17/01/2018
Kho Phayam @ Ranong Thailand
This small kangaroo-shaped island on Thailand's Andaman Coast attracted me not for what it had -- even though it's home to a brightly colored and rarely sighted Hornbill.
The real lure is what it came without.
No traffic.
No full-moon parties.
And none of the unfettered development that has turned Koh Samui and many Thai islands into parodies of their former stunning selves.
Last time I visited, the only way to Koh Phayam was on a slow passenger ferry from the city of Ranong, 300 kilometers north of Phuket.
There were no cars because there were no roads -- only a concrete motorbike track.
It wasn't connected to the electrical grid -- only diesel generators and solar panels for a few hours of power each evening. There were no luxury hotels or resorts.
Returning a decade later, I was anxious to see what had changed.
Mostly it was good news.
The old Koh Phayam remains largely intact -- still a throwback to the golden times now lost from other popular islands.
Inevitably though, there were changes.
