Travel Forum / Destinations / Asia / February 2006

I don't know too much about resorts as I have only visited those islands by
yacht.  I'll be around those parts 3rd week in March too.

The west coast of Ngai has some nice secluded beaches which are only
accessible from the sea but the island is very small and the jungle almost
impenetrable.  I've never been to the resort.

Lanta is large by comparison, around 20 kilometres long with plenty of
choice, from basic huts to a 5 star resort.  Most of the commercial activity
is at Saladan in the North.  Personally I like Lanta Town to visit but it's
not really a place to stay.  There are resorts all the way down the western
coast with some of the smaller, quieter ones right down in the South near
the National Park.  Plenty of snakes, monitor lizzards and monkeys down
there too.

My favorite island is Muuk.  It's bigger than Ngai and there is a bit more
life there than on Ngai, fishing village, rubber and banana plantations,
several small bungalow resorts, not all of them right on the beach, which is
fabulous, by the way, and a fun restaurant run by an Australian guy named
Russell.  Barbacues at the Sawadee Resort used to be a lot of fun but it
wasn't open last time I was there.  You can walk to most of the nice bits
except the Emerald Cave but you can get there by longtail or even hire a
canoe to go (take a waterproof torch).

Just across from Muuk is Kradan with some really fabulous snorkelling off
the reef along the southern shore.  The accomodation on Kradan  doesn't look
too good, at least, it didn't up to this time last year.  There is also
supposed to be a good Aussie run restaurant on the SW corner which is on my
visit list for this coming trip.

If you haven't yet done so, take a look at
http://andaman-island-hopping.com/

Philip