Ko Muk (Mook)

The tip of the lovely white sandspit, eastern most point of Ko Muk (image Sivalai Beach Resort)

Ko Muk is the most visited of the Trang islands. Perhaps this is its problem, because my last (March 07) visit showed the place has gone downhill considerably since the late 90s. At least the most popular Farang Beach area had. The less visited east coast seemed as serene as normal and the lovely white-sand spit on the SE corner of the island where the new luxury SIVALAI BEACH RESORT has located, is indeed ..... lovely.

Area Map

FARANG BEACH is still a pretty nice place, but not outstanding as it was a while back. The sand is fairly white, but not blinding white as before. The water is deep for swimming at all tides, fairly clear but not the pristine of old, largely because there were always at least 3 cruising yachts, a couple of motor cruisers and a dozen+ longtails parked off the beach. It is rare for the former to have holding tanks for sewage and longtails tend leak fuel and lubricant. The whole area back of beach is crammed with bungalows plus KO MUK CHARLIES’ pool. It is tending to get a bit crowded back there.

There is a bunch of critics blaming people who write and post photos about the various islands for the subsequent over-popularity of the places. I see it as inevitable that as time passes more people will visit. Fares get cheaper, more people travel. It is not as though Thai bungalow/hotel people, ferry operators, daytrip companies, booking sites etc don’t know how to push their stuff in the media.

The idea that we should jealously guard our favourite spots is extremely selfish and soooo like those mega-immature wankers in that book by Alex Garland.. My reports may in fact convince people that certain places are feeling the strain and should perhaps be avoided.

Of course, increased popularity does not mean the place necessarily goes downhill. Chalok Ban Kao on Ko Tao for instance is much more presentable these days than in the mid-90s.

A lot of it is up to the Thais. For instance there is so much Charlies could do to make its place more attractive. It desperately needs more paths and landscaping. The former chalk white sand between the bungalows is becoming pretty dirty from dust carried/blown in from the cross-island track, which continues thru Charlies as a right-of-way. There is a nice bunch of trees at the back of the beach at the southern end, in front of Charies’ mega expensive fan bungalows. Great for some shade and a swing in a hammock. Pity about the piles of building debris and equipment which has a weathered been there since last wet season’s refurbishing program look about them. Hell, that was only 6 month’s ago!

Farang Beach from Ko Khao Restaurant and Bar on the southern headland (image Panoramio-Marion Peterson)

MORE ON FARANG BEACH.

I jumped off the longtail from Ko Kradan at Farang and went looking for a bungalow.

KO MUK CHARLIES was hopelessly overpriced - 1050 for a beachfront fan bungalow including breakfast and 950 for a second rower. Must be some breakfast. Hey, you also get free use of Charlies new beachfront pool. Jeez, somehow that wasn’t a clincher for me.

Charlies dominates the beach, but SAWASDEE has about 10 bungalows over in the northern corner. I think all are beachfront and looked pretty nice. 700 baht and all taken.

So I moved in thru Charlies on the right-of-way and just past the start of the cross-island track along a short path to the left I found HAD FARANG BUNGALOWS. This place had a fair few traditional style bungalows with attached bathroom, spread around an old coconut plantation - most of them on a hillside which gave a pleasant outlook over the area. The bungalows were slightly dilapidated and a bit squeezy for two people+gear, but relatively good value for 400baht. HAD FARANG also has a great restaurant with really tasty food, at absolutely sensational value.

Note that two local expats separately told me that Had Farang Bungalows has been purchased by the big CENTRAL property group, so there could be a flash resort there soon. However they will want beachfront too, meaning either Charlies or Sawasdee will get the big offer soon.

There are 2 or 3 other similar bungalow places in this area, both sides of the cross-island track, but I can’t comment on their restaurants. RUBBER TREE BUNGALOWS with trad bungalows spaciously arranged on a hillside overlooking the cross-island track looked pretty nice.

Not much else here - a small store (Charlies has a bigger one), a book exchange and about another 150m up the track MOOKIES BAR off to the left, run by a laid back Aussie ex-yachtie called Brian. Nice place to spend a few hours at night, attracting an interesting mix of long-term and transient travelers when I visited. Okay, so I stood out. Hey, Brian had cheap Aussie cask wine! Mookies also has some neat looking permanent tents for you bottom budget types, and can do meals.

