James Bond's island
By Liza Kappelle | theage.com.au | 10 August
The only real way to see a James Bond island is from a luxury cruiser with a glass of champagne in hand.
That's how we see Koh Ping-gan, a tiny Thai island that played a starring role alongside Roger Moore in the 1974 James Bond movie, The Man With the Golden Gun.
Scenes featuring the hideout of the film's villain, Scaramanga, were shot here, and it's been dubbed James Bond Island ever since by locals and the tourists lucky enough to visit this beautiful bay.
Like the hundreds of other islands in Phang Nga Province, north-east of Phuket, it's a limestone tower topped with lush vegetation jutting dramatically out of the sea.
At lower tides, caves are exposed offering tourists sea canoeing and kayaking adventures as well as the usual snorkelling and scuba diving.
We don't set foot on the James Bond island, there's no labouring up cliffs for us today, but we lift our champagne flutes to the other tourists as we speed by for a lunch date at a sea gypsy fishing village.
We're aboard the Lady Sarojin, a 38 foot cruiser available for exclusive charter to guests at The Sarojin resort in Khao Lak province about an hour's drive north of Phuket.
Like everything at the resort, the boat is luxurious, with deep, comfortable cushions, soft white towels, lemongrass-scented refresher towels and plenty of champagne.
We have a glass before arriving at Koh Pannyi, a fishing village built on stilts.
There will be no alcohol with our lunch in this Muslim haven which is a sleepy fishing village most of the time but operates a market - selling clothes, trinkets, foods, even a monkey - for the tourists who flock here around lunch time.
It feels pretty rickety walking on the paths made of wet poles lashed together, but kids here race about and ride their bikes on them.
Inside the village there are concrete paths, easier for those of us not lucky enough to be born sea gypsies.
We find lunch waiting for us, a gourmet feast prepared at The Sarojin and rushed, with fine china and snowy white linen and flowers, by speed boat to the village as part of the cruising package.
We hoped to go snorkelling later, but it's monsoon season and lashing afternoon rain puts it out of the question.
It's no problem though, we've got a cruiser.
We simply go elsewhere, soaking up breathtaking scenery and ancient rock art with our champagne as we weave about the islands for the rest of the day.
If you go:
Jetstar flies from Melbourne and Sydney to Bangkok and Phuket, visit: http://www.jetstar.com/au/index.html.
Details about the resort and its array of package deals can be found at http://www.sarojin.com.
The writer was a guest of The Sarojin flying Jetstar's premium economy class, Starclass, and Qantas.
AAP
First published by TheAge.com.au on August 10 2008
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