9th day: Phang nga bay on a speedboat

Phang Nga Bay, RTGS: Ao Phang-nga, It is a 400 km² bay in the Andaman Sea between the island of Phuket and the mainland of the Malay peninsula of southern Thailand. Phang Nga is a shallow bay with 42 islands, comprising shallow marine waters and intertidal forested wetlands, with at least 28 species of mangrove; seagrass beds and coral reefs are also present.
We visited the park onboard of an 800HP, 40person capacity speed boat.

The most famous of the many islands in the bay is the so-called James Bond Island, a needle formed limestone rock in the sea, which featured in the movie The Man with the Golden Gun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHlssnzaJKA
Ko Tapu (original name) is a limestone rock about 20 metres (66 ft) tall with the diameter increasing from about 4 metres (13 ft) near the water level to about 8 metres (26 ft) at the top. It lies about 40 metres (130 ft) to the west from the northern part of Khao Phing Kan.

A local legend explains the formation of Ko Tapu island as follows. Once upon a time, there lived a fisherman who used to bring home much fish every time he went to the sea. However, one day he could not catch any fish despite tedious attempts and only picked up a nail with his net. He kept throwing the nail back to the sea and catching it again. Furious, he took his sword and cut the nail in halves, using all his power. Upon impact, one half of the nail jumped up and speared into the sea forming Ko Tapu.

We also went to see a Malay village, floating on the shallow water of the bay and went kayaking in some of the caves on the island.

We finished the day on a lonelly beach shooting modelling photos for fun....

The day is not finished yet. Tonight we take a late flight, flying to Kuala Lumpur and drive to the rain forrest.


All pics of the trip as usual are linked on the right quick link column or simply click here

All pics / kepek