R. Doug Wicker — Author | Stories of Mystery and Adventure

September 23, 2026 · 5:35 am

Thailand — Phuket; Stopping at Ko Panyi then heading to Patong Beach

After our boat tour around Khao Phing Kan (James Bond Island) it was time to head out to the small “floating” fishing village of Ko Panyi, which is also spelled Koh Panyee. It’s a fun stop, so it’s definitely worth your time if your Phang Nga Bay tour makes a stop here. Here you’ll find many shops and restaurants catering to the tourist crowd.

Ko Panyi (Koh Panyee) “floating” village

There is lots of space for many tourist boats to dock at the pier, but the boats pull away to make room for more as you go shopping:

Once you climb out of your boat, it’s an easy, gently sloping ramp up into the village:

Once you’re inside, much of the village venues are connected by covered walkways:

After our stay here we headed back to Phuket Island where, as we prepared to go back to the ship, we stopped to view Patong Beach, Phuket’s main resort area:

As you can see from the image above, Patong Beach has recovered quite nicely from the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami that so devastated the area, killing 259 people in this province alone.

I’ll leave you today with the photo gallery/slide show below featuring more Ko Panyi images. This week’s Fun Photo Friday finishes up Thailand, and after that we’re off to view our next destination and the first of two safaris that Ursula and I took on this extended Southeast Asia adventure.

Слава Україні! (Slava Ukraini!)

Thailand — Phuket; Cruising Around Khao Phing Kan (James Bond Island)

Khao Phing Kan and Phang Nga Bay tourism live on the James Bond connection from The Man with the Golden Gun, and the various tour boat companies take advantage of that. As such you’ll find many reminders, both at Surakul Pier, where many of the tours originate, and on some of the many boats that ply the waters of Phang Nga Bay. The sign above is located at the Surakul Pier, and the image below was snagged from the interior of a long-tail boat.

As you can see below, Ursula was looking forward to this excursion:

As I showed you last week, Khao Phing Kan is an island consisting of two limestone tower karsts joined by a beach. In front of this “James Bond Island” is another separate karst pillar that is mushroom shaped and very top heavy. This 66-foot/20-meter spike is Ko Ta Pu. If you remember The Man with the Golden Gun, you may recall that little bit of cinematic magic in which a solar collection array appears to rise from the top.

Khao Phing Kan (James Bond Island) with Ko Ta Pu jutting before it in the center of the image

What follows is a photo gallery/slide show of the Ko Ta Pu spike, Khao Phing Kan island, and the beach, sea caves and various other Khao Phing Kan sights taken on this day (16 November 2025), and after that gallery you’ll find a bonus video!