… Maybe Not The Island I was Looking For.

Yesterday I saw a spectacular photograph on Facebook of a long wooden bridge stretching out to an offshore island. Something in the accompanying narrative suggested it was close to me in Khanom.

There was a map reference, which turned out to be spookily close to home. Having lived here more than six months, I think I might have noticed a long wooden bridge outside my house!

Assuming it really is somewhere close by, I can’t figure how I could have missed it. I thought I’d been along every coast road in the region. Anyways, it was time for a spot of detective work.

I used Google search, Google Maps and Google Earth and basically came up empty-handed. Using the most obvious search terms only resulted in a few pages in Thai. Google will translate them, as will Facebook, but if you’ve ever tried that, you’ll know the result is close to gibberish. It’s to be expected. Thai has a very precise sentence structure which is totally different from English. Translating sentences in the same word order results in something meaningless.

Eventually I found a reference to a small resort not for from here, which supposedly, nearby, has a wooden bridge to a small island. I took another look on Google Earth and decided … hmmm, maybe, possibly, that’s the place. At the very least, it was somewhere I hadn’t been, so when this morning dawned rain-free (a rarety in the rainy season) I decided to take a look.

Well; I think you’ll have to agree, that’s no wooden bridge. It’s a concrete one with a gap in the middle…

But, alongside, there seem to be the remains of another bridge, so could that have been the wooden one, now deceased?…

“Well, no matter” I thought. “The village on the island looks interesing, so I’d better take a look.” And this is what I found…

So that was the first half of the island. And at the end of the road was something called a School and Homestay.

Seems like an odd combination.

The place was deserted, but for sure it’s a nice location for either…

And then there was a new concrete pathway, which I figured, with luck, would take me back around the other side of the island…

Along the way there were some nice houses. This one’s a bit of a fixer-upper, but with a lick of paint and a new window, it should be as good as new…

Or not. 🙂 Okay, this one’s better…

Nice view too…

More village life…

…with the usual friendly faces…

Most of the island had a very Chinese feel to it…

…especially with the small temple on the hill…

Although tourists are clearly expected, I didn’t see evidence of any…

…the main income seems to be from fishing…

Back across the bridge there did seem to be indications that one day they might finish the missing segment. I spotted this guy checking his tire pressures 🙂 and when he spotted me spotting him, he insisted I had to have a photo of him driving his back hoe, even though he wasn’t…

I guess 11am is not a bad time to start work. It’s that kind of place. Relaxing…

Close-by I found new roads that I haven’t explored, so I’ll save those for a future trip.

And, having now decided I still haven’t found the location of the wooden bridge, I’ll have to explore more for that too.