Over the weekend I had a fun chat (the sound is a bit scrappy sorry—I blame Skype) with David Luekens. David worked with us for many years at Travelfish and later, as the pandemic kicked off, started a newsletter focussed on Thailand’s many islands and beaches. He has just returned to Thailand after a longish break Stateside, and has great plans for the newsletter—including changing it into a quest of sorts.
Think island thoughts. Photo: Stuart McDonald.
I recommend listening to the podcast for the full story, but is that isn’t your thing, a transcript is below. It has been edited and tidied up … a bit. I’ve also added below a bunch of links to posts by David in the past to give you a feel for his work.
Stuart
Stuart
This Monday I’ve got something a little bit different for everybody who’s managed to survive the whole rethinking travel never-ending series. Now that that’s wrapped up, I’m moving back onto something a little bit different, a little bit lighter.
If you’re somebody who’s used Travelfish in the past and you’ve found yourself on an island here or there, chances are that you were travelling off the work of David Luekins who worked with us at Travelfish for a long period, covering a vast section of the country, and later on he went on to start a newsletter the Thai Island Times. A Substack newsletter which looked at all aspects of travelling around Thailand along with a wrap on news and developments and that kind of stuff.
Earlier this year, David took a break from Thailand and headed back to his home country, the United States. But just last week, I believe, he returned to Thailand and he’s got some big changes coming along the way to Thai Island Times, and it’s great to have him here to chat a little bit about what he’s got planned.
So David, how are you?
David
Good, thank you for having me here.
Stuart
I hear that it’s your birthday, so I should really start by saying happy birthday, correct?
David
Oh, thank you.
Stuart
Or are you one of those people that puts fake birth dates into social media tools?
David
Yeah no, no. Once you’re over, well, once you’re over 40, I think it is kind of like you start to dread the birthdays rather than appreciate or enjoy them. I feel like a bit, but ... not getting any younger, you know, but... Happy to be back in Thailand to celebrate it for sure.
Stuart
So when did you get back to Thailand?
David
Last week, it’s been a little over a week now.
Stuart
And how long were you back Stateside?
David
Better part of this past year. I actually went back in January last year, so almost all 2022. It’s by far the longest that I’ve been there, been back in the US since I moved out here to Thailand in 2011. So it was, it was interesting. It was nice to kind of reconnect with the country after I’d been here for, I’d been here in Thailand for the whole, you know, pandemic the whole emergency phase of the pandemic 2020 and all of 2021 pretty much, but definitely feels good to be back in Thailand.
Stuart
That was actually my next question, what is it like being back in Thailand after almost a year away?
David
Well, it’s really nice because things have changed here. Last year, I mean, I had waited until the end of 2021, and it looked like maybe there would be a bit of a tourism high season. At least the start of a recovery and then the Omicron variant hit in December, and so pretty much it’s been I guess, now this will be, finally, it’s been about three high seasons that have been missed here basically, in 2020 that was really only the tail end of the high season that was where we encountered lockdowns and that was the beginning basically of the pandemic.
But then all of 2021, I mean the tourism, the actual arrival numbers in Thailand completely plummeted throughout 2021, and that was the worst of the pandemic here in Thailand as well. So it’s finally really feels like there’s hope and it’s starting to turn around. A lot of businesses are open, a lot, many, are still closed as well, but I remember just walking down Khao San Road, back in like the middle of 2021 and literally every single shop and business was shuttered. And now quite a few are still closed, but there’s definitely a lot of energy there now. I walked down there again the other day, and I was happy to see quite a few backpackers and just people back, people out, Thai people out. Working and traveling and having a good time and so yeah, I’m really just excited to get some sense of normalcy coming back to Thailand.
After this rough few years, I mean because during the pandemic it was really, especially here in Bangkok, it was weird to be here. I felt like kind of the soul of the city just kind of disappeared for a long time. And millions of people moved, from what I understand, millions of people moved back to their home provinces and things like that. So it’s nice, it’s really nice to come back and feel like almost like it did. It almost reminds me of some of my early trips to Thailand in a way, because there aren’t, there’s not as many tourists as there had been in like 2018-2019. But there’s definitely some energy, and things are starting to pick up again.
