Category Archives: Islands

Ko Yao Noi Tootlings #7…

…Random Jottings.

The journey to/from the island from Krabi province was somewhat … what shall I say? … choppy.

thailand, phang nga, ko yao noi

Outbound we waited for a storm to pass…

thailand, phang nga, ko yao noi

…and going back to the mainland, the front of the boat – what’s it called? – the bow, was moving around like a corkscrew. Maybe I should have offered to drive…

thailand, phang nga, ko yao noi

One day I decided to wander around the main town, which is pretty-much the only town, just to see what was on offer…

thailand, phang nga, ko yao noi

thailand, phang nga, ko yao noi

thailand, phang nga, ko yao noi

thailand, phang nga, ko yao noi

I’d have to say, for tourists, not much. Every place seemed to be selling the same things. But I looked around some of the small supermarkets and the fresh food stores and was quite impressed with the range of goods.

And you might be wondering why I would care. Well, as it happens, Twitterings will be relocating to the island later this year. I was imagining I’d have to take a ferry to go to Krabi or Phuket for the bulk of my culinary needs, but I found a wider range of produce than I can buy here in Khanom – which is a much larger place. My favorite curry powder is available. Right now I need a 140km round-trip to Surat Thani to buy it. And my favorite type of pasta, farfalle, which I hastily snatch from the shelf any time I see it, is available on the island in a number of stores. Fresh veggies are everywhere…

thailand, phang nga, ko yao noi

There’s even a gas station, but I don’t think it will meet Bert’s needs!…

thailand, phang nga, ko yao noi

Mimi was happy though. Someone’s made her a nice take-off and landing pad 🙂 …

thailand, phang nga, ko yao noi

Of course, she just had to go up and take a look around…

thailand, phang nga, ko yao noi

…leaving me to listen intently for anyone shouting “Incoming” – which only aficionados of the TV show MASH will understand.

And I even found a nice little restoration project…

thailand, phang nga, ko yao noi

Oh, and a tamarind tree…

thailand, phang nga, ko yao noi

…but they’re very common on the island. According to Wikipedia the pulp can be used for “traditional medicine and metal polish.” I’m struggling to find a connection between those, but maybe polished intestines are healthy intestines.

Despite the mostly gloomy weather, I did have a tootle around the southwest corner of the island. Not a lot to see, especially with the tide being out and the lack of blue skies…

thailand, phang nga, ko yao noi

thailand, phang nga, ko yao noi

And I found yet another unused jetty…

thailand, phang nga, ko yao noi

wwiI’m not even going to try to guess why they keep building them. In Thailand, things just are the way they are.