The hong of all hongs

 

Straight out of Disney World!  In fact, much much better.   Even they couldn't have created such a place.

After leaving Phuket, we stopped at Koh Phi Phi for the night but it was too much of a party island.  A zillion flashing coloured lights and hideous music (if that's what it could be called) until well after three in the morning.  Definitely not for us.  Despite the fact that we were anchored at least a mile out, the boat vibrated with the sounds and lit up with all the pulsating strobe lights. It's times like these that I realise I'm not in my twenties or thirties any longer and, quite frankly, thank goodness.  They must go to bed at night both blinded and deafened.  I know I was.

We then moved on to another small island, Koh Muk, and were instantly besotted.  This one has a hong to beat all others.  We dinghied around and found the tiny entrance which we only just managed to squeeze through with our fat inflatable dinghy but this then opened up to a large entrance cave that looked as though Hollywood's best special effects team had been to work on it.  The sunlight glowed under the clear water and reflected up onto the roof of a gorgeous limestone cave.  Such a sight!

A little further in, all went pitch black as the 80 metre tunnel twisted and turned blocking off the light from both the entrance and the exit.  We gingerly worked out way through checking out the ceiling for the many bats that reside there during the daylight hours, turned a corner, ducked under a low roof and emerged out into a tiny lagoon surrounded with extremely high perpendicular walls, with crystal clear turquoise water and a beautiful white sandy beach.  And better still, we were the only people there!

It was magic.  One could easily picture it in the days of old being used to hide pirate's plunder. Today, it's home to a band of monkeys, beautiful vegetation and an array of birds.   And, on most days, numerous groups of tourists either swimming or kayaking into it.  We were just so so lucky to see it on our own.  As we didn't have to leave with the rising sun the following morning we chose to have another look-see, happily to find it empty again.  Shortly thereafter, we shared it with a lone German kayaker who stood gaping at the sight but later on, when a large group of Pakistani swimmers arrived, we called it a day wanting to remember it as we'd first seen it.  Had we known about this previously, it would definitely have been put on our bucket list.

This then brought us to an overnight trip back to Langkawi to pick up a few things (Langkawi is a duty free port so beers and wine for us and a few friends) and then on our way again.




PHOTO GALLERY:

The exit into the hong and it's white beach

The limestone ceiling

Paul gazing up to the small opening to the sky

Looking up

Our own private little lagoon

The tiny entrance from inside