From Ayuthaya, we caught a minivan back south to Bangkok (straight to the bus terminal) to catch an overnight bus to Ranong, which is the main point to catch a ferry to the island Koh Phayam. Ranong is a small port town near the border of Myanmar and its predominately Muslim culture is a striking contrast to much of Thailand. We hit up the early morning market for some delicious Burmese breakfast while waiting for our boat. You can take a speed boat to Koh Phayam and get there in 45 minutes or take the slow boat for much cheaper and enjoy a sweet, action-filled Stallone movie playing on the 3-hour boat ride. Which do you think we chose?
Upon our arrival to the island, we made a terrible mistake. The island has mainly three small tourist areas spread along its coast. We took two motor-taxis to an area of the island that we thought, based on what we read, would have bungalows in our price range; however, we couldn’t find very many vacancies and those that were available were way out of our price range. With no motor-taxis in sight, Victor walked 4 kilometers back to the main port in the burning hot sun and rented a motorbike. We then spent the next 2 hours riding around the island trying to find an affordable, vacant bungalow. We didn’t know it at the time, but it turned out that we were right in the middle of a two-week high season. Koh Phayam is, apparently, a very popular holiday destination for German and French tourists and the island was filled with families on their winter break. After much searching and a few meltdowns, we found an OK bungalow on Ao Yai beach that was still a little pricey, but it was possibly the last on the island. Phew!
A French couple that we had talked to in Ranong at the port while they were waiting for their fast boat ended up staying pretty close to us. As they smartly took the early fast boat with most of the other tourists, they had earlier pickings and had better luck getting accommodation. They saw us struggling and frustrated and invited us to dinner that night, their treat! Someone along their travels through Thailand had seen them struggling and frustrated and had paid for their bill, telling them to please pass along the goodwill. We had a great dinner with wonderful company and our attitudes changed. Some people in this world are great! Now, it’s our turn to pay it forward.
We spent the next few days relaxing on the beach, swimming, watching amazing sunsets, and riding around the island’s narrow roads to visit beautiful beaches. We really enjoyed Koh Phayam, but we were looking forward to exploring some more of Thailand’s islands.
TravelingMantor 