Koh Phayam - the 80s of Koh Samui

Most of us would have heard and dreamt of visiting those popular islands in South Thailand such as Phuket Island with the famous Patong Beach, Koh Phangan with full moon party and Koh Tao with one of the world's cheapest diving school. Have you heard of Koh Phayam? Neither did I until I googled for a smaller, more laidback island to visit in South Thailand.

Koh Phayam is a small island located in the southwest of Thailand, off Ranong town, near the Thai Myanmar border. 

The island can be reached by a speedboat from Ranong port in 40 minutes. Upon reaching, there will be motorbike taxi to ferry travelers from the port to the hotel. 

The island is best explored by motorbike. It is more of a local fishing village island being developed to cater to the growing tourists especially from Europe and Western Countries who would like to have a local village life atmosphere. If you are looking for a quiet, relax and laidback holiday, this is the place. But if you are looking for a nightlife with loud happening music, then this will be a wrong place. In fact, the key activity here is relaxing, swimming or sunbathing at the beach. There is not even an island hopping tour package as offered by resorts, unlike other popular islands. Another relaxing activity will be massage but do expect higher price than elsewhere. 

There are 2 main bays in the island, the quieter Buffalo Bay (Ao Khao Kwai) and more happening Long Beach Bay (Ao Yai). There is a hippie bar at Buffalo Bay. If you want to catch a sunset, Long Beach will be a perfect spot. There are also some viewpoints around the island for viewing from the higher ground, with restaurants where you may order food and drinks. One such place is located midway between Buffalo Beach and Long Beach, where you may view sunset from the platform. 

As most of the tourists are Europeans, the food here is at higher price, mainly at hotel cum restaurant type. There are also few local stalls along the roadside. I am told most of the tourists are repeat travelers who would go back to the island yearly or once in few years, just for the relaxing retreat. Some even treat it as a second home, whereby they come yearly to escape the cold winter months. In fact, the island can only be best visited from November to Mac. Most of the months from April to October are considered the raining season, where strong winds and rains are expected almost daily. In fact, some of the locals move to Ranong or other towns during the raining season. 

If you are looking for a relaxing island holiday, Koh Phayam would be one of the choices. It would be best to come as soon as possible before the island becomes too touristy and crowded like Koh Samui in 10-20 years time. Koh Phayam now is still like Koh Samui in the 80s.

DINAGYANG 2020

It was a blessing to watch one of the Philippine's grandest festivals, Dinagyang 2020 in Iloilo City on 24-26 Jan 20. Dinagyang is a yearly festival held on the 4th weekend of Jan. It is a religious and cultural celebration to honor the early settlement of Malay immigrants and most importantly, to show reverence to Child Jesus, Santo Nino.

The event started on Fri, 24th Jan, with school band performances, the fluvial procession to celebrate the arrival of Child Jesus, Santo Nino from Cebu, lighting parade in the evening which ended with a grand long fireworks at Megaworld Iloilo.

On Sat, 25th Jan, the event became more exciting with colorful procession and street performances of various groups in colorful and tribal costumes in the morning and afternoon. In the evening, colorful lights were illuminated on the colonial buildings in the old city, followed by a prayer session called religious sadsad, where the Father of the church gave a sermon with songs to honor Santo Nino with thousands of worshipers and revelers gathered. I personally think this is the most fun day, we get to take pictures with colorful performers and witness in close up the live performances on the street.

The last day of the festival on Sun, 26th Jan, was the grandest event ever held, the Ati Tribe Dance Competition called Dinagyang 360 Degrees. A so called gold ticket cost around 2200 peso to watch, even though I was seated at the 3rd row. It was a half day event with performances by 9 competing school based performing tribes. The winner would win 5 million peso to be announced in the evening.

Overall, Dinagyang is a once in a lifetime experience to witness and I am glad I made the right choice to visit Iloilo at the right time!