Phang Nga – Koh Phra Thong

Koh Phra Thong Beach - White and Wide

This is a wonderful island with wonderful beaches and highly varied fauna and flora, which make the island a great destination to explore.However, visitors must be ready to accept that this island (supposedly) is the last tambon in Thailand to not have a public electricity grid, which means inhabitants only have electricity for three-four hours each evening. Although there is a ferry from the pier at Muh Koh Surin National Park’s office, there is no fixed schedule for departures. Transport to / from the island is mostly by means of long tail boats with Ban Ded being the main connection point on the mainland. After departure from Ban Ded, one passes through mangrove before crossing a short stretch of open water to reach the island.

All but one of the island’s five resorts have only basic structures (huts or tents) for rent. The Oasis Resort offers the best value for money with extremely friendly owners and large tents right on edge of a magnificent beach.

Around 600 people live on Koh Phra Thong. The island doesn’t have any paved roads, but does have some narrow concrete tracks, barely wide enough for one vehicle, that connect most of the populated locations to each other. Other locations are reached by tracks short-cutting through the wilderness. 

The eastern shores of the island are mostly mangrove forests. If you can get a local to take you around in a small boat to see birds and monkeys.The western shores of the island have kilometer after kilometer of truly unspoiled sandy beaches. There are no beach chairs or sun parasols, but plenty of crabs.

Map of Koh Phra Thong indicating savanna area in red

The interior of the island is dominated by a large sandy savanna – tall grass, shrubs, small trees (mostly pine and cajuput) – with small lakes and ponds full of mussels. The savanna is home to around 70 deer, 40 hornbills, and an unknown number of feral pigs. I borrowed a 20-year old book with information on the island. It listed eight different frogs, but 16 different snakes, so it is advisable to take due care when walking around on the savannah or in the forest on the island.To get around on the savanna is relatively easy in the dry season, but during the rainy season, the tracks turn muddy and often disappear as ponds become lakes.

The island has three villages and the southernmost village, Ban Tungthae, is basically cut off from the rest of the island during the rainy season. It had more than 300 inhabitants 10 years ago. But the tsunami dealt a hard blow to the village from which it hasn’t recovered. At present, Ban Tungthae is home to only around 60 villagers and the school is deserted.

Local Transport

The intermittent supply of electricity, poor infrastructure, and basic accommodation brought back memories of Koh Chang 20 years ago. However, even back then, Koh Chang had far more (backpacker) tourists than Koh Phra Thong has today. Back then, Koh Chang was also a popular destination among adventurous university students from Bangkok whenever there was a long weekend. Koh Phra Thong is far more quiet although it does on occasion get some visitors dropping by on their way to / from Muh Koh Surin or if boat services to Muh Koh Surin are suspended due to rough seas.

Big Bird defending its nest against nosy tourists

In any case, although Muh Koh Surin is amazingly beautiful, it is also small and it is easy to get bored. Koh Phra Thong is far larger and offers a multitude of activities, so it is far easier to spend long time on that island. I highly recommend a visit. 

Phang Nga - Koh Surin

When arriving (by boat of course) to the small archipelago Mu Koh Surin, the view is stunning. You feel like you have arrived at the setting for these advertisements seen for Bounty chocolate bars and other goodies peddling images of snow white powdery beach sand and palm trees billowing in a gentle breeze.

Mu Koh Surin is a national park located in the Andaman Sea, 80 minutes by speedboat from the coast. If you do not bring your own tent, basic accommodation (tent or large bungalow) can be provided by the national park on Koh Surin Nua. Due to the limited capacity, it is highly recommended to call in advance if you plan to go over a long weekend where many other often get the same idea. Since there is only one speedboat “ferry” per day, which departs from Kuraburi, you should secure your ticket in advance unless you have the cash to rent you own boat.

Once on the island, there isn't much to do apart from enjoying the sights. The small shop and restaurant close at 8 PM while lights are out by 9 PM. Koh Surin is not a party island like Koh Samed or Koh Phangan – people go to bed (sleeping bag) early and get up early.

