YA Eco Mysteries, Memoirs, Novels & Travel
Phuket and Phang Nga Bay Thailand
I am a Passionate Traveler who asks questions and digs below the surface of the places I visit to get the most our of the experience. Here’s my take on Phuket. Our ship dropped anchor just off the beach resort of Phuket—know worldwide for the horrific tsunami that swept the town, and the surrounding area, away in 2004. As we trudged across the sand on the beachfront in the bright morning sun, I could not stop searching for remnants of the devastation, or from thinking about the thousands who had died here.
From Phuket it’s about a two-hour ride to our destination: Phang Nga Bay National Park located between the island of Phuket and the mainland of southern Thailand. Since 1981, most of the bay has been protected as a National Park, and a site of international ecological significance since 2002.
James Bond Island (on the right), with its signature rocky pinnacle, has been a major attraction ever since it featured in the 1974 Bond movie, The Man with The Golden Gun.
On arrival at Phang Nga, we boarded a rather rickety boat to explore the unique bay. The bay itself is shallow and bordered by wetlands, mangrove swamps, beds of marine seagrass, and coral reefs. As our boat puttered across the water, the bizarre and striking rock formation jutting out of the water were as spectacular as the tour brochure had depicted. I listened carefully to our guide’s commentary, in hard-to-understand English, but to my disappointment, she didn’t explain much. Later, I followed up with a little research. Phang Nga Bay was once a huge coral reef that covered much of what is now Southeast Asia. The islands in Phang Nga Bay were created when massive earth plates collided. This explains why geologically the bay is a drowned land full of irregular limestone areas peppered with sinks, underground streams, and caves. The vegetation clinging to these karst formations is specially adapted to limestone soils and to long periods of dryness. Decomposing matter, from the trees and plants, combine with heavy seasonal monsoon rainfall to produce acidic water that readily dissolves limestone, sculpting it into strange shapes and colors. The beautiful stalactites visible both within the caves and on the faces of the karsts are a result of this steady acid water erosion, carrying away and depositing calcium carbonate. The areas of these rocky islands not completely eroded are composed of harder stone.
At low tide, kayaks can float into caves, grottoes, and hidden lagoons surrounded by vertical cliffs and jagged rock walls. Fishermen and the island inhabitants use the narrow tidal channels that wend their way through the vast mangroves as convenient aquatic highways. These are the largest remaining primary mangrove forests in Thailand.
Unfortunately, this spectacular place has become a superhighway crowded with tourist boats in high season.
Lunch and Shopping at Koh Panynee Muslim Village built on stilts over the water. As soon as the tourists leave the shops with their trinkets close up.
The boats spew gasoline fumes and churn up the shallow bay, turning it from emerald green to muddy brown—no wonder we didn’t catch a glimpse of the unique Dugong (a vulnerable species,) or the Black Finless Porpoise. I hope that in the future there will be some limits on tourism in order to preserve the integrity and beauty of this special place.
For more fun and information download The Passionate Traveler: Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia, a travel iBook from the iBook Store, with interesting travel stories, eye-popping HD images, and colorful videos.
Read more: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thailand/andaman-coast/ao-phang-nga-marine-national-park#ixzz2uey0otg2
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