Great Winter Destinations: Phang-Nga Bay, Thailand

December 1995 - January 1996

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.

by Jim Reed

We paddled in Phang-Nga Bay on the west coast of Thailand, Nov 24 - Dec 17 1994. This well protected bay, located between Ko Phuket and the mainland, is characterized by numerous limestone islands, most of which are uninhabited, and several have giant open rooms in the center that can only be accessed by passing through a small long dark tunnel. From a distance, the islands look like giant mushrooms. Bizarre looking stalactite formations dangle over the water from the bottoms of the mushroom-like cap. You can paddle to "James Bond Island" where the film "The Man with Golden Gun" was shot. Farther south, the islands are more typical of paradise, complete with palm trees, and sandy beaches. Coral reefs abound and the snorkeling is spectacular. You can hop out of your kayak, dive down to tie it off to the reef and swim around.

Your main costs are the airfare to get there. Everything else in Thailand is relatively inexpensive.

Kayaks: We took folding double sea kayaks, one Klepper and one Feathercraft, as baggage on the plane with no problem. We talked to another couple who had their Feathercraft sent over beforehand and customs wouldn't let them have it without paying a $4,000 duty on it! I don't know if rental boats are available in Thailand. Some resorts have boats for their customers.

Visa: Takes two-three weeks from the LA office. You must send them your passport. They'll do it quicker for a fee.

Air fare: We flew Eugene (OR)-LA-Taiwan-Bangkok on United for $1100 round trip. That's about 19,000 miles. If you are traveling from Thailand to anywhere else buy your airline tickets in Thailand. Friends flew round trip Bangkok-Katmandu for about half of what it cost to arrange the flight from the US.

Money: The exchange rate at banks was fairly uniform around 25 bhat = $1.00 US. The rate at the Bangkok airport was good, (the rate in the airport in Seattle has been better than in Thailand). In a tourist town at the coast, we got a good rate from a parked minivan that was run by the Thai Farmers Bank. In the big cities, you can use bankcard machines. My Cirrus/Plus card worked at 1 out of 4 machines in Bangkok. They allowed only one withdrawal per day, though.

Lodging in Bangkok: From the Bangkok airport, we took a taxi to the Banglamphoo area, for about 250 bhat or $10. At 2 am, it's a 40 minute ride, but during the day it could be 2-3 hours. We stayed at the AA Guest house, but choose any hotel, just ask to see the room first. The front desk at most are open 24 hours. It'll cost about 250 bhat per night. We stayed at the New Siam Guest House once. It was very clean and the people very helpful. Many guest houses have storage areas where you can leave your gear while you tour the rest of the country. It costs about 25 bhat per bag per night.

Getting around in Bangkok is an experience. We had some class V Tuk-Tuk rides. It took a while getting used to driving on the left hand side of the road, which combined with a crazed driver of a three wheeled motorcycle who likes to play chicken with the city buses on the wrong side of the road in dense stop and go traffic, is a little unsettling. You have to keep telling yourself that he's a professional and does this for a living. Taxis are everywhere, be sure to agree on the rate before you get in. When we figured out the buses, we felt very safe in a massive piece of steel. The tourist map from the department store that is written in both English and Thai made getting around very simple.

Language: Thai was very difficult for me to understand and pronounce. Try learning at least the numbers and basic courtesy phrases from a Thai language tape before you go. In the book section of the large department stores in Bangkok, you can find several good pocket dictionaries. You can look up the word in English then point to its Thai spelling and the locals will understand you. Many Thais speak English and are anxious to practice talking to you.

Travel to the west coast: We went by train from Bangkok to Surat Thani, (have one of the local travel agents arrange tickets for you) and then by bus to Phuket City and by songthaew (passenger pickup truck) to the beach.

Food: About the only thing you need to take with you is M&M's and peanut butter. You can buy everything else in the local grocery stores and markets. Papaya and pineapple were staples for us. They have great ice creams bars with dark chocolate in the center. The restaurant and street vendor food is superb and some is very unique.

Toilets: The "squat toilet" is fairly common. It has indentations for your feet and no seat. They are somewhat of a challenge to use on a rocking train. Many places have the standard porcelain sit down model. Toilet paper was readily available as was everything from tampons to toothpaste.

Stove Fuel: We ran all over Bangkok one day looking for Gaz (propane) cylinders and ran into a helpful tourist authority person who told us that most large department stores carry them. We found that the stores had whole camping departments with all the basics. They carried both the puncture type Gaz cans as well as the newer screw cap containers. Friends who had gone over before had trouble with extremely dirty fuel clogging up their multi-fuel stoves. The Gaz cylinders were $3-$4, similar in price to the US, but the burners were very expensive.

Water: Everyone drinks bottled water. It 's cheap and readily available. It also rains enough, you can catch it off your tarp.

Wind: We had light winds in 1994 and weren't able to sail very much, our friends who went in 1992 and 1993 sailed over 50% of the time.

Sun: Intense. Wear white longsleeve shirts and jump in the water to cool off.

Rain: Squalls would often come through with lots of advance warning. Get to shore, and get out the soap so you can take a shower.

Accommodations: The farther south you get, the more populated and visited it becomes. At the resort areas, you can stay in a bungalow for $5 a night, buy meals for $3 but beer may be $4 a piece.

Sea snakes: Didn't see any poisonous ones.

Pirates: They range much farther to the south.

On the water: We didn't see any other sea kayakers. There are lots of fishermen using longtail boats. So you are not alone and they make a lot of noise.

Ferries: You can take ferries out to some of the main islands. We paddled out and ferried back. If you get to a place and you don't want to paddle beyond it, hire a longtail to take you to your next destination.

Books: The best travel guide is the Lonely Planet's Thailand. I had a hard time finding any natural history books that were written solely about Thailand before I left. Once there, the best and about only one was National Parks of Thailand 1991 for 500B. Also check out Alfred Russel Wallace's, 1890 The Malay Archipelago. Tropical Asia a Life Nature book has good general information. Don't overlook cookbooks. Thailand, The Beautiful Cookbook has lots of history about Thailand.

Maps: There are great navigation maps produced by the Thai Navy. We borrowed ours. Supposedly, there is a map office in Bangkok somewhere but you'll need local help to find it. The tourist maps available from the Tourism Office in LA and again in the book sections of the large department stores had all the detail that we needed, especially since we didn't know where we were going or how long we were staying.

Articles: Paddler, Cruising World give you more specifics about the area. The Sea Kayaker Spring 1994 article by John Gray is very informative.

Internet: Several Thai Universities have Internet addresses. Gopher there for current weather information, etc.

When to go: Nov-Feb has the least rain, October the most. Typhoons aren't really a problem.