Stuart
Right, I mean. I’ve heard from some other friends who have travelled through there over the last few months. And they’re comparing it to, I mean, obviously the look of the city and so on has changed, but the feel they’re comparing it to the late 1990s early 2000s would, would you say that sounds on the money to you.
David
Yeah, I mean yeah, it definitely does remind me of my first trip to Thailand was in 2005, and yeah, in a way it does remind me of that a bit. It feels a bit more like that than 2019 when there were 40 million tourists. I mean, I think in 2005 there were less than 20 million tourists that came into the country that year, around those years and then by 2019 there were almost 40 million. So basically over the 10 years, like over the years when I was working for Travelfish, I really saw the impact of the increasing tourist numbers and a lot of sites like the Grand Palace and places like that and also a lot of beaches, like of course Maya Bay is well known for having been totally overrun during those years, and so it’s not like that at all anymore.
I mean Bangkok has changed a lot, in some ways for the better, I think like there’s a lot more Metro stations, it’s more accessible which is good because you don’t have to be stuffed into trains and boats quite as much as you did and I mean it has like a low key, little bit of a laid back more of a laid back kind of feel I think in the city. Which is kind of refreshing and like I said I feel like there’s a sense of hope and a sense that now it’s like finally it feels like it’s really time for an actual recovery. And to see how the future shapes out after this whole three years of a pandemic that that we’ve been through so, yeah, it’s exciting.
Stuart
I realise you’ve only been back for about a week, so I’m not sure how much you’ve been out chatting to people and what have you. But when you talk about a hope for recovery, and that kind of thing, do you think there’s a degree of apprehension? From Thai people that they would like to see, perhaps not 40 million people not bouncing back to 40 million people anytime soon. And perhaps the lower level of tourism is desirable.
David
Yeah, I mean certainly I think there’s there are people who feel that way. I haven’t talked to too many people specifically about that since I’ve been back, but I mean the thing with the pandemic, and I’ve been saying this for years now, is that the effects of it we’re very unevenly balanced in terms of financially speaking, especially in the tourism industry, and that’s still the case.
If you’re a tour operator or someone who had been focusing mainly on tourists from mainland China, then you’re probably looking for it to get back to similar numbers as 2019. That’s obviously a big group that’s still largely absent. So I mean there are a lot of businesses that have been focused on that group specifically, who are lagging behind everyone else in terms of trying to rebuild and everything, so I think it depends on who you talk to really in their own situations, but I mean for me, I personally feel like it’s not a bad thing to not have 40 million a year coming into the country.
Maybe something more like 25 million or 30 million, would be a little more manageable, but then again, like I said, talking about tourists from China and other parts of Asia, those China, India, that’s where a lot of the increase in the tourist numbers came from over the last 10 years. Like especially starting around like 2010 or so, and there was an awful lot of infrastructure that was built that was sort of geared more towards, not totally 100% towards them, a lot of large hotels kind of mid range hotels like with air-con rooms and stuff. A lot of those places are still sitting empty unfortunately so it’s like there are reminders.
You think back to the mid 2000s or something, and it’s definitely not exactly the same. There’s certainly reminders of everything that’s happened here over the last few years still, and we’ll see. I mean, that’s just really my observation from walking around Bangkok and especially around the Old Town parts. On Khao San Road itself, a lot of most of it seems, like a lot of the hotels and actually notably a lot of the really old long-standing guest houses that have been there since the 90s and early 2000s or even earlier maybe, I don’t want to say a lot, but I definitely noticed that some of those are still around and some of them have even expanded. There’s a lot of buildings for rent there, so if you wanted to, if you were a guest house owner and you had survived and you had some savings, I think it would be a good time to kind of expand your business and you’re seeing a bit of that.
Stuart
So you just mentioned you’ve done a bit of walking around the Old Town. Have you managed to get out of Bangkok yet or have you just been in the capital?
David
Yeah, we did go up to Lopburi just for a day, I don’t know, well the they have the sunflowers it’s December, it’s they got the sunflower fields at, I think it’s called Khao Lae Chin or Khao Chin Lae, can’t remember the mountain, it’s like a limestone karst mountain. I’m not sure if they still do it, but they used to do rock climbing there, that was one of the activities that was offered to backpackers coming through Lopburi town.
