlights of my journey.
Food is served at the Bankruchaem, but a few doors down is another river house, Chawle Seafood Restaurant. Tourists travel here from all corners of the island for the whole fish, fried or grilled to perfection with your choice of condiments for 250 baht, half of what it costs in Phuket.
These hostels and guest houses show you do not have to spend big money to have excellent accommodation in Thailand, although after a long day at sea, anything that is not wet is a luxury for me.
But sometimes it pays to pay a little bit more.
A small, beachfront property in a sleepy village on the upper west coast of Koh Yao Yai, one of two large mountainous islands rising from the bay between Krabi and Phuket, is a perfect example.
Koh Yao Yai Sea Breeze House has six modern bungalows, three facing the garden and three facing the sea, all with balconies, air conditioning and hot water. They are similar to the other places I stay at during this trip that cost on average US$20 a night, but in peak season, Koh Yao Yai Sea Breeze House charges three times that much.
What you get for the extra money is grass - not the kind that can make you giggle and can now be bought legally anywhere in Thailand - but a very large beachfront lawn, an oddity outside luxury resorts in the south of Thailand, with a small restaurant, five wooden tables and maybe a dozen sun loungers.
Guests, mainly couples, while away their time here sunbathing and staring at the sea. And the sunsets, as just about everywhere on Phang Nga Bay, are a panoramic fresco of moving colours that change from yellow to violet to red before settling on a purple shade of black.
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This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), the leading news media reporting on China and Asia.
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2024-04-29T10:27:31Z dg43tfdfdgfd
