LittleSandyBeach

On our last afternoon on Koh Yao Yai we headed down to Ao Sai Beach which is a very secluded part of the island with hardly anybody around.

On the path down to the beach we saw a whole family of monkeys and then heard some rustling coming from a bush… Upon closer inspection we saw a Sunda flying lemur! It’s very rare to see one during the day as they’re nocturnal so we were very lucky.

Very nearby the beach is a fishing village where the locals live in cabins above the water and earn a living by supplying the island with all sorts of seafood.

In the evening for our last meal at Yao Yai Restaurant we decided to treat ourselves to an Issan Hotpot. We decided to go for the beef for the meat and then got cooking!

As well as the beef it included liver, Asian tofu (a lot softer than ‘normal’ tofu with a texture like jelly) and also tripe (cows stomach lining)… Lets just say it was an experience!

Before leaving the island the next morning we went and watched the jet ski tours leave from Lok Jak Pier.

After getting a lift with our hosts to the pier we got on a longtail boat across to the north island which only took around 10 minutes.

After reaching Koh Yao Noi a very friendly taxi driver came over and offered to take us to our accommodation and didn’t try and charge us a tourist price! A nice change from most ports!

We stayed at Namm Natawn which is located in the middle of the rice fields. The pictures looked good when we booked it and we were blown away by the view when we checked in.

In the afternoon we headed up to Unpao Pier. It has amazing views of the island and also overlooks Phang Nga bay which is a protected national park with huge limestone karsts rising from the water. It includes the world famous James Bond island.

It’s rice harvesting time here in Thailand now so we watched the farmers working away. The Cattle Egrets took the opportunity to have a feast from the leftovers.

The next day we went and checked out Long Beach which is on northeast coast of the island. There is a small cafe right on the beach with amazing views.

After searching around for a local Thai restaurant we found one called Ni local Kitchen. It’s run by a mother and son and wow it was amazing. We ate there everyday as the food was lovely and at a very good price.

The next day we came across one of the most picturesque scenes of our trip so far. There’s a small island called Ko Nui just of the coast and at low tide a sandbar is revealed allowing you to walk across.

That evening a massive storm started rolling in so we hunkered down on our porch and waited for the show to begin… we weren’t disappointed!

On our last full day we decided to hire a kayak and head to three different uninhabited islands which are part of Phang Nga Bay national park of the northern coast of Koh Yao Noi.

After 45 minutes of paddling we arrived at the first island, Ko Roi. We discovered our first hidden beach, the best part is that we had it all to ourselves..

After another hour of paddling taking our time to look at all the different corals and fish we made it to the second island, Ko Ku Du Lek. It was 1pm in the afternoon so we found some shade to try and cool down slightly!

We saw so many interesting things including hundreds of sea urchins, sea cucumbers, lots of colourful fish, crabs, monitor lizard and even a jellyfish!

The final island we travelled around was Ko Ku Du Yai. It is the biggest of the islands and had huge overhanging cliffs that you can kayak right underneath.

After 4 and a half hours and nearly 13kms paddled we finally made it back to Ko Yao Noi slightly sunburnt and in desperate need of a cold drink!

That evening we just relaxed and watched our last sunset across the rice fields surrounding us.

The next morning we headed to the pier to catch a speedboat back to Phuket. We had originally meant to be flying from Phuket to Penang in Malaysia tomorrow however our flight got rescheduled by 4 days!

As there were no other flights to Penang from Phuket we’ve had to change our plans, so now we are flying to Kuala Lumpur on the 20th. That gives us a few more days to explore more of Phuket.