Chapter 17: James Bond Island Phuket and Beach Life in Thailand
James Bond Island Phuket: Beach Days, Longtail Boats, and the Iconic Khao Phing Kan
After my time in Bangkok, I hopped on a quick flight to Phuket to enjoy some time by the beach and explore coastal Thailand. Phuket is a peninsula located on the southwest coast of Thailand. It was a tedious hour-and-a-half-long drive through traffic from the airport to my Airbnb in Karon Beach, but when I finally arrived, it was absolutely perfect.
The building sat at the top of a steep hill and featured two pools, one of which was an infinity pool overlooking the ocean and the other right in the center of the condo complex. The location was exactly what I'd hoped for. It was walking distance from the beach, shops, and restaurants.
I was scheduled to be there for three nights, but I was enjoying it so much that I decided to extend my stay for another seven nights to total ten nights in Phuket. Up until this point, I had only stayed in one spot for about three nights, so extending my time by the beach ended up being my vacation from the vacation…while I was still on vacation. As you might have guessed, there was a song associated with this beach vacation.
Extending my time in Phuket allowed me to catch up on sleep and not feel guilty about it. This was also where I decided to start running more frequently, and I ran the entire beach every day, about three miles total. I developed a routine of letting myself sleep in, walk into town for a few cups of coffee, go run on the beach, get cleaned up, and find a new bar and restaurant for dinner.
I found my favorite Thai restaurant called Yuma Cafe and Bar, which had my favorite Drunken Noodle dish I’ve ever had. This place became my go-to dinner place after a long day of relaxing on the beach.
I was there during the rainy season, and it was really cool to watch the storms roll in off the coast. I'd hang out on the beach watching the unique cloud formations approach, and as they got closer I'd go watch the storm pass from the infinity pool at my condo. If I got stuck in the rain while I was out walking around, I would just duck into a bar for a beer or two until the rain stopped. I wasn't mad about it.
There were several advertisements for Bangla Boxing Stadium in Patong Beach, which was a Muay Thai arena 15-minutes away, so one night I decided to take a tuk-tuk and see how it compared to Rajadamnern Stadium in Bangkok. It was much smaller and had an underground fight club feel to it, with metal bleachers and very small signage above the ring. This felt more like what I had in mind when seeing a Muay Thai fight in Thailand. The more intimate, gymnasium-like atmosphere made it seem more authentic.
The fights were just as exciting as the bouts I saw in Bangkok. This truly became my favorite style of fighting to watch. There’s so much more action than a typical UFC fight or boxing match, and it keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire time.
While I was watching the fights, I met a British guy named James, who was traveling by himself after leaving his job. We enjoyed watching the fights and compared notes on where we were traveling during our sabbaticals. After the fights, we went out for a few more beers and checked out a bar with a live band around the corner. James called it a night after that, since he was waking up early to fly to Bali the next day.
I was making my way to get a cab when suddenly it started pouring rain. So, I ducked into a bar, per my protocol, and I ended up making a group of friends. Right as I jumped out of the rain and into the bar called Wicked Bar, I met an Aussie named Julian and a Canadian guy named Ron. They were friends with the owner of the bar who was a Scottish guy named Dougie.
The four of us hung out for a while and talked about sports and travel, while I waited for the rain to subside. All of the bars in Thailand have games, which is very entertaining. We played Connect 4, Jenga, and a dice game, which was a fun way to pass the time until the rain let up.
When the rain finally stopped, I got in a cab to head back to my condo. We all exchanged WhatsApp contact info and actually met up a couple more times to hang out while I was in Phuket. It was my own little group of vacation friends in Thailand.
James Bond Island
The only tourist attraction I had any desire to visit was the island, Khao Phing Kan, also referred to as James Bond Island after the famous scenes from The Man With The Golden Gun were released on the silver screen in 1974.
I signed up for a boat tour to explore the islands, and it was surprisingly convenient. A van picked me up near my condo, we picked up a few more people who booked the tour on the way, and finally made our way out to a marina to board a wooden boat flying a few pirate flags.
We made our way out to a cluster of islands in the bay and wound our way through the amazing scenery. The rocky islands jut straight up out of the ocean, covered with bright green vegetation, and all of them feature an interesting rocky overhang just above the water. I had never seen anything like it before.
Traditional longtail boats, also known as Ruea Hang Yao, are ever present on the water. Seeing these in person is wild. They typically use a repurposed 4-cylinder diesel car engine with a long direct drive shaft to the propeller. The operator steers with a short metal pole, just inches from the drive belts. That would probably violate a labor law or two in the U.S., but this. Is. Thailand!
