I thanked him and declined, and then five minutes later, another local did exactly the same. One day, I was waiting by the side of the road for my boyfriend, Dave, and within a couple of minutes, a local pulled up beside me on a bike and asked if he could take me wherever I needed to go - at no cost. It’s hard not to feel safe on an island where the locals are so unaffected by crime. It’s not an uncommon sight to head out for a walk and see every scooter parked up with the keys still in the ignition. One thing that reiterated this was the fact that nobody cares to lock their scooters here. People still care to find out your story and ask what brought you to their island, and they genuinely care about your answer - it isn’t a sales technique. There aren’t any scams because there simply aren’t enough travellers to make money out of.
#Koh yao noi kayaking full
For a country that’s full of welcoming, warm people, that’s really saying something.īecause Koh Yao Noi is yet to attract the hoards of tourists that other islands do, the locals aren’t yet over tourism. The locals of Koh Yao Noi were some of the friendliest I’ve come across in Thailand. I want to kick off this blog post by explaining why, exactly, you should be aiming to travel to Koh Yao Noi. And while there’s internet in many of the guesthouses, it’s still a destination where you’ll find it easy to disconnect. You’ll still fall asleep to the sound of crickets rather than the pumping of bass.
There are still few tourists, not many accommodation options, and a handful of lovely restaurants. While at this point in time (2021), it’s not quite as undiscovered and there’s a whole wealth of information about the island online, it’s still the perfect place to come if you’re looking for respite in Thailand. I first visited the island in 2012 and have returned three further times since then. The locals on Koh Yao Noi don’t want the word getting out about their beautiful home and so far, it seems to be working. That doesn’t mean that you can’t find alcohol on the island or that bars don’t exist - it’s just that on this island, there’s one option instead of an entire street lined with them. Muslims make up a whopping 90% of the population in Koh Yao Noi and they’re doing everything they can to prevent their home from turning into yet another party island. I wandered into a travel agent and looked at the list of destinations that was scrawled across a chalkboard. I was certain there were plenty of trash-filled islands where I could sleep on the beach for next to nothing in this country, but that wasn’t exactly my idea of paradise. I wanted an island that wasn’t built for tourists, that wasn’t incredibly expensive, and was still worth visiting. It was time to find an island that was the exact opposite of where I currently found myself.
It was as I approached my second week on Phi Phi that I decided to take matters into my own hands. Spoiler alert: Koh Phi Phi was not, in fact, an undiscovered island. I guess I was yet another a travelling cliché who was convinced The Beach didn’t have to be a work of fiction that I too could discover my own island paradise and keep it all to myself. Koh Chang, Koh Phi Phi, Koh Lanta - I’d enjoyed my time on all three of them, but they weren’t the vision of paradise I’d held in my mind for so long. We’d been travelling in Thailand for four months at this point and I’d expected so much more from the islands.
Only one boat a day.”ĭave and I exchanged glances and I could tell he was wondering if we were making a huge mistake.
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