One of the highlights of our trip to Thailand was going on an excursion to visit James Bond Island with no crowd. Leading up to the trip, all I focused on was seeing the famous rock from “James Bond: The Man with the Golden Gun”. All the photos I have seen on instagram and pinterest showed this amazing rock surrounded by tons people, so booking an early bird visit was top of my priorities. Due to that, I didn't really focus on all the other things we would do on this excursion, which included so much more. This left me in for a total surprise.
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| Phangnga Treasures x James Bond Island with Phuket Lets Go |
Phuket Let's Go offers a ‘No-Crowd’ excursion called
Phangnga Treasures x James Bond Island trip. It is a very early day (our bus picked us up at 4am from our hotel in Patong Beach). None of us are what you'd call early birds but we weren't 100% on Thai time and this made the early wake-up much better.
Phangnga Bay
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| Phangnga Bay Sunrise |
After about an hour drive in an air-conditioned bus with wifi, we made it to our first stop where trecked up to the Samed Nangshe viewpoint. I will say this - it isn't a simple treck, it's more of a hike. My party decided to wear beach apparel, which means all four were in flip flops, hiking up a muddy mountain. We're all in decent shape but this was not easy for me (blaming it on the shoes). If you do this excursion, please wear sneakers.
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| Phangnga Bay Sunrise |
Once we made the 20 minute walk, we received a snack box consisting of a sandwich, and coffee. That's when the magic happened, where I witnessed the most stunning sunrise of my life at Phangnga Bay. Photos don't do it justice (and I'd like to say these photos are pretty good!). I will remember this moment for the rest of my life. I also will make it a point to watch sunrises on all trips moving forward.
James Bond Island
What goes up must go down. Back on the bus, we headed to the docks and took a long-tail boat out of a local pier with a local villager captain. We headed directly to Koh Tapu aka James Bond island, where we were the second boat on the island (and they left as we arrived).
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| James Bond Island |
Our small group were the only ones on James Bond Island. This usually packed with tourists location was made famous in “James Bond: The Man with the Golden Gun”. We were able to spend 40 minutes here, exploring and taking incredible once in a lifetime photos.
Here is a comparison...
James Bond Island no crowd:
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| James Bond Island |
James Bond Island Crowded
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| Typical Crowds at James Bond Island (Shutterstock) |
Koh Hong Sea-Canoeing
Following James Bond Island, we headed over to Koh Hong for some sea-canoeing. This was (surprise to me) my favorite part of the excursion. I didn't know really what to expect and what we experienced was jaw dropping.
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| Koh Hong |
Our sea-canoes driver took us through hidden lagoons. He even serenaded us as we went along. It was magical. Our driver told us that during a busy time of a day, the lagoon is filled with boats. Here is a comparison:
Early Bird Koh Hong:
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| Koh Hong no crowd |
Non Early Bird Koh Hong:
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| Koh Hong - crowds (shutterstock) |
Once again, it was only our group experiencing this together, and just another reason why you should do the no crowd tour. The Canoes fit 2 people + their driver and was an experience I will never forget.
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| Hanging with our Sea Canoe driver |
Cave Exploring
We also ventured into a few caves, saw some bats and stalagmites, stalactites, crystal-like rock formations. I am not a fan of bats and kept to the back of the group for this one with our friend Ashley who had similar feelings about it. Caves freak me out! My husband Gabe and our friend Ryan on the other hand climbed all throughout these caves like crazy people.
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| Exploring Caves |
Our last stop was a hidden 5,000 year-old shell cemetery nestled around the rock and
mangrove forest. This was fascinating with all painted maps on the rocks, which is thought to be a treasure map. People have tried to break into the cave with no luck. We had a great view of the mangroves from up top and with that, it was time to head back to the pier.
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| Mangroves |
Once back on the van, we headed up to a hilltop where the group had lunch. We were served quite a few dishes such as Pad Thai, Cashew chicken, sweet and sour seafood, fried rice and coconut chicken soup. Plus everyone got a complimentary beer. It was really nice to have a fresh cooked meal after a long day.
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| Incredible Day |
Everything was great about this tour. The team at
Phuket Lets Go is professional, friendly and went out of their way to make our experience in Phuket top-notch. The tour is 4,000 Baht (around $120 USD), but with everything included, it is well with the expense.
Save 10% off this tour with code: irunforwine10 through their
facebook page.
My most popular instagram & facebook photo was also taken on this day......and now I find myself daydreaming over my own photos!
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