Readers' Trip Reports - KO YAO NOI

Boleslav's Trip Report to Kho Yao Noi - Visited early Dec 2010

The islands of PHANG NGA BAY EAST from Tabeak Bungalows on Ko Yao Noi. The west Krabi mainland is in the background.

We flew to Phuket with Air Asia at midnight, were picked up free of charge by a driver from our accommodation, Wonglee Bungalows, located 5 minutes from the airport.
They have several bungalows, 1300TB per night incl. hearty breakfast of eggs, bread with cheese, tea/coffee and fresh fruit. The cheaper options are the rooms in the main house. The bungalows were fine for 1 night, clean with own bathroom.

In the morning we were given a ride to the Bang Rong pier, TB 500, same price as if we were going from the airport, the ride took 20 minutes.

There are several boats a day departing from Bang Rong to Ko Yao Noi; it was difficult to obtain an accurate information about the departure times as every source we asked provided us with different information.
One of the sources is http://koyaonoi.com/Ferries.html listing all departures between Ko Yao Noi and Phuket, Krabi, Ao Nang, Phang Nga

The cost for the long boat ride is 120TB and speedboat 200TB.
Upon arrival to the Manok pier on Ko Yao Noi, there are trucks waiting and gave us a ride for 80TB per person to our accommodation.
The population on the island is Muslim, therefore there are no bars in the village itself, the resorts have restaurants and bars. The locals are friendly and the island has the feel of unspoiled peaceful place. It is not a place for the party goers.

There are two ATMs in the village and a bank which can provide a foreign exchange. On the road from the village to the Manok pier there is a visitor information office providing basic maps, ferry schedules etc.
Ko Yao Noi - the village.

When trying to find various information about the area and the activities we discovered an agency which replies within few hours, info@easydaythailand.com
A web site providing some information about the island is: http://koyaonoi.com/Koh_Yao_Noi_Directory.html

TABEAK BUNGALOWS
We had decided to stay at Tabeak Bungalows, recommended by Travelfish as they were supposed to have nice views of the Phang Nga Bay.
The accommodation was better than we expected, there are 2 rows of 4 bungalows each, built on the slope overlooking the sea. The bungalows in the upper row have showers with cold water, TB 700 per night, and the views from the upper row are better. The bungalow number 4 may be the best as it is the last in the row away from the restaurant. Each bungalow has toilet, shower, large bed with mosquito net,double doors opening to the verandah out of which one can enjoy stunning views of the Bay and private sunsets in the Phang Nga Bay .

Tabeak bungalow inside.

The Tabeak owners are friendly, speak English and are committed to make your stay pleasant. They can organize various trips like kayaking, sea fishing, snorkeling etc. You can rent bikes (250 per day) and motorcycles (350TB) from them, which is great way to explore the island.
Their web site is http://www.kohyaotabeak.com/

The food at Tabeak is priced reasonably 50-60TB for a breakfast, 90-180 lunch/dinner, the menu is quite large. Tabeak provides free tea and coffee to its guests all day.

The view from Tabeak's restaurant.

If staying at Tabeak for 4 or more days, Pramot, the owner, provides a free BBQ on the nearby island’s deserted beach.

KAYAKING
Interesting formations while kayaking.

We wanted to explore the surrounding islands by kayaks. There are couple of options to do this, either organized with a guide, there are two companies providing this, www.paddleasia.com or www.seacanoe.net, the former one prides itself on visiting the uncrowded islands, the latter one visits several islands incl. the Hong island, known as James Bond island.
The cost of the day trips with both companies is roughly $140 per day incl. the transportation, kayak rents, food, guide.
Another option is to rent sea kayak on the Ko Yao Noi from the local company run by Kitty from Scotland and Zach, Thai. Kitty is very friendly and can provide lots of suggestions on what to do on the island as well where to kayak. Majority of their customers rent the kayaks for several days and tour the neighboring islands, sleep on the islands.

We chose to rent the sea kayaks from Kitty for 2 day trips. First trip was to the Ko Kudu and Ko Roi Islands, two lovely Karst islands with nice sand beaches. We spent several hours kayaking around the islands, exploring their coves and various entryways, hidden Hong. During this time we met only 2 other groups of people.
Kitty organized a longboat, 2000TB for a day, which rode us to the islands and back to Ko Yao Noi.

The second trip was to Pak Bhia group of several islands, Ko Hong (there are 2 Ko Hongs in the Phang Nga Bay, this one is less visited that it’s more famous cousin) and Ko Lading.

Kayaking daytrip Ko Lading.

The beaches of these islands were more crowded, but since we were on kayaks we were circling around several islands and landing on deserted beaches.
The water around the islands is not very clear; the snorkeling would not be something we would try here.

Kayaking daytrip Pak Bhia.

BIKING
Biking on Ko Yao Noi Can be organized through an agency http://amazingbiketoursthailand.asia/kohyao.php Or one can rent a bike from the place where he’s staying and just bike around, enjoying the variety of fishing village, rice paddies, fields, rubber trees.

OTHER ACTIVITIES
Each resort can organized various activities, beside those, there is an agency providing rock climbing on Ko Yao Noi: Mark and Heather MinerBThe Mountain Shop Adventures Co., Ltd. www.themountainshop.org.

We were quite happy with the meals at Tabeak, but if one wishes, there are several restaurants nearby, we tried only Teupee Pata (on the road between Tabeak and Coconut corner, nice bar, very good seafood dishes, open 10am till 10 pm), local market sells meat skewers, fruit, and other meals.

ONWARDS
From Ko Yao Noi we continued to Krabi, Thalen pier, the boat ride takes approx. 50 minutes, 120 TB per person.

Kayaking daytrip Pak Bhia.

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