Another crowded island beach (the scientifically minded will spot interesting wave interference patterns)
Ah, the beach. Swims in the morning and evening. A house built out on stilts over the bay. Waking up in the middle of the night to hear the sea lapping underneath our bed at high tide. (Or as Jam romantically put it: it sounds like someone going for a never ending pee.)
Going fishing with the boys. Always some beach towels drying. Watching the sun sink into the sea.
I love it here, and I’m going to miss the tropical heat that means you wander in and out of the house at whatever time of day or night with just shorts on. Clothes dry in a couple of hours. However, the others find the heat a little oppressive. Jam in particular becomes noticeably crabby as the heat builds during the day.
Partly to escape the heat, partly because it is a great excursion, we took a boat trip out to the islands that surround Koh Yao Noi. Beautiful beaches are everywhere. In fact, just south of us is The Beach – Maya Bay on Ko Phi Phi, setting for the eponymous film, and a beach that became so popular for selfie seeking tourists that it is now closed to the public. Boats come and go at all the islands, and some people complain that the beaches are crowded, but honestly? There’s never more than a dozen or so boat loads of tourists, and they never stay more than an hour. No one ever sees themselves as part of the crowds, it’s always everyone else.
Anyway, our cruise around various islands was stunning. As we set off a giant sailing ship nosed into view (a pirate ship, as Jam labeled it), as an additional picturesque prop.
We visited a spot where monkeys swim out from an island to be fed by tourists (although we hadn’t been briefed, so we didn’t have any bananas with us).
Mostly we just cruised between various swimming or sunbathing spots. Towering karst limestone cliffs dropped vertically into the sea, narrow strips of forest fringed the sandy beaches and the sea was ludicrously warm. However, the presence of some alarmingly large jellyfish deterred some people from getting into the water (not many jellyfish came close to the shore.)
So what of our own quest for the perfect beach? We found several beautiful beaches but in the end the beach is just a stage. What counts is what happens on the stage. Kate loves reading books in the shade – give her a swing and some shade and she’s fine. For me it’s about the exploration, the beauty of nature. For the kids it is nothing to do with scenery. Without much in the way of activities, they quickly realise the best fun to be had is to wind each other up. The beach just reflects us back to ourselves.
Can I have an ice-cream? 
[…] was horribly complicated trying to decide where to go for ‘the beach stuff‘ everyone expects from Thailand (white sands, blue seas, the limestone towers etc), when the […]
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