Longtail boats shuttled us to James Bond Island in groups, and as we boarded, we made sure to evenly distribute our seating arrangements so the boat would be balanced on our short journey to the shore. Getting to explore the island and see the rocky landscape up close was surreal. I'll just let the photos do the talking for this one.
After exploring the island for about thirty minutes, we boarded our longtail boats and returned to the tour boat, where we would go to a cove and get a kayak tour of a few more islands.
There were several Arabic tourists on the James Bond Island Phuket excursion, and at this point in my global travels, my beard had gotten very long and dark. So, when I boarded the kayak with my personal tour guide, he greeted me by saying, "Assalamu alaikum," which is a popular Arabic greeting that means, “peace be upon you.” I couldn't help but laugh at the fact he thought I was middle eastern because of my beard. However, looking back at the photos, I can see it.
The kayak tour was a great experience to get up close to the unique rock formations underneath the overhangs on each island just above the water. After exploring a few coves, we went back to the boat to return to the harbor. I typically am not a fan of tourist excursions like this, but I would highly recommend this tour. It's a great way to get out on the water in Phuket, experience longtail boats, and see these stunning islands up close.
Big Buddha Hike
The next day, I found a hike that was just up the hill from my condo. The trail led to a large Buddha statue on top of a hill that I could see from the north end of the beach while I was on my run.
I looked the hike up online, and my limited research revealed that the trek was only a mile to the Buddha statue, and was just less than 1,000 feet of elevation gain. Having just hiked Trolltunga in Norway two weeks prior, which was 12 miles round trip, and 4,000 feet of elevation gain, I felt like this hike would be no problem. I was wrong. It was a problem.
For starters, it was 92 degrees and 90 percent humidity when I decided to get on the trail, which was significantly different than the climate in Norway. At first, the trail was marked, and the initial path was pretty wide and easy to navigate. It was steep, and I was sweating from the heat, but it didn’t start out too bad.
The path came to a small house, and the trail turned into what seemed like a driveway, and there was a well-worn punching bag hanging from a nailed together wooden stand. It looked like the next Bruce Lee had been training there for years and kicked all of the filling out of the punching bag.
Just behind the house, there was a fork in the path, and I chose the wrong way. I went less than a quarter of a mile in the wrong direction before the path narrowed to the point that I realized it wasn't really a path anymore. At this same moment, I also realized I never researched what animals, insects, or poisonous plants I could encounter in Thailand. Oops.
I turned back the way I came and found the other trail behind the house. This is where the real incline began. The trail was very narrow, with several downed trees and significant erosion from all of the rain. It was so steep that there were ropes along the side of the trail to help you pull yourself along.
Given the heat, humidity, and incline, I was beginning to sweat profusely. As I continued the climb, I encountered the only people I would see on the trail the entire day. Two Australian guys were on their way down, sweating just as much as I was, if not more. If the only other people doing this were Australian, that tells you everything you need to know about the people who decide to do this hike. They're crazy.
As I huffed and puffed my way to the top of the trail through the jungle, I finally made it to the road, which was lined with palm trees. At this point, I was drenched in sweat, and even though the road was still slightly uphill, it was a huge relief from how steep the dirt trail was.
When I finally reached the Buddha, I was only able to get a side view of the statue because the tourist area was closed. I knew this before I decided to do the hike, but I wanted to get some exercise and go see how close I could get.
Even though I couldn’t get a full view of the statue, there were a bunch of monkeys climbing around everywhere which was really cool to see in person, so it made the hike worth it.
As I'm sure you can imagine, the way down the trail was much easier than the way up. Remember when I was wondering what kinds of animals I could encounter in Thailand? Well, on my descent I was moving pretty quickly, and at one point I heard an animal in the brush get scared, make a loud oinking grunt sort of noise, and scurry off deeper into the jungle. I never got a glimpse of the animal, but it startled me as much as I startled it. Based on the sounds I heard, I'm assuming it was a wild boar, which do have a presence in Phuket…I looked it up afterwards.
After surviving the rigorous hike, I got myself cleaned up and decided to walk to the next town south, called Kata Beach. I had heard the sunsets directly between a small island and a point off the mainland, and it lived up to the hype.
I hung out on the beach for a while enjoying my last sunset in Thailand. The next day, I would travel to the Philippines to explore Davao City and Manila. Two virtual assistants who had previously worked for me at my company, King Penguin Media, were planning to show me around their cities, and I was excited to finally meet them in person.
See ya when I see ya
-Doug
I’ve been trying to get in touch urgently. It’s important we talk.