Koh Prayam

Koh Prayam, Thailand January 25, 2008. “Like Koh Samui in the 1980’s.” That was the advertising slogan on a poster that caught my eye in my guesthouse in Bangkok. I had got those itchy red skin dots again, so was eager to leave the city for some clean less developed tropical island paradise.

After an all night 10 hr bus ride I took the daily ferry to Prayam Island from Ranong about 8:30 am. We passed some scenic jungle clad islets on the way to Koh Prayam, docking at the village pier about 11 am. We stopped in route at a remote island resort that had small plastic boats that came out to gather their new customers.

There are two main tourist beaches on Koh Prayam. I stayed at the longer one on the SW corner of the island. It has powdery sand near the trees and grayer firmer stuff at wide low tide areas. There is a nice reef with excellent fish life on the North end of this beach, however the water visibility is very poor. There is also the jelly fish larva stinging in the water like is common at beaches in the spring in Florida.

I rented a bike and bicycled the hilly island for exercise and scenery. The other tourist beach on the NW side of the island is even more scenic at high tide than the one I stayed at. The higher priced accommodation and food places are located here. My camera battery died before I could photograph the wonderful see thru rock formation arches at the Northern end of this beach.

Had ok massages at “Welcome Massage”. This place has affordable food in nice garden setting. There is in a cluster of good value restaurants and a convenience store that are here about 2 km inland from the main tourist beach. A restaurant and bakery owned by a French lady (just next to the massage place) has the best muesilie on the island.

The season is Dec to March when the winds and weather are not monsoon. I stayed at Bamboo Bungalows which I don’t recommend as the attitude is too high prow there. I moved to Long Beach bungalows at the north end of the beach but I don’t recommend them either as it is too far from everything except snorkeling and has a noisy Rasta weed smoking bar next door. But nice owners and great value right on beach for 200 baht.

I would stay at Smile Hut next time with best all round location and value bungalows on the beach for like 300 baht. They also have a wind turbine to generate some green electricity.

Other logistics:
Island is in Adaman Sea just south of border with Burma (Myanmar).
One ferry leaves Ranong at 8:30am for the island, and leaves the island at 2 pm.
There are no cars on the island and motorbike taxi is 70 baht across the island.
Can rent a motorbike for 150 to 200 baht a 24 hr day.
Can rent a basic 6-speed bicycle at the inland convenience store for 70 baht for 24 hr day or 50 baht for half day.
Is no central power grid so electricity is generally only on from about 6:30 pm to 11 pm.
Mostly European tourists, almost no Americans have discovered the island yet, except Chuck a Californian who lives here 6 months a year.