There is a nature trail (2+ kilometers long) between the two camps on the island, but most visitors focus their activities on the sea. The bays have wonderfully clear water and coral reefs can be reached after swimming 25-30 minutes. A park ranger told me that corals on lower water depths were killed a couple of years ago when a warm ocean current persisted for too long. But there are still many fish even at the lower water depths.

If it is not up your alley to have to swim 30 minutes before you can start diving to watch corals, then day trips can be arranged where long-tail boats will take you to good snorkel locations. 

Phang Nga - Boxing Day Tsunami

Today, a 10 cm high tsunami hit Thailand's Andaman coast. How a 10 cm tsunami is distinguishable from a 10 cm high normal wave I don't know. But I know that the Boxing Day tsunami waves were easy to spot.

At that faithful day in 2004, I was at Ao Nang, Krabi. Due to a stroke of luck, I was half an hour late for an appointment to go on a day tour in sea-kayaks.

As I was rushing down the hill to get to the meeting point at the beach, people were running up the hill. When I came down to the beach, I saw people walking around in a daze. The beach road was wet and filled with debris from shattered long tails boats and washed out shops.

Is that a tsunami out there?

That was in Ao Nang where the three tsunami waves were relatively small – crests of only 2-3 meters - compared to the waves that hit Khao Lak, Phang Nga.

The photos in this blog were shot at the Khao Lak beach called Bang Niang. The interesting thing is the similarities between these photos and what I heard / saw in Ao Nang.

At first. people see the water recede, but don’t think much about it. Some even follow the receding water.
Then there is a wave coming, but again people don’t pay much attention – probably because the water/shore line is now so far away. Then the wave comes closer - it doesn't look tall, but it does look more “violent” and powerful than the normal waves.

Hmm, that wave is bigger than it looked

Then as the wave roars towards the beach, people suddenly realize that it is not a good idea to stand around like a dummy. But in Khao Lak, most people realized this too late and didn’t get off the beach alive.

The tsunami wave on these photos looks deceptively small; it was the first of three waves. As I remember from Ao Nang, the third wave was the largest.

Notice the two navy patrol vessels in the photo above. The largest of these vessels ended up three kilometers inland at the foot of the hills, i.e., basically at the furthest point the waves reached.

Tsunami waters flood Khao Lak

The whole Bang Niang are was flattened as water height reached six meters. Many of the small family-owned resorts were not insured. The owners either drowned or survived but were unable to repay their bank loans and big business subsequently moved in.

The last photo was taken two weeks after the tsunami and shows what was left - basically nothing. The place was rebuilt (still called Chong Fah Resort) by the original owners.

In the Khao Lak area, I used to stay near Laem Pakarang at a family-owned resort (Pakarang Beach Cottage) and enjoyed the wonderful beach and personal service. However, this family were among the victims. After the tsunami, a Best Western holiday complex totally dominates Pakarang beach. The charm is gone.

Phang Nga -Sri Phang Nga National Park

The park is in the mountain range parallel to the Andaman seashore and contains some virgin forests for wildlife sanctuaries. The main entrance to the park is near Kuraburi.

From the park originates many streams, which have created waterfalls such as Tamnang (pictured above), Ton Ton Sai and Ton Ton Toei.


What I found especially amusing was the sign indicating the way to Tamnang while stating it was where one can "Swim With Fish".  That sign reminded me of what mobsters would say in cheesy gangster movies ..  as in .. "Aei, Roberto he go swim with da fishes wearing concrete shoes. He ain't never gonna make trouble again"


After you have swum with the fish, you can take the 3 km nature trail to the other two water falls, but I found them less impressive. 

Phang Nga - Koh Kho Khao

Between Takua Pa and Khao Lak is Ban Kem. This village is the location for a large tsunami memorial. To access the location, one has to turn off Highway Route 4 (it’s very easy to miss the sign but it's near the 774 kilometer marker when coming from Bangkok) and drive several kilometers on small roads before reaching the memorial. 

