THAILAND Isle Be There
Koh Kood, known as Thailand's
last unspoilt island, offers not only pristine beaches, glistening rainforests
and flying waiters but also lessons in environmental sustainability
Strapping on a seat belt to
have breakfast is a first for us.
We are at Soneva Kiri, an
eco-resort located on the re mote Thai island of Koh Kood, and are nicely en
sconced in a steel and rattan basket to enjoy the day's first meal. As we
buckle up, the contraption is gently hoisted by cables 16 feet off the ground
and up our personal tree and into a leafy rainforest canopy. In front of us
looms the Gulf of Siam where surf-tipped waves are rolling and crashing on the
shoreline.
Once we are settled among
the native Massang trees, a “flying“ waiter, harnessed to a zipline, delivers
us freshly prepared breakfast. Open sandwiches (salmon, egg, chicken,
cheese-tomato), croissants, yoghurt, juices, fresh fruits, olives, nuts,
cheeses and coffee showcase, quite literally, the height of gastronomy.As to
how the waiter managed to not spill our beverages or food during his high-wire
act still boggles our mind.
What also boggles the minds
is Koh Kood's untamed beauty -glistening rainforests, coconut and rubber
plantations, sleepy fishing hamlets and the Gulf of Siam in all its 50 shades
of blue. To the west lie the jagged, emerald peaks of Koh Chang, while the
Cardamom Mountains of Cambodia are to the east. Thick swathes of palm trees dot
white beaches while mangrove-lined rivers brim with plump grouper fish. At
night, the sky is full of stars; fireflies blink in the trees.
As if this ain't idyllic
enough, even the island's resorts have dreamy names -Tinkerbell, Peter Pan,
Fairy Isle. We loll about in deckchairs beneath the palm trees. We kayak across
the clear blue sea to a small golden curve of beach.We read, we star gaze, we
succumb to the gentle ministrations of our Thai masseur to the sound of
birdsong. We stroll on beach sand so clean it squeaks underfoot. And, of
course, we quaff the obligatory sunset cocktail!
Into the Wilderness
Dubbed “Thailand's last
unspoilt island“, the 25-km-long and 12-km-wide Koh Kood (also known as Ko Kut
or Ko Kud) is also one of the region's least developed. It remains a
wilderness, its centre a mix of impenetrable jungle and rubber plantations.
Unsullied by the trappings
of mass tourism, Koh Kood boasts no public transport, mega marts, beer bars or
eateries swarming with tourists. There's little internet access and few cars.
Electricity is minimal; homes and hotels rely on generators or solar power.
Local bamboo doubles as building material for homes and commercial
establishments simply because, as a local puts it, “it allows cool breeze to
pass through“. There are no organised tours either; so travellers looking to
explore the island's innards are pretty much on their own. Accommodation
comprises mostly home stays in fishing communities and budget hotels as well as
a few luxury resorts that promote a barefoot, relaxed approach.
The ocean remains Koh
Kood's biggest lure, offering a welter of dive and snorkel sites as well as
rock dives. It has a rich marine life -stingray, moray eels, small coral fish,
catfish, goatfish, razor fish, stone fish, octopus, crabs, starfish. Also
nudibranch, groupers, sweet lips, fusiliers, parrotfish and hordes of shrimp
hiding in the rocks, sometimes even turtle.
“Koh Kood's original
settlers lived in two fishing villages, Ao Salat and Ao Yai. They are also the
start and end points of the island's road,“ says our guide Real as we tour the
island, traversing semi-concrete pathways (there are no roads in Koh Kood),
lined by butterfly pea, ginger, lemon grass, mangosteen, rose apple and papaya
plants. “Most of Koh Kood's residents are fishermen or farmers who cultivate
coconut palms and rubber trees,“ Real adds.
The island's main
settlements -Ban Khlong Hin Dam and Ban Khlong Mat -nestle by a natural
harbour-inlet a few kilometres north up the coast. The stilted fishing village
of Ban Ao Salat lies on the northeast coast and the fishing community of Ban Ao
Yai occupies the southeast coast.
Given the island's
exquisite beauty and fragile ecosystem, its 4,000 residents keep a strict eye
on environmental sustainability. This makes Koh Kood quite the antithesis to
Thailand's other touristy getaways (Phuket, Koh Samui, Koh Chang) that have
fallen prey to breathless construc tion and poor waste management. Koh Kood has
es chewed untrammelled expansion. There's no stampede (as yet) of big hotel
chains, plastic consumption remains mini mal, water is recycled to a large
extent and local produce is lev eraged to whittle down carbon footprint.
Far from Madding Crowd
What has also worked to Koh
Kood's advantage is its seclusion. It is so remote that just getting there
seems like an ex pedition. After our flight from New Delhi to Bangkok, we hop
into a 10-seater private Cessna plane which takes us over rivers, mountains and
lakes to the tiny airport at Trat. From the airport, we board a speedboat to
get to our resort.
As land disappears and the surf
rides up behind the speedboat, the concrete jungle of Bangkok -and all signs of
civilisation -recede. What surfaces instead is palm-fringed splendour teeming
with flora and fauna. On most days, we have entire stretches of sand and sea to
ourselves with no brazen crowds vying for elbow-to-elbow sun beds. Sparkling
white sand and crystal clear turquoise water keep us company. Swathes of
shoreline fringed by scrub and mangrove and virgin tropical rainforest fill us
with wonder.
Tinkling waterfalls, the most
famous of which is Nam Tok Khlong Chao, lying inland from Ao Khlong Chao, offer
us salubrious day trips. We trek deep into the heart of the island, along a
rainforest track to the three-tiered Khlong Chao waterfall; tonnes of milky
foam crashing over a moss-covered cliff and into a large, inky pool. Story goes
that when King Rama VI visited the spot in 1911, his staff marked the rocky
platforms around the waterfall with royal graffiti. Vestiges of that graffiti
are still faintly visible. We dip our toes in the icy shallows of the waterfall
and watch the trek's tiredness instantly ebb away.
Heading north from Khlong
Chao, we encounter a few more beaches, all quiet and isolated. The pretty Ao
Noi beach bustles with commercial activity, with new resorts coming up. A
temple, the island's administrative centre and hospital are all located here.
The adjoining Bang Bao beach offers views over a horseshoe-shaped bay.
Also located nearby is
Benz, a tiny gem of a restaurant that counts among its regulars Hollywood actor
Tilda Swinton. The eatery (open only for dinner twice a week) offers no
menu.Rather chef Khun Benz constructs authentic Thai meals around the freshest
catch of the day and whatever she can forage from the local markets.
We feast on the delicate
flavours of a banana blossom salad with shrimp, deep-fried, crispy sweet corn,
sea bass soup with Thai herbs, wok-fried morning glory with oyster sauce, red
curry pork with pineapple and tantalising bowls of tab tim grob, the signature
Thai dessert (red rubies in coconut milk).Innards exploding, we beg chef Benz
for mercy so she could stop sending us more food.
Post dinner, we amble on
the beach under a glittering vault of stars, the oceanic roar in our ears and
the cool sand between our toes filling our senses. At that moment, I recall
Australian Marie Waynes, a local hotelier, whom we had met earlier in the day.
Waynes said that when she came to Koh Kood in 2010, she felt as though she'd
stumbled upon a paradise. “Business brought me here, but it's the lovely island
that made me stay. Now I don't want to leave.“
It is a feeling we could
totally relate to.
|
Neeta
Lal
|
ETM23JUL17
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