James Bond Island Tour 2014

Because I miss the beach (not necessarily swimming in one but just chillaxing near one), let me have a throwback blog about the time when we went to James Bond Island.

The island's local name is Khao Phing Kan. It is in Phang nga Bay which is north-east of Phuket. It has found its other name: James Bond Island when it was used as the location of a James Bond film titled "The Man with the Golden Gun". This movie paved for the island to be in the international tourist map. 

(image taken from carroll-foundation-trust.com)

Khao Phing Kan literally means hills leaning against each other in Thai. These hills are actually limestone cliffs that vertically jut out of the emerald green waters.

We booked for a James Bond Island tour online. We tried to look for the best itinerary with the cheapest rate. I cannot remember the exact rate we found but could estimate it as around 1200THB.

On the day of the tour, we were picked up from the hotel near us. Island tour packages here in Phuket include pick up from the hotel and drop off as transportation is kind of difficult. While waiting, we took a twofie :)

We travelled about an hour to Ao Por Pier. On this particular tour, we are to ride on a speed boat with about 12-17 people in total.  Our tour guide explained our itinerary. We had to visit a total of 5 
islands. 

Our first island to visit was Panak Island. We just went around the island for sightseeing. There were no island inhabitants except for monkeys. We were able to see up close on how the lime stone rock formation has built the island. 

Next stop was Panyee Island.This is also where a Muslim floating village is near and was noted to be built on stilts by Indonesian fishermen. This was how it looked from afar.

Wikipedia says that the population is about 1,685 people or 360 families descending from 2 seafaring Muslim families from Java. Just had to take a twofie again :)

The village has a floating restaurants where tourist go to for Thai Lunch. It is said that there is a muslim school, mosque and even a floating football pitch for the children living there. We have not seen this of course. We only went to the restaurant to eat and took photos of the views around.

After lunch, we headed to the main attraction: James Bond Island. There were already a lot of tourists as it was already about 1pm. Upon reaching the island, you will be warned.

So, I won't climb. But I just have to have a photo with a cool stone formation.

We had to endure a few uphill steep concrete steps and keep out of the way of some tourists to the spot where cool photos can be taken.

Ah the famous limestone of James Bond Island as my background.

The island also boasts of rock formations like this one. There was also a cave that people can explore.

Ok, please be brutally and frankly honest. Who did it better? James Bond.. (image taken from becuo.com)

Or Me? :)

Since tourists have been flocking the islands, there were already refreshment stalls and souvenir stalls in it. Still, Thai people has made sure that its beauty would not be spoiled. 

After taking all the photos that we can and exploring the island, we were then asked to board the speed boat again and go to our next stop which was Hong Island. This is where the fun begins.

From the speedboat we were asked to get into a canoe. My room mate and I got into one.

 The canoe driver whisked us around the island and suddenly asked us to lie down. 

A clearer view of the entrance.

I was surprised he asked us to do this. Little did I know that we were entering a part of the island which only has a very low entrance that one has to lie on the canoe to get in. There was a great hollow in the island which resembles like a secret pool. We were thankful that it was not high tide as we are able to get in and see the view inside.

Who would expect to see this inside a small entrance?

More views around this island.

The last but not the least island for this tour was Naka Island. This island is mostly underdeveloped as there are no large buildings yet except for one luxury resort and another one being built. It boasts of a long stretch of fine white beach. There are also a few vendors selling refreshments and food. I did not swim as I felt very tired. I just slept on the beach :)

We stayed for about an hour, just enough for swimming and relaxing. Afterwards, we headed back to the Pier and was dropped off to our hotel :)

Tips for travelers:

1. Search for the best deal online. Most of the island tour itineraries are the same but have different rates. I go towards the cheap one but with a nice itinerary.

2. If you are not that sea sick and would like to have fast transportation to your island tours, choose speed boat tours. It saves your time from sitting a lot in the boat and actually enjoy being in the island. If you are the type who likes to cruise or take it slow, then a long tail boat could be best for you.

3. Don't forget to bring a dry bag for your gadgets and essentials.

4. Bring extra money, in case you would like to buy some extra snacks or give a tip to the driver. Lunch buffet is already included in the tour package, but you never know if you want more food. You may not bring along bottled water, these are offered to you while on the boat.

5. Don't forget to put that sunscreen on and enjoy!