It’s beautiful, actually, the countryside, we actually went around Lopburi and part of Saraburi just around the countryside, you know, stopped at some farms and took some pictures. We didn’t hang around the Lopburi town much, but we did drive through and the monkeys didn’t get us—we kept our windows closed—but yeah, it was good little trip, but we’re heading out today actually later to head south and start getting back to all the islands and beaches and stuff.
Stuart
You’re leaving today so how long a trip have you got planned heading down south?
David
It would be like at a least a week, maybe? Maybe nine days max, and then we’ll be back in Bangkok and then next month, definitely be traveling again, probably down to the Andaman coast. For this trip we’re going down to Chumphon and we will get probably over to Ranong on the Andaman coast.
Stuart
Up until when you headed back to the States you were running, or writing rather, the Thai Islands Times newsletter and I’ve always been a big fan of the newsletter, but also, I believe that words matter, so the other day I received an e-mail from Thailand Island Times, which is from you really, noting that you’ve made one change.
You’ve changed one word in the title, so it’s shifted from Thai Island Times to Thai Island Quest. So I was wondering if you could tell me a little bit about why you’ve decided to make the change of that single word and what it’s going to mean for what the newsletter is going to become.
David
Well Thailand Island Times, when I started it, I had a lot of time. It was during the COVID lockdown here in April 2020. They weren’t even like selling alcohol in the country or anything at that time, so everyone was stuck inside, and so I wanted to, I had, different contacts, people, I know who live in all around different islands, and I just wanted to kind of share what was going in the islands.
Specifically, part of what I wanted to share was how the islands were faring and all the beach areas were faring throughout the pandemic and how that was affecting things. So a big part of the Times aspect of it, kind of represented like more of a news angle. So I did like these island wraps, which got quite long and time consuming. I did more than 50 of them, first it was weekly and then it was like biweekly and they were pretty popular and I feel like it was a good thing to spend my time doing during the pandemic. I covered a lot of how COVID was affecting the region, the coastal region, and then also just kind of Thailand more generally and I talked about, I wrote a piece about how you could help charitable efforts to help people in the tourism industry and a lot of the islands that that we’re struggling and things like that. Then I also covered in the island wraps a lot of environmental issues and basically I would just scour the news and talk to people in those places and scour social media and just like put together a whole giant summary basically of everything that was going on.
But I would also in Thailand Island Times, the other thing I would do, was like more travel more kind of what we would call like evergreen content, where I would just cover islands. Basically write these feature length articles about certain islands or beaches or mainland coastal areas and basically, just unleash everything that I know about all those places and that I’ve learned throughout the years and throughout researching and also while working for Travelfish and just basically summarising and wrapping up, and sharing photos of the islands and really just kind of trying to convey a sense of what these places are like and what the history is like, and even things like the geology and getting down to the details so that if you read something like that and then you go...
Like I wrote an article about Ko Jum, AKA Ko Pu near Ko Lanta and Ko Phi Phi in Krabi province, and I got a lot into about why is there two names and who settled? Who are the people who settled the island? Things like that. So if you were to read something like that and then travel to that island, I just feel like you would, it might enrich your trip a bit, you might say oh, and I understand some things about this island and it’s not just a place to go to the beach necessarily, it’s actually a community that’s important to respect and things like that. So that’s the kind of content that I’m going to be focusing more on now with the change to the Quest.
I mean the Thai island quest for me, it’s been going on now for more than ten years, almost 11 years, basically, since I started writing for Travelfish, I mean you and I together, I don’t know how many islands in Thailand the two of us have have been to, if you count both of our lists together, but it’s quite a few, and so we’ve always kind of, at least you’ve always kind of egged me on and or you know how many of you been to have you been to? This one, have you been to that one? And so the quest is to really comprehensively, well, first of all, just visit as many of the islands as possible and cover them and document them and write about them in a way that goes, you know, I think deeper than, well, I don’t know it was deeper than ever before than anyone’s done, but it’s certainly an obsession you could say.
So changing the name to Thai Island Quest just makes it, I’m going to move away from the more newsy stuff I’ll certainly get into environmental issues and things like that, and also maybe social issues, I mean things that come up, as I research islands and stuff I’ll certainly include those issues when I write, when I cover articles, but it won’t just be like, I’m not going to be scouring websites and social media constantly just to do news wraps. It will be more of a focus on the actual islands and beach areas and just sharing them in a comprehensive way.
