Laid-back, sustainable and local

This ruea hua thong is modified to have benches and a roof for tourists. For safety, one boat will accommodate up to six passengers.

Located in Phangnga Bay in the Andaman Sea, Koh Yao Noi is situated right between Phuket, Phangnga and Krabi. The small island is a popular destination for visitors who look for a quiet vacation, a place close to nature or who seek to experience the local way of life of fishermen.

My first trip to the island was almost a decade ago. I remember that I was very impressed with the hospitality of people on the island as well as the large selection of fresh seafood prepared by my homestay host Dusit Buttree. I wanted Koh Yao Noi to stay my secret escape. But homestays on Koh Yao Noi are well known these days due to the success in tourism management, facilitated by many awards in Thailand and Asean; too well known to be hidden from visitors. When I had a chance to return to the island with the Phuket Office of Tourism and Sports, I did not hesitate to join.

The government agency operated under the Tourism and Sports Ministry selected the island's only two homestays to be the role models for community based tourism (CBT) in Phangnga province this year: Koh Yao Noi CBT Club and Ban Tha Khao CBT Club.

A group of Ban Tha Khao housewives introduce themselves to visitors before holding a batik workshop.

In general, people associate the concept of Koh Yao Noi homestays with the services and facilities of Koh Yao Noi CBT Club, the homestay pioneer on the island founded in 1995.

"About 30 years ago, we faced a critical problem of marine life shortage due to overfishing by commercial trawling boats. They used destructive fishing gear to trawl and dredge up the seafloor. They took everything from our sea. The fishing gear also damaged marine habitats and seagrass,” said Samroeng Rakhet, the club's founder and president.

Koh Yao Noi is home to seven different communities. Most of them are Muslim and their main source of income is fishing.

"We are fishermen who catch fish with small fishing boats. We must protect our bread and butter," Samroeng said.

Flying foxes on Koh Roi stay in groups on tree branches during the day and fly out to search for fruit at night. They tend to move up the branches inch by inch when they hear human voices coming closer. Some also fly away.

The communities joined forces to fight against illegal fishing vessels. They slept on their fishing boats to guard the seashores and ward off poachers. It took them many years to successfully lobby local authorities to announce a ban on illegal fishing within 3km of the island.

In consequence, marine life and seagrass gradually returned to the island's ecosystem. The measure's success drew the attention of media and visitors. To regulate tourist activities, the community then formed Koh Yao Noi CBT Club, over 20 years ago. Today, they also offer accommodation and tour packages on the island as well as island hopping services.

Those who stay overnight at Koh Yao Noi Homestay will have a chance to visit Ban Tha Khao to join a batik workshop. Located in the east of the island, Ban Tha Khao also has a pier, from which locals commute between the island and Krabi.

Chanya gives a big smile before handing a coconut to each of her visitors. She and her husband have grown coconut trees for more than 30 years. They have 60 coconut trees in their 1 rai plot of land. During my first visit, it was her husband who harvested fresh coconut for me. But recently the old man got sick. He hardly walks, so now Chanya picks the coconuts in the early morning to serve visitors later in the day. She also makes flat spoon-like handles out of the top of a coconut shell, which help with scooping out young coconut meat.

"When tourists visited our island, they wanted to know where they should stay and what to do," said Praphan Ben-amat, the president of Ban Tha Khao CBT Club, recalling the time before the village set up the tourism club.

In the year 2000, a group of villagers joined hands to open a restaurant. Three years later, a team of housewives set up a batik group for extra income by selling batik to tourists.

Praphan said the number of tourists kept increasing, so the community worked with Koh Yao Noi CBT Club, as its affiliate, to set up their own tourism group.

Today Ban Tha Khao CBT Club also offers a homestay, tour programmes on the island and island hopping services, just like Koh Yao Noi CBT Club.

"Our service is an alternative for tourists who stay in another part of the island," he said.

Kasem Nilsamut has farmed lobsters for almost two decades. His farm, called Ban Mangkon, can be accessed via a 10-minute boat ride from Laem Sai pier in the south of the island. He likes to pull out one or two lobsters for visitors to hold for pictures. He also entertains visitors by displaying various types of bigger fish, such as puffer fish or zebra sharks. During my visit, he would take zebra sharks from their small pen and let people touch them. I secretly hoped that the net would break, allowing the fish to return to the open sea.

During my recent visit hosted by the Phuket Office of Tourism and Sports, we tried the services of both the Koh Yao Noi and Ban Tha Khao tourism groups. Ban Tha Khao managed a half-day island hopping programme for us and Koh Yao Noi CBT Club led a tour around the island.

