One gorgeous Saturday morning, 14 women set out for Koh Yao Noi, less than an hour off Phuket by boat.
Koh Yao Noi is stunning and virtually untouched by tourists. You can take your bike on the boat over – a larger version of a long tail boat (they strap it to the roof with the chickens, veges and whatever else they are taking over) – so that you can ride around the island.
The island isn’t large and is mostly a Muslim community, so there is no huge partying to be done. Instead you relax on the beach, swing in hammocks and read a lot. Of course, there are bars and you can buy alcohol (we are in Thailand remember!) but choices are limited. It’s best you like beer!
We stayed in bungalows across from the beach, with a view to Phang Nga bay. This means we could see giant limestone rock formations jut out of the ocean as we swam in the turquoise water. Heaven! To our credit, we did do some exercise and walk up the side of a hill to see the view. And we walked to dinner… But it was mostly relaxing.
Sunday we did some exploring and headed out to find supposedly ‘the best beach ever’ hidden down the end of a dirt track that was hell to drive down. After much bumping and jarring of bones, we found the beach and it was so worth the effort. We were the only people there, apart from a random rasta guy at his bar practicing fire-twirling. We also drove around the island and checked out town – tiny, but it had a 7-11 – and had lunch at ‘Good View’ restaurant by the water. Tough life!
Just made our boat back. 5 mins later and we’d be spending another night there. They lifted my bike on board and strapped it down while we found positions in the sun for the trip back. Highly highly recommend a weekend at Koh Yao Noi!