And that’s going to start on December 21st, that’s when the official relaunch day is, and what I’m doing to start is focusing on this, well, basically I’ve been just really kind of counting islands and as I’ve traveled over the years throughout all these different coastal provinces and out into the islands like I’ve taken down notes like what is that island over there? Like you’re on the boat to Ko Ngai or whatever and there’s an island off to your left, it’s just a little island, it’s uninhabited, but I’m curious like what is it? What’s there? So I’ve basically compiled all of that research into, you know, a single list basically is what it is, it’s a list, but also with a brief description about a bit about topography or inhabitation and things like that
So, so I’m I’m going to start sharing that and eventually it’s going to come in a series, I think it’s actually going to be an eight part series now. I initially said seven part, but there will be an introduction so I think it will be an wight part series and that will go from December 21st through into like mid February. And once that’s complete, it will be a whole comprehensive directory, essentially of every island, and also a ton of mainland beach areas in the entire country.
So if you’re serious about travel, it’s the kind of thing that you could open it up and say, OK, we’re going to this or that province, and what are the island options like ? I also have a scale for beaches, so it’s like brilliant would be like the best, the highest rating in terms of what I, like maybe Ko Kradan would get brilliant beaches, so you’ll be able to look at this at a glance and see, OK, say you’re going to a National Park, say you’re going to the Ang Thong islands west of Samui, like which island if say you could get a, you want to rent a private boat or something, which island should you choose?
So this is something you’d be able to look at and look get all the options right there in front of you, which is not something that is that easy to find. Honestly, like even if you go to tour companies on Samui that run tours to the Ang Thong islands, a lot of times they’re not really specific about which islands you’re actually going to and things like that, so this will be just a real comprehensive, not in depth, I mean it’s not going to be like two pages on every island or something like that, but it would just be all laid out in front of you.
So for real kind of travel nerdy type of people like maybe me or you that are looking to maybe see all the options and check out some different areas because Thailand has a lot of island, it has a lot of islands beyond the Samuis, Phukets and Phi Phis.
Stuart
So I was I was going to ask this this list that you’re talking about. How long is it? How many islands have you got on your list at the moment? Or do I have to wait till December 21 to find out?
David
It’s over 800.
Stuart
Jesus OK.
David
There are, you know, this is like every island I consider an island an island even like Ko Rok that’s Ko Rok Nok and Ko Rok Nai, and there’s a lot of islands like that, that are like twin islands, but for me it’s like OK if it’s surrounded by water entirely, then it’s an island, but you’ll see how it’s arranged it’s arranged so that it keeps island groups together and it’s presented in a way that is easy to kind of understand and group different islands together and everything.
It’s over 800 and I’ve seen different counts of how many islands there are, and they’re anywhere, usually from like 300, and I saw one that was like 1,200 or 1,300 or something like that. I don’t see where those islands are coming from. I mean, I’ve really done years and years of research and I don’t think there are like these invisible islands. I don’t think there are 500 invisible islands, so I don’t know, maybe that includes like river islands or islands that are in some of the lakes in Thailand and things like that, but yeah, it’s a lot of islands. It’s a lot.
In terms of, you’ll be able to see, in the guide, in the directory, it shows islands, it categorises them based on size. So if you only include like small islands it would be something like Ko Kradan or Ko Wai, or Ko Muk, but that would be on the large size, and then there’s mid size would be like Ko Jum, and large would be like Ko Lanta Samui, Ko Chang etcetera. There’s only eight actually islands in Thailand that I consider to be large islands. But my entire count includes even like little tiny specs, not like necessarily, not like if it’s just a tiny speck of rock that gets covered over by water when the tide is up then that wouldn’t be included, but probably wouldn’t be included anyway.
So it’s not like it’s not like totally going to be 100% totally precise. There’s definitely some little tiny islets and things like that I’m sure I still might miss, but it’ll be pretty close to being the most accurate count of islands in Thailand that is available anywhere. I’m sure the Thai Navy has probably a better count than me.
Stuart
I was going to ask because when you look at how Thailand’s island tourism scene has developed over the years access ease of access is a large part of it, so it’s like Phuket or Samui or Ko Chang or whatever. They’re all fairly straightforward to get to, so this 800, I mean there must be a portion of islands that are either extremely difficult to get to or they’re off limits. Whether it’s the military or bird’s nest cultivation, that kind of thing. But some of them, I imagine, are just going to be very difficult to get to. So I was wondering if you’ve got like a bucket full of islands or I don’t know, I’d call them the pain in the ass to reach ones like are there like a cluster of very difficult ones.
