Towering limestone cliffs jutting out of the sea covering the horizon in all directions...that is Ao Phang Nga....the most famous among them, the James Bond island, featured in 'The Man with a Golden Gun' and now a major tourist stop though most tourists don't remember or care about the movie, its just package tour and 'here we go'....
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| James Bond Island |
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We took a 'family trip' with the Thai girls (Noi, her two girls and a friend) in the back of Charlie's pick-up while the westerners sat in the air-con cab for a two hour drive north, off the island and into the limestone cliffs of the Phang Nga province. We hired a long tail boat to explore the many islands and caves. We stopped by James Bond island for a photo and found a beautiful white sandy beach tucked between two large cliffs and a tourist trap in the middle...selling crap...that's right tourist crap...oh and tons of tourist boats! We then stopped at a cave, also a well know tourist destination, where you could hire kayaks (complete with mandatory guide) to go through the cave. The girls, Rika and Rosie, were so excited about the kayak and the coconut they would get to drink while on said kayak, that Ben and I decided we better not spoil their fun by not taking the kayak tour with the other hundreds of smiling Chinese tourists in small kayaks crowding the cave entrance.
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| Noi, Rosie, and Rika |
Our guide was funny, pointing out all the karsk formations that reminded him of specific body parts...and insisted that I (Amanda) continuously turn around so Ben could take pictures. We paddled through the cave and then into a lagoon that was quite impressive because so many kayaks full of Asians could actually fit in side it with still more able to enter! After the kayaking was over and the coconut drank, the girls promptly decided that it was no fun because they had 'seen it all before', and we got back on the boat and headed back to town.