There are so few visitors to the memorial that the food and souvenir stands built nearby were not occupied by sellers until last year. Now a restaurant has opened on the nearby beach, which is good for swimming and offers great views of nearby Koh Kho Khao.

This island is 15 km long and can be reached by long-tail boat or car ferry from Ban Nam Kem. The island had just started dabbling into tourism when the tsunami hit. It took a few years before it had recovered, but the island is now the center of attention with real estate agents trying to sell beach villas. However, judging from the closed souvenir & tailor shops and the boarded up real estate agencies, sales and tourist arrivals are not booming the way it had been hoped for. 

New upscale resorts have sprung up vying for tourists to come up from Phuket and Khao Lak. Their websites are in English and Swedush, but not in Thai. Other upscale resorts focus on Bangkokians and have adjusted their marketing accordingly. 


The island has wonderful and deserted beaches - the above picture shows tracks from a small herd of cows that had taken a morning stroll on the beach. 


The below picture shows Koh Phrathong, which is located a stone's throw north of Koh Kho Khao.

Apart from beaches, Koh Kho Khao has a lot to offer. There is bird watching, kayaking, ancient ruins of the remnants of a trading post, and a public swamp - no kidding.


Koh Kho Khao is still relatively undeveloped and a great place to get away from the crowds. One can walk undisturbed on the beach for kilometers and can - at night obviously - enjoy clear views of moon and stars without any light emitted from cities or large resorts. 

Phang Nga - Thai Muang and Takua Pa

Khao Lak is probably the tourist destination in Phang Nga province with the most overnight stays. However, while I used to like to stay at a small family-owned resort on Pakkarang (Koral) Beach, the tsunami put an end to that. Big money, big hotel chains, and mass tourism moved in after the tsunami literally wiped out most of the small businesses in the area.


However, there are other interesting destinations along the coast of the Andaman Sea. Thai Muang is about 30 km north of the Sarasin Bridge that links Phuket with the mainland and is about 25 km south of Khao Lak. Thai Muang can roughly be translated into "the end of the mine", which indicates that the place was founded for shipping out ore. 


Thai Muang has a golf club and a marina. I have never figured out why a marina was built in this non-touristic location, but there is more than a dozen kilometers of beach with nice white sand.


It is a great beach on which to walk and watch the Andaman while enjoying the peace and quiet of the area. Parts of the beach are protected nesting sites for leatherback turtles. More info on this can be had at a turtle conservation center.


Takua Pa lies north of Khao Lak. That town is one of the oldest on the Andaman Coast and several old buildings can be found around town. It grew big on the back of tin mining and there is a museum giving a positive spin on that part of the town’s history.

Phang Nga - Khao Lak

The Khao Lak area was changed forever by the tsunami. Before then natural disaster struck, there were many small family-run resorts. However, these were literally swept away and most owners faced a situation where loans payments continued to be due while there was no insurance coverage. Big business in the form of large hotel chains swept in as locusts to secure good deals on prime locations.

One example is Pakarang Beach where people used to be able to go for picnic but the beachside road is now lined by five-star resorts. But it seems that one of them ran into rough times and has been taken over by new owners.

I'm glad that carpetbagging doesn't always pay off.

In fact, it was a bit offensive to see how outsiders swarmed like locusts to the Khao Lak area (and up the Andaman coast) in 2005 and 2006 trying to secure good real estate deals, i.e., buying from people unable to pay back banks as they had no insurance covering a tsunami.

Some ended up buying a pig in a poke or rather, buying a piece of paper. For example, some Scandinavians were duped by other Scandinavians (remnants of a Danish motor cycle gang affiliated with Hell's Angels now relocated to Koh Samui) as the title deeds they paid for were fakes. A few brave ones took their cases to the Swedish and Danish police who managed to get the Royal Thai Police to arrest the culprits. But then the case was dropped for unspecified reasons and the culprits returned to Koh Samui where they still today earn a living from racketeering, real estate, and bar beers.