Trip reports forum

Neither the Rasta Baby Bar nor My Barbeque are particularly popular with people who know Ko Phayam well.

The latter is boycotted because the owner is strongly suspected of being involved in the death of a Burmese worker. The people running the former are not the nicest people on the island either. When I was staying at the resort next door a few years ago another guest went and asked if they could keep the noise down a bit after midnight and she got told to "fuck off bitch" and was threatened with a knife.

There are rumours that the Rasta Baby Bar will be moving inland next season... much to the relief neighbouring resorts no doubt.

Smile Huts are also somewhere I would steer well clear of. They are the first place you see when you arrive at the main beach so a lot of people stay there. However their crappy huts and dubious sanitation make them VERY poor value IMO. Loads of better places to stay on that beach or elsewhere on the island for 200B.

The PP resort is relatively new and relatively expensive but it gets a lot of business. Strong ecological stance... solar power, recycling of used water to irrigate the organic vegetable plot, bicycle rather than motorbike hire etc.

I know the owner quite well. He said they were 100% full high season this year. Not one a single night with a free bungalow between November and March. Would be best to book in advance if you are planning to stay peak season maybe.

The owner of PPland also produced a new up to date map which was widely available on Ko Phayam last season. The old one didn't show his resort but there are other newly built resorts shown on the new map too. Andaman Island Hopping was still using an old inaccurate map last time I looked. So was tezza even though he went there after that map became available.(Okaaaaaaaaay Somtam, I'll stop) ;-)

just found a link to PP Land which you may find useful...

http://www.ppland.cabanova.de/

Hey,

I know this is like an ancient thread but we're thinking of going to Koh Phayam (leave Uk for Bangkok on 1st Nov). From what I read, I thought we would like PP Land, Sabai Sabai or Mr Gao's the best to stay in. Any recommendations? Also someone said PP Land is expensive - they don't have rates on their basic website - does anyone know roughly (maybe last year's prices) how much they were. We're in the 400-800 bhat a night bracket (I know, a bit of a range but we're hoping to pay cheaper in some places and a bit more in others so it evens itself out budget wise). Should we book in advance or can we just turn up?

Thanks, Ruth

Anywhere in the Andaman in November with the exception of Phi Phi and Railay is normally just turn up. This November shows promise of being quieter than normal.

PP Land looked pretty nice to me, but I thought it was a bit isolated. Certainly not the nicest beach on Phayam although okay.
Mr Goa is on the attractive yet unbusy Buffalo Bay North - and has some adjacent (not too close) bungalow places for some variety of dining etc. Mr Goa looked sweet to me, from memory it has one of those overbeach dining platforms.

Cant help you with Sabai Sabai - don't remember it.

Hi all.
I'm travelling to Bangkok on the 30th of Jan and then heading to Koh Phayam. Planning on spending around 5 weeks on the island. Can anyone recommend cheap,(300-350B), bungalows/rooms on the island?
I have e-mailed the owners of Mr Gao's and Vijit Bungalows as they are the only two with websites that say they have budget places, (that I have found), to ask about availability.
Any more on the island? Websites? Any chance of me just turning up and finding somewhere nice?

Any thoughts/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

Thanks Ruth,

Got an e-mail back from Vijit Bungalows. Room booked, 60 meters from the beach, 300B a night! Happy Days!!

Can't wait.

I will update this when I arrive.

When we were there in November there wasn't an ATM. There is one guy in the village that does visa cash advances but maestro wouldn't work. Take as much money as you can out before you get to the island. Some of the bungalows do take cards - again though, don't know if it's visa only or if they'll take maestro. Maybe email/phone your bungalows and ask them as some of them are cash only in any case. Could you try to get a visa card - either debit or credit? One from Nationwide is probably best because they don't charge for using it abroad. Might be handy especially if you're staying a while on the island.

Vijits is cash only but they can change foreign currency. No doubt the rate will be lower than what you'd get on the mainland though so best to take as much money as you can with you. They have a safe where you can keep it and other valuables while you're staying there.

If you do run out of money then there's a guy who works for Vijits on the pier in Ranong . He can take you to the nearest ATM and you can pay him.


Here are the daily boat schedules to and from Ranong.

From Ranong
Slow Boat: 9.30am and 2pm
Speed Boat:10am, 2.30pm

From Phayam
Slow boat:8.30 am and 1pm
Speed boat:9am, 2pm and 4pm.

The slow boat costs 150B and takes about 2hours and the speed boat costs 350B and usually takes about 40 minutes. The speed boat service only operates in high season and the last run (4pm and 5 pm) has only been operational since December 24th and so it may be pulled when demand falls.

Going to Ranong every week to get money would be quite expensive. Even if your bank back hone doesn't charge for withdrawals abroad there's still the 150B withdrawal fee imposed by Thai banks. Since they started imposing this fee I've noticed that most ATMs will only allow you to withdraw 10K at a time, not 20K as in the past...strikes me that there's a wee bank scam going on! AFAIK non of the ATMs in Ranong will spit out more than 10K at a time so if you find one in BKK that does, use that to take out money.

PS. If you're staying 5 weeks at Vijits then I'd be inclined to ask for a long term discount! 300B is the standard rate for the back bungalows but they usually give discounts for people staying a month or more.

Just a correction to the above post from SBE (relayed by email):

"Current speedboat times to and from Ranong are:
To Phayam from Ranong
10am, 2.30pm and 5pm.
To Ranong from Phayam
9am, 2pm and 4pm"

Have fun on an island that I'd rather be on right now -- in fact if you're there, right now, with your feet in the sand, please pop a cold one for me.

Cheers!