We boarded a modified long-tail fishing boat, known as ruea hua thong, at Ban Tha Khao pier with a local guide. The boat headed north to Koh Roi for us to see numerous flying foxes.

The island has a tiny beach and a natural stone arch. After our guide led us through the curved structure, we had to walk only a short while through a mangrove forest — while listening to the bats squeak — before seeing the large fox bats. They hung from almost every branch of the tall trees as if they were black fruit. We took pictures for a while and then continued our journey to Ao Khian at the northern tip of the island to see the towering trees called ton somphong or Tetrameles  nudiflora.

Overlooking the entire bay is Ao Phangnga National Park. The staff of the park told us that the 50m-tall tree is many centuries old and the trunk's circumference is about 30m. These trees are huge and the island's northern forest is still dense.

The batik designs of Ban Tha Khao are based on things people find in their daily lives such as the local fishing boats (ruea hua thong), the panoramic view from Phangnga Bay, or a pair of hornbills. If you are lucky, you may spot some of the birds in the early morning.

Our next stop was Koh Lao Kudu which is also known as Koh Kudu Yai. It is one of the snorkelling sites of Phangnga Bay and home to a range of towering karsts similar to Koh Tapu, or the James Bond Island, also located in Phangnga Bay.

The last stop of our boat trip was Tham Toh Buat, a small cave named after the fisherman who found it a long time ago. The cave is also located in the north of the island. It is also used as a rest area where fishermen can spend the night. There is no fresh water or electric light inside the cave, but several raised bamboo platforms for sleeping and some kitchen utensil and cooking facilities provide the bare necessities.

Upon getting back to Koh Yao Noi, Samroeng had organised songthaew pickup trucks on which to tour the island. The first stop, a coconut plantation, allowed us to refresh with cold and sweet coconut water.

The plantation is surrounded by rice fields. We saw buffaloes eating grass on the paddies. Samroeng told us that there were about 300 buffaloes in total on the island. They are not used for farming but raised as pets. If visitors want to experience growing rice with farmers, he added, they should visit the island around August, whereas rice harvest takes place around December. 

Fresh seafood on Koh Yao Noi is second to none. Each dish is served in big portions, such as steamed blue crabs, fried fish, steamed shrimps, nam phrik kung siab (spicy dip with shrimp), bai liang phad kai (stir fried liang leaves with egg) and kaeng leung (spicy yellow soup with fish).

We also made a quick stop at a small bio-fertilising plant, using organic waste from Koh Yao Noi households. Local farmers tend to use the bio-fertiliser instead of chemical alternatives.

"We have about 800 rai of paddy fields and most of us grow rice organically. We plan to produce 100% organic rice within this year," said Samroeng.

The tour package of both homestay services can be adjusted to fit the requirements and schedules of visitors, ranging from one to four day offers. The clubs also receive long-stay visitors from Europe who may stay for up to six months.

"Our homestay guests can try catching fish or harvest crabs in the sea with their host or learn to get latex from a rubber tree or snorkel in the sea. We have a variety of activities that are part of our lives and that we can share with our guests," he said.

When it comes to a laid-back place to stay, Koh Yao Noi has certainly never failed me.

A herd of buffaloes eating grass in the rice fields in the late afternoon. Farmers on Koh Yao Noi grow rice only once a year. Their yield accounts for only 30% of the island’s total rice consumption.

We tried to measure the size of a ton somphong tree by standing close to each other while holding hands. The park officer said we need about 30 people to complete the circle around the huge trunk.

Travel Info

- Koh Yao Noi can easily be reached from Phuket by taking a 35-minute speedboat ride from Bang Rong pier. Boats depart daily starting from 7.30am to 5.30pm. A one-way ticket costs 200 baht. The boat docks at Ma Noh pier in the southwest of Koh Yao Noi. Contact the homestay service to pick you up from the pier.

- From Tha Len pier in Krabi, visitors can ride a speedboat to Ban Tha Khao pier on Koh Yao Noi. The service is available from 9am to 5pm. A one-way journey takes 20 minutes is priced at 200 baht.

- In addition to homestay services, choices of accommodation on Koh Yao Noi range from budget hotels to luxurious resorts.

- For more information about Koh Yao Noi CBT Club, visit kohyaotour.com or call 081-968-0877 or 086-942-7999.

- For more information about Ban Tha Khao CBT Club, contact 089-646-1891 or 085-323-9863.