Ko Phayam, Thailand

According to Wikipedia, "Ko Phayam is widely thought to be one of the most beautiful--and undiscovered--of Thailand's islands". I've not seen them all, but I know this place deserves that description.

Ko Phayam is a small island in the Andaman sea situated near the Thailand and Myanmar border. It only measures 8x6 kilometres so it takes very little time to get anywhere and its home to a mere 500 locals.

To get to the island we took a 1 hour flight from Bangkok to Ranong then a 45 minute speedboat ride to Ko Phayham. The roads are just like concrete driveways and transport is via scooter or foot. There are no ATM's on the island nor is there anything much else except a few shops, restaurants and "resorts". It's easily the quietest and least developed island I have ever been to.

The beaches are as you expect tropical island beaches to be, perfect! And when I'm swimming in the water I find myself searching for the cold spots. But there are none. The water is above warm.

I love the peace and tranquility of Koh Phayam. As the area is coming into the off/wet season, there's almost no tourists around (except Germans, they seem to be everywhere) and the local businesses are in go slow or closed up mode. This adds even more to the laid back and relaxed atmosphere.

At the moment the weather is around 30-35deg during the day and 25ish during the night with high humidity. Every few days we have spectacular thunderstorms and almost every night there's a brilliant sunset.

It's really great that it hasn't been over developed yet because it possesses a real distinct charm and character. Nothing is fancy and there's no posh resorts or restaurants. For example, we stayed in this small, basic and clean bungalow for a couple of nights just meters from the beach and it only cost $20aud p/n.

The plan was to stay on the island for a couple of weeks then travel a little on the mainland, down south, until the thirty day visa expired. But we won't find a better place to be than Koh Phayam so we're going to stay here for the entire month.