Thailand (Lonely Planet, 13th Edition) - China Williams [602]
Boats to Ko Muk now leave from the pier at Kuantungku, a few kilometres south of the national park headquarters. There are several ferries to Ko Muk leaving around noon and returning at 8am (55B, 30 minutes). A chartered long-tail from Kuantungku to Ko Muk costs from 700B (800B to Hat Farang). Chartered long-tails from Pak Meng cost around 1000B. Air-con vans run frequently from Trang to Kuantungku for 100B (one hour). Contact your resort ahead of time and ask about transport updates and any possible discounts or deals (perhaps other people are looking to charter a long-tail as well).
From November to May, Ko Muk is one of the stops on the speedboats connecting Ko Lanta and Ko Lipe; Click here for details.
Ko Kradan
With a juicy inner jungle and the best house reef in the region (if not all of Thailand), sand-strewn Ko Kradan takes home the sash and crown. This beauty queen is protected under the Hat Chao Mai National Park mandate, so development has been limited to a couple resorts. While day tripping is popular, you can really only appreciate the island’s natural splendour as the sun rises and sets over the easily anthropomorphised karst formations along the horizon.
SLEEPING
Paradise Lost Resort (08 9587 2409/1391; www.kokradan.com; bungalows 600-1200B; ) Wally, a friendly American, has built a veritable summer camp of rustic bungalows deep within the island’s interior jungle. Locals say the woods are haunted, but all we heard in the evenings was friendly laughter and delicious Thai platters sizzling in the crock-pot. Wally’s been around these parts for ages and has great tips on uncovering the islands’ secrets.
Seven Seas (in Bangkok 0 2250 4526; www.sevenseasresorts.com; r/bungalows 5000-10,000B; ) A stunning new addition to the island, this small luxury resort has ultra-slick rooms with enormous beds that could sleep four (if you’re into that). Long-tail outings to Ko Kra Rok and the Emerald Cave on Ko Muk (around 2000B) are popular ways to pass the day. Beach bums will adore the local stretch of sand out front, where cotton hammocks link the curling mangroves that lightly pepper the shore. The breezy on-site restaurant, hugging the jet-black infinity-edge pool, serves a mix of gourmet Western dishes (Caesar salads are a big hit) and excellent southern-style curries (spicy!). Overall, it’s a tad pricey, but the amazing staff more than make up for it.
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NICE DAY FOR A WET WEDDING
Every Valentine’s Day, Ko Kradan is the setting for a rather unusual wedding ceremony. Around 35 brides and grooms don scuba gear and descend to an underwater altar amid the coral reefs, exchanging their vows in front of the Trang District Officer. How the couples manage to say, ‘I do,’ underwater has never been fully explained, but the ceremony has made it into the Guinness Book of Records for the world’s largest underwater wedding. Before and after the scuba ceremony, the couples are paraded along the coast in a flotilla of motorboats. If you think this might be right for your special day, visit the website www.trangonline.com/underwaterwedding.
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GETTING THERE & AWAY
The best way to reach Ko Kradan is to contact your desired accommodation in advance and ask if they can lend a helping hand – sometimes you can hitch a ride with a supply vessel, or if other guests are arriving you can split a long-tail. Solo long-tail charters cost 1000B from Pak Meng and it’s about the same price from Kuantungku. If you’re short on cash you can take a ferry from Kuantungku to Ko Muk (or from Hat Yao to Ko Libong) and then finish the journey in a long-tail. The ‘public’ boats that shuttle fishermen to Ko Muk and Ko Libong usually don’t go as far as Ko Kradan – the island does not have a local community.
Ko Libong
Thais believe that if you wear the tears of the dugong as perfume, you’ll attract your soul mate. Perhaps this is why Trang’s largest island, while less-visited than its neighbours, receives a subset of offbeat tourists, as Ko Libong is known for its fertile beds of sea grass (the rare dugong’s