David
Well there are definitely quite a few that are illegal to at least to set foot on. And that’s also out of respect for environment and just the laws and everything. I’ll probably never go to like, Ko Huyong is an island in the Similans, that’s a sea turtle nesting sanctuary that is totally off limits and the only humans that would ever go there would be marine scientists, researchers, that kind of thing. But like I said, it’s a quest—I don’t claim to have been to all those islands.
The quest is ongoing—I’ve got the list and I’ve at least laid eyes on, I would say, most of these islands, from afar at least, I know they’re there and but the quest is going to be going on for a very long time. I don’t have a boat, I don’t have my own boat, and I’m certainly not a wealthy person who is just doing this for fun—far from it.
The quest is the quest, it’s about going to as many islands as I can and checking them all and checking out different places, but it’s also just about learning and sharing and trying to get like a big picture kind of understanding of the entire coastal region of Thailand, including the islands.
Stuart
You mentioned that you’re heading down to Chumphon and Phetchaburi very shortly. What would you say is going to be the very first island that you step foot onto?
David
We’ll see what the weather’s looking like because, on the Gulf side right now, it’s rainy season, they’ve been getting a lot of rain down in Samui, but we want to go to Chumphon there’s a place called Villa Varich that’s a little bit outside of Chumphon town that we really like going to, so we’re going to stay there, and if the weather’s good, we’ll try to go to Ko Samet in Chumphon province, not the Ko Samet that most people know about in, over in Rayong closer to Bangkok. Ko Samet in Chumpon is actually the largest island in Chumphon province, and there’s a little bit of agriculture going on there, and there’s a beach and stuff, and you go there just for the day. We’ll probably just look for a long tail boat at the National Park Moo Ko Chumpon Marine Park, at their National Park station over on the mainland, so hopefully that one.
And then there’s some others around Chumphon that we might try to if the weather is good, then there’s Ko Lang Ka Chieu that’s just like basically a little island for snorkelling, they do have like some group tours mainly usually Thai people that go on the tours but Ko Lan Ka Chieu, Ko Mattra or Ko Kula is another one, Ko Mattra. Ko Mattra is a bigger one, well it’s a small island, but by Chumpon standards, it’s kind of bigger, but that’s totally uninhabited. I probably won’t make it to that one. Ko Kula is another one, they have a little National Park station there, and there’s a beach there to check out.
Chumphon actually has a lot of islands. Already we went to Ko Wiang, which is up in the far north of the province, a very remote limestone karst island, it’s a lot of fun, a beautiful, beautiful area. Almost like a like a miniature kind of Phang Nga Bay look to it and then Ko Phitak another one that we went to down in the far south of Chumphon Province. We went to both of those not long before the pandemic started I think Ko Wiang we went in early 2021, sorry early 2020, but yeah, Chumphon there are a lot of islands to choose from there. \
Also actually on the way, I’ve actually never yet to go to Ko Talu, the one I think you’ve been to in Prachuap, yeah, we might stop there, but we’re also, we like to take our time and explore the mainland and stuff. So we’re gonna actually hang around Phetchaburi for a bit and maybe go over to Ko Krachan National Park. Last year it turned into a UNESCO World Heritage Natural heritage.
Stuart
Coming back to the newsletter for a second, so you have two forms of it. There’s the newsletter that goes out to free subscribers and then you’ve got a separate newsletter or different editions, I’m not sure how you describe it, to go out to paying subscribers, so could you just briefly explain who’s going to get what in this quest?
David
Well, if you want access to everything, then it’s $5 a month and that will get you access to the entire Thai island directory. That will be for, most of it will be only for paying subscribers. So come February you’ll be able to use that as a nice bit of reference or travel intelligence.
If you’re coming to Thailand and you’re interested in islands and also, but the rule of thumb is that paying subscribers will, only paying subscribers will be able to access, anything, any coverage that I do of islands or beach areas that are kind of more obscure, not, you know, larger tourist areas. If I write something about Phuket or Samui, chances are that will be for free subscribers.
