Andaman Islands - Koh Ngai: Day 3

After a hearty breakfast, we packed our bags and took a ferry back to the mainland.





Amazing how those guys manage to transport that cupboard without the boat tipping over.



The ferry dropped us off at Pak Meng pier. One of the gang lost his backpack which was "checked-in" before we boarded the ferry. Unfortunately, we never found it.

Tham Kao Khop

Aside from the beautiful beaches and islands, Trang province also has some magnificent caves. We paid of them, "Tham Kao Khop", a visit. It started to drizzle a little, but that didn't stop us.



The tour started off with a boat ride along a narrow stream that lead into the caves. Inside, there were some impressive stalactities and stalagmites, and the caves were really huge.





The tour ended off with an exciting boat ride through a cave with a very very low ceiling. Everybody in the boat had to lie flat on their backs while the boatman used his hands to guide the boat through the cave and out the exit. Quite an experience, staring at stalactites passing centimeters above your face.







One Tambom One Product

After the boat ride, we went to the OTOP shop. OTOP stands for "One Tambon One Product", an initiative to develop local produce and self sufficiency.



Many hand-made souvenirs were for sale. There were lots of statues of dugongs, but we didn't actually see any live ones by the beach.

Back to Trang



We stopped for lunch at a restaurant seemingly in the middle of nowhere, but with excellent food.



We had just enough time to check out one of the nearby waterfalls before heading back to town.





We ended off our trip with evening tea at a cafe beside the train station.

Epilogue

Our trip to Koh Ngai started on 26 Nov 2004. Exactly one month later on Dec 26, the Andaman coast of Thailand was struck by the deadly Indian Ocean tsunami.

When I read about the people being trapped in the same Emerald Cave, and the tourists who were lost and unaccounted for, it struck me just how unexpected and precious life is. I can only hope that our guide and the locals on Koh Ngai survived the disaster.

Back to Day 2 / Back to Prologue