Unlike Eastern Thailand’s far more popular Ko Chang, Ranong province’s “Little Elephant Island” remains well off the mainstream tourism radar. The “resorts” lack hot water and TVs, switching on generators for only a few hours in the evenings. A Spanish traveller who retreats here every year for months explained: “At first it just seems uncomfortable, but after a while, when the nature really starts to sink in, you notice little things that you would never notice on a short stay.”
He’s one of many middle-aged and older Europeans who return each year, often to the very same bungalows, to relish the sort of atmosphere that existed on islands like Ko Samui back in the 1970s and ‘80s. They come mainly for the cheap huts and community spirit rather than the beaches, which lack the sparkle of many Thai islands but are fine for a dip and great for sunsets. Many spend their days writing, painting, strumming a guitar or reading in a hammock.
Most of the islanders’ income comes from agriculture and fishing rather than the tourism that disappears when a notably intense monsoon billows through from May to October. Land is passed down over generations, and it’s common for the owner of one resort to be cousins with the owner of another one down the beach. Bungalows fill up around Western New Year, when organised soccer matches and live bands overtake a central stretch ... Travelfish members only (Full text is around 800 words.)
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