Slow boat to Koh Phayam

Waiting at the busy pier in Ranong

Never again (well not by slow boat!)

Thansila ordered a taxi to take us to where the boat to Koh Phayam leaves from Ranong pier. We'd been quoted 200 baht for the taxi but when we got to the pier the female driver said it should really be 250. She'd driven carefully (they don't all do that) and had reversed right up to the loading bay so that we could unload our bags there, so we paid up without being too grumpy. A woman was organising the loading of the boat and taking money for tickets — another 200 each.

Cement bags loaded on the roof

Loading drums of petrol

We watched lorries reversing in and unloading, and motorbikes with sidecars full of five-gallon drums of petrol. Supplies for the island were loaded into every available nook and cranny of the boat, including onto the roof. Crisps, soft drinks, alcohol, steel bars, bags of cement. Then they loaded the passengers, about a hundred of us. When it was our turn they looked at our large rucksacks and said "no". Then they changed their minds and threw them onto the deck area near the port side bow, wedged against a side rail. As soon as we entered the boat my qualms began. A woman with a very loud voice shouted at passengers to make sure they sat where she wanted them to — balancing the load. The boat was about 70-80 feet long, with rows of three seats on each side of the central aisle. The rear of the boat was piled high with drums of petrol and boxes, so the only way out was the way we went in, through a door near the bows. Most of the windows had curtains across and we caught glimpses of the sea around the edge of the curtains, seemingly very close to the gunwales. On the plus side, there was air conditioning of sorts, and small hammers positioned at intervals which we assumed were to break the windows in an emergency. Ten minutes into the journey, one of the crew collected the hammers and took them away! We were all allocated life jackets, but I'm not sure they would have been much help in an emergency, as we would all have been trapped inside the cabin.

Ranong fishing boat

I managed to doze, forcing myself not to think about what could happen.
After about an hour and a half we arrived at a pier and I asked passengers behind if we were at Koh Chang Noi or Koh Phayam, and a chap behind said he didn't care which it was, he was getting off anyway as he'd never been so terrified before.

At a tilt even when moored

Unlike on planes, everyone remained seated until the crew gave directions, so perhaps some of them had been through it before. The boat had tied up and even moored it was listing about 15 degrees to our side. We were allowed to disembark a few at a time, with the crew giving strict instructions, but even after those seated on our side were out, the boat was still listing. As we climbed out we noticed that there was no sign of our rucksacks, we just crossed our fingers and a few minutes later someone threw them over from the starboard side where they'd been moved to.
(Adding more weight onto the low side!)

Koh Phayam pier

As soon as we turned our back on the boat and looked along Koh Phayam pier it all felt OK. The island looked beautiful, wooded hills against blue sky, surrounded by smaller hilly islands.
We hate thinking about the end of a holiday when we've only just arrived, but we made a decision then and there about our return to the mainland. We'd chosen the 'slowboat' because Christian had said it was "more romantic".

Whatever it cost for a different boat back, we were going to pay it …

Slow boat photos