Photos

An early morning shot from the Thai island Yao Noi.

The sun is rising over Hong island which is half way between Yao Noi and Krabi.
Yao Noi is an island between Phuket and Krabi in Phangnga bay in the Andaman sea.

There are two Koh Yao islands, Koh Yao Yai and Koh Yao Noi. Koh means island in Thai and Yao means long. So Koh Yao means long island. Yai means big and Noi means small. So the two islands are called Big long island and small long island. Somehow they sound more exotic when you call them by their Thai names.

This island, Yao Noi is smaller than Yao Yai, but is more densely populated. Having said that you would not really know it as they are both relatively free from mainstream tourism, unlike nearby Phuket. The island is also predominantly inhabited by Thai Muslims which help preserve a community feeling. There is little in the way of nightlife and this has keep the tourism numbers low. As you can see from this picture there is no one else on the beach and this picture was taken in December which is the height of the peak season!

You can get here from Phuket or Krabi. The boats from Phuket leave every hour and take one hour for the slow boat and 30 minutes for the faster speedboat.