Mookies is about it for night life as far as I could tell. However a real nice place to grab a drink (or meal) during the day/early evening is KO KHAO RESTAURANT AND BAR which stretches along the southern headland of the beach. It aint very high, but the view up there is surprisingly panoramic, not only over the beach but across to Ngai and Kradan. Not to mention the sunsets. Listen, nothing flash about this place, rickety tables and plastic chairs, but with the views and 70baht big Changs, who’s complaining?

THE EAST COAST.

It only takes about 10 minutes to walk across the gentle hill to the other side of the island. But to get to the village you have to veer left near the coast and walk another 15 minutes or so to the village and main pier. The village is quite large and spreads for a considerable distance along the shore. It’s an interesting place to look around. There are a few small stores and restaurants, but nothing tourist orientated.

If you push on north of the village for another 10 minutes you reach a section of coast where KO MUK RESORT and KO MOOK GARDEN RESORT are located. This area has real nice views towards the spectacular karst headlands of the mainland coast, but the beach gets very ordinary at low tide with large expanses of dark sand and rock exposed.

This was no problem when I stayed at Ko Muk Resort back in 99 - they put on a free boat around to Farang Beach each day. I saw no sign of the notice advising about this when I revisited for a beer this latest trip. If not, you are looking at 30-40 minutes walk across to Farang. I didn’t see any signs of bicycles for hire, but motorcycles would be available no risk.

My old, fairly spacious bungalow with bathroom in the garden out back looked unchanged, and was available for 300baht before bargaining. The resort has put in a new dining/drinks terrace to take advantage of those views. Hey , pretty nice place.

Garden Resort looks similar. When I walked by, there was a big group of Thai tourists just arriving. It was a weekend.

About 10 minutes south-east of the village on the eastern-most tip of the island is a gorgeous white sand spit. We used to walk across here from Ko Muk Resort in 99 for a swim and some sun too. It is now dominated by the very upmarket SIVALAI RESRORT, which looked just as inviting. This is one place I’m definitely gonna stay at when I unload that bag of dud sparklers on the Bangkok gem traders.

Another shot of the lovely spit of sand at Sivalai. On my first visit to Muk last century there was nothing but blinding white sand here. We would walk over from nearby Ko Muk Resort to swim - the resort owner asked the girls to keep their tops on because of the proximity of the village. I don't think this is an issue now (image Panoramio-Kata&Uti)

THE SOUTH COAST.

It is possible when th e tide is not too high to walk from Farang Beach right around the southern and south-eastern part of the island. A large proportion is rock-platform but there are a couple of beaches which have exposed rock at lower tides. There are a few fisherman huts alond here. After about 40 minutes you come out to the eastward extension of the cross island-track just past the electriciy plant for the island. It is about 10 minutes walk back over the mild hill to Farang Beach. Theoretically you could instead push on along the coast to the Sivalai Spit, but there are some mangrove sections in the way which looked a bit tricky to me.

THE EMERALD CAVE.

The north and north-west of the island has sheer cliffs dropping to the water making the coast impossible to walk. You need a boat to reach the entrance to the fabulous Emerald Cave in this area. Longtails run around from Farang Beach and the resorts on the east coast (I think the cost was 300 in March) and from neighbouring islands as far as Ko Libong. The daytrip boats from Lanta make this a must do. There is also a constant stream of ferries from Pak Bara packed with domestic visitors. So unless you arrive early or late in the day you will find the tiny bay at the entrance to the cave crowded with boats of all shapes and sizes. But even when crowded, it is fun. Perhaps more so - Thai holiday makers really know how to enjoy themselves.

The setup here is that you swim about 200m through a tunnel (pitch black in mid-sections because there are some kinks in the tunnel) and emerge into a beautiful lagoon set in a towering cliff ringed amphitheatre complete with small beach and some rainforest. This is a former cave where the roof has collapsed. The water in here is indeed emerald - something to do with the limestone. Or the light. Or something.

I have visited 3 times - twice in 99 via long tail and again a week before my Muk stay this year, via one the Trang Island daytrip boats out of Ko Lanta which was taking me to nearby Ko Kradan.

On the first visit in 99, two Canadians and I had no torch and had to swim the darkest section of the cave in pitch black. Interesting. By the way, the long tail and other boat people always have torches - our boat guy’s torch was broken. Hell, the longtail‘s engine broke on the way back to the resort and we had to sail the thing using the canvas canopy rigged up as a sail.

