Ko Ngai

This was my favourite island on this trip. Pronounced as Ko Hai. You arrive at an Island with beautiful turquoise coloured water, dense tropical forest, rocky headlands, and a beautiful white sand beach. This Island has no roads and is approximately 4 km long and 2 km wide. It has approximately 10 resorts, with 9 of them lined up across the beach on the east side of the island. There is one exception with one resort located on the southern beach.

This is one of the more relaxed islands. It is not too large and therefore the crowds are minimum. There are no day trippers so it feels like an actual holiday without intrusion here. The hotels are cheap and the costs on the island for restaurants are cheap with the option to go even cheaper outside the hotel. There is no cash machine so bring about ฿300-900 for each day if you eating out. You will need money for the private non hotel excursions which costs ฿400-500. So bring cash, mosquito repellent, and snacks. Definitely a great stay that is better than some of the bigger Islands.

Here are my top 10 tips for Ko Ngai:

1. Use the Speedboat: The island is a 45 minute speedboat ride from Koh Lanta. It is the middle point for travellers going further towards Koh Lipe, Koh Muk, and Koh Kradan. The speedboat pulls up to the front of one of the resorts to let all the passengers and luggage off. A long tail boat then comes to pick up the luggage and passengers. Most of the visitors choose to walk to the resort since it is so close and the beach is awesome.

Arriving to the beach landing spot

Arrival to Ko Ngai island

2. Accommodation options: They have a range of accommodation from the Hill side Villas to the beach from villas. There is also couple of camping sites. I chose Koh Ngai fantasy resort for my 3 night stay. Try to get one of the beach front villas or a family villa which is just behind the beach front villas with partial views to the ocean and a quick 1 minute walk to the beach. Accommodation prices vary from backpackers to hotels. Hotels are roughly ฿5000per night with breakfast.

3. Be Prepared for the wildlife photography: The island has a dense tropical forest and there are all kinds of wild animals and insects present here. I saw some bugs that I have not seen on Discovery channel on hangover Sunday. The main fear is once again mosquitoes so use a lot of repellant. (Recommend citronella which is very effective) There are snakes, spiders and monkeys in the tropical forest here so any hikes would require proper shoes and not flip flops (jandals, thongs).

Bug John Doe

Dragon Fly

Horn Bill Birds

Bats

4. Things to do on the Island: The Island is small and day time activity would include tanning, swimming, snorkeling, kayaking, scuba diving, PADI scuba courses, and just long walks on the beach. There are two hiking paths on the island, one goes to the south of the island to a sunset viewing point. The other goes west of the island to another view point from the west of the Island. I set out on the west end view point but took a wrong turn and ended at the southern point which was pretty good. Chilling on the beach at night time is fun and if you lucky you might see some shooting stars.

Tanning and Enjoying the view

Ocean Time

5. Excursion to Ko Maa & Ko Chuaek :There are two islands in front of the beach. They are Koh Ma and Koh Cheuk. Most of the excursions have a snorkeling trip which visits these two islands with 2 additional spots. The 3rd spot on the excursions is the Emerald cave (Morakot cave) located on Koh Muk. The final spot is usually the beach on Koh Muk where you can visit one of the resort restaurants for lunch. Koh Ma and Koh Cheuk offers nice snorkeling spots where there is a lot of fish and they are not shy swimming all around you. The reef is quite colorful and alive. On the rocky cliffs you can see hundreds of bats chilling in the sun (not by choice).

6. Excursion to Emerald Cave: This was quite an experience. The boat operator anchored the boat a good 30 meters away from the cave. He did not speak good English and gave our group of 6 a touch and pointed to a hole in the rock. We assumed this was the cave and just jumped in. Once we got to the entrance of the cave it was a 70 meter swim to the beach on the other side. Approximately 30 meters of this swim is through the caves is in pitch black hence the touch. Our touch worked for 30 seconds and then we followed the sounds of people on the other side. At this point I was thinking of all my equipment back at the hotel like my touch and the Rambo glow sticks. There is the occasional chain gang tourists in life jackets in groups of 10-20 swimming through in a line formation through the caves. The beach on the other side is amazing and worth the effort in the darkness.

Inside the cave where there is still some sunlight

Exiting the cave after some Pitch black action

Enjoying the moment after exiting the cave

At the Hidden Beach

Cave Exit to the Beach

The Chain Gangs of Tourists

7. Where to Eat: Food is relatively cheap outside the hotel and will cost ฿200-400 a day. At the hotels you can double this cost. Water is expensive with big bottles 1.5 litres trading at ฿60. Beer is about ฿80 and cocktails can range from ฿180 to ฿400.So head next door to the Thai restaurants on the beach for some fresh seafood at really cheap prices. The service is fantastic and the food is representative of the island.

8. Hotel Services: Some of the resorts on the island are under foreign ownership and this kills the vibe for the resorts. Fantasy resort for example is under Chinese ownership and the services are focused on making money from tourists without much concern of the staff. This removes some of the traditional Thai friendly hospitality. A lot of the staff were from Burma and Philippines here. All hotel bills have a 10% service charge (tips) but some investigation led to the discovery that this money goes to the owners and not to the staff who deserve the tips. So get to know the staff and tip them privately with the secret handshake. The resort food is okay but too international with burgers, pasta etc.

9. Medical Emergencies: : There is no medical center on the island so emergencies will require a boat visit to the east towards the Trang district on mainland. Our group had one case of dental emergency and had to take a 2 hour boat ride to Trang and a private taxi to the hospital dentist. The quotation from the Chinese owner for this trip was ฿5000 for the trip including the taxi. Speaking to locals the same trip was done for ฿1600.

10. Watch out for Hidden costs: As mentioned the hotels have lots of mark up on all products and services for normal Thailand prices. Excursions can be purchased for 50% less from the local tour operator at the beach. Same with restaurants outside the hotels which are 50% cheaper and quality of food is better.

Similar Thailand articles of Interest:

THAILAND USEFUL TIPS
13 useful tips that will help you understand the Thai culture and the way things are done there. Best advice one can get to save time, money, and ones sanity.

PHUKET
Considered as the HUB of South Island, this is an overview of Phuket Island. The places to stay, things to do, and things to avoid.

RAILAY BAY
The hidden treasure of this Region.An overview of Railay Bay. The places to stay, things to do, and things to avoid.

KO PHI PHI
The most visited spot in South Thailand due to the Movie "The Beach". An overview Ko Phi PhIsland. The places to stay, things to do, and things to avoid.