On the other 99 visit, on a weekend, there were hundreds of Thai tourists. They even had a cooking-boat set up outside the cave for quick eats. The Thais typically donned the yellow lifejackets, tied themselves to a rope and moved into the cave conga-style. Lots of laughing and shrieking. One really old lady, looked about 90, was floated in on a surfing-mattress, to the cheers of all when she arrived at the lagoon.

Great place, the Emerald Cave. Don’t miss it.

You head into the Emerald Cave here (image Panoramio-Gnito)

- and emerge here (image THAILANDSOUTHERN.COM)

GETTING TO MUK

From Trang - easiest is to get a combined minibus/longtail ticket (around 350baht) from one of the travel agents in the street opposite the railway station or in the main street leading away from the station up the hill. These outfits can book you into a bungalow place too. Usually the bungalows send their own longtails across. CHARLIES has its own office in the main street.

billp recently indicated that the morning Nok Air flight into Trang is met by reps from these travel agents who will transport you into town and arrane bookings/transport.

There is also a small ferry which heads to the village pier on the eastern side of Muk. This leaves from Kuan Thung Khu pier, which is south of Pak Meng and north of Hat Yao/Ban Chao Mai on the mainland. The Hat Yao minibus from the minibus station north of Trang central will detour to Kuan Thung for a small extra payment. Even with paying for a motocycle lift over to Farang beach, you would save a fair bit of money (but spend extra time) by this route.

Note Trang has the nearest airport and also two sleeper trains from Bangkok daily.

Details of trains/plains and buses to Trang can be found here.

From Ko Lanta - The Trang Island daytrip boats out of Ban Saladan on Lanta seem to do half their business shuttling passengers to and from Muk, Ngai and Kradan. Cost in March 07 was 400. The boat I came down on actually picked me up from a longtail sitting off Khlong Nin beach halfway down Lanta (longtail included in price), dropped people off at Ngai, snorkelled the pretty good coral which fringes the karst stacks between Ngai and Muk, did the Emerald Cave, dropped people off at Farang Beach, went to Kradan. But this order varies according to the tide - the beach at Kradan can be tricky to reach at low tide and the entrance to the cave restricted at very high tides.

There is also a big speedboat which does Lanta-Ko Lipe every second day and calls in at Ngai, Muk and Bulon Lae. This can be a fast but rough ride if the seas are up, particularly if you are in the seats up front. Google for SPD speedboat.

From the other Trang islands - people usually come across on a longtail. This trip I came across from Kradan on Paradise Resort’s long tail (on its morning run to the mainland) for 200baht. A lot of people hang around beach areas and get a lift on one of the daytrip long tails heading to the Emerald Cave, or one of the longtails from Muk daytripping their island.

UPDATE - Tigerline is running ferries from Phi Phi/Lanta to Lipe, via the pier at Hat Yao south of Trang. This ferry (not a speedboat) goes on to Langkawi. Details can be seen on their website

At the time of writing Lanta-Lipe was 1400 baht - 4.5 hours. Trang Yao-Lipe 650. Lipe-Langkawi 950. It also calls into places along the way like Muk and Ngai. Accoring to Zach at Laoliang it also will call in there.

I have details of how to get to Hat Yao pier in my Ko Libong thread.

For high season 08/09 the service begins Nov 24.

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UPDATE DEC 07 - JimmyK who stays midrange to high end had this to say:

We decided to move on to koh mook. We hired a longtail from koh ngai to koh mook for about 1000B---not so many longtails here so difficult to haggle.

The SIVALAI on Koh Mook was awesome -on near empty spit of sand . Its a new hotel on a penisula so whether you unit looks east or west, there is ocean view. If you can afford it, i highly recommend this place. They have free bicycles so we drove into slightly shabby "town" and arranged a 500 baht longtail to emerald cave---we went later in the day and had the must-see cave to ourselves--which our boat driver said is unusual.

The Sivalai is pretty isolated and has a restaruant with fantastic view, but if you want you can get cheap food in town--which is really just a couple shops serving food also. From here we took a 15 minute speedboat to mailand pier for 45 minute drive to Trang airport for cheap Nok Air flight back to BKK".

If you have any questions, please ask them in THE FORUM rather than below. I don't get a chance to check all threads daily, but unless I'm travelling I'll try to monitor THE FORUM regularly.