Paying subscribers will get at least four posts every month that free subscribers don’t have access to. So yeah, that’s the general rule of thumb, but I’ll play it by ear as I go. I think it’ll still certainly be worth signing up for if you’re just a free subscriber too, it will be a mix.
Stuart
So with five bucks a month it works and roughly 4 issues. You’re talking about paying a buck an issue roughly a little bit over a bucket issue to find out about some of the best kept secrets of Thai islands. Would that be fair?
David
Yeah exactly. And some will be more in depth. I mean some of my articles go on like 2,500 to 3,000 words, and they’re completely filled, some of them have as many as 25 photos also included, that’s one thing I love to do is to take pictures of the islands. But then one thing that will change is I’m actually going to start doing some shorter posts that are more just covering islands like in a nutshell. Almost like an introductory type of thing where it just has some basic facts, some basic facts and some photos. Just to kind give you a little primer on an island, so if you’re traveling and you wanted to, you’re trying to choose an island, that maybe would be what you would look at first, so I’m going to start doing those too, so it’ll be a mix of, some shorter shorter posts, and then some more in depth feature type stuff like what I did quite a bit of back in 2020 and 2021.
I might do a little bit of just kind of travel journal, I mean, if some funny story pops into my head or something from my travels and it has to do with the islands and I might share that kind of thing too. And that, I don’t know if that’ll be for free or paying subscribers—I’ll decide that kind of thing just as I go, but yeah, I think paying subscribers will certainly get something, get a lot out of it if they’re interested in.
For anyone who’s really like a travel junkie, travel nerd who’s really interested in Southeast Asia and loves islands, then it’s I think something that those people like that would be quite interested and very interested in. But then anyone also is just coming here for a holiday coming here for a few weeks or something like you can always just sign up and pay the five bucks once or for a couple of months or whatever. You can do it however you want.
Stuart
So one last question and this is a question I get asked a lot and I know it’s a very difficult question to answer and probably a bit unfair, but if somebody was coming to Thailand for the first time and they had no idea about anything, and they wanted a good Thai island to go to, that wasn’t too touristy, not too busy, but not somewhere totally obscure that would require a military expedition to reach, what island would be at the top of your list?
David
Oh man, it’s so hard to just name one. Ok, I’ll say this, if you’re coming from Cambodia, like that side, or you just want to go over to the east side like near Ko Chang, I’d say check out Ko Kut. It’s just an incredibly beautiful island. It’s a large island. There’s plenty of room to explore, and it’s also really easy to go there and enjoy some of the other islands like Ko Mak, and of course Ko Chang and Ko Rang and some of the other islands that are there.
Ko Kut is, I think, you know, just a really amazing island. It’s pretty low key, maybe not for people who are looking to party and that kind of thing too much, but especially for families, couples, but also solo travellers you can certainly find some fun places to meet people there too. It’s a beautiful island. So I’ll go with Ko Kut with Ko Mak also, as Ko Mak is also a really good island too and it’s right next door to Ko Kut. Right near there.
And then let’s see. I mean, you know it’s so hard, Ko Pha Ngan you know I have a soft spot for Ko Pha Ngan as do you. I think especially if you go to Ko Pha Ngan and stay and go to check out some of the further flung little beaches and areas, and really take the time to explore the island and don’t just stay at Haad Rin the whole time, then Ko Pha Ngan is a really ... you know it is touristy, yes, but and it’s got definitely got sort of the earthy, crunchy vibe going for it, but it’s got some really amazing jungle.
One thing I really wanna do there, I’ve done some hiking there to some of the beaches that are kind of not accessible by road or at least not by any kind of road that anyone would want to go on with a motorbike if they care about their life at all. I really want to rent, get a long tail boat and just like go around like especially like the East and north of the island and to some of those some little beaches around there which I know you know a lot of those like Haad Thien and Bottle Beach and all those.
David
Then over on the Andaman side so I know you asked for one, but.
Stuart
I know you’re cheating here, man, you’ve already listed four. Ok, I’ll give you one more.
David
You know I always come back to Ko Muk in Trang. I have a real soft spot for that island. It’s you know, it’s just it’s a small island. The beaches are good, in a lot of cases, and maybe not quite as good as Ko Lipe or some of the other islands, but the nice thing about Ko Muk is you can set up camp there, set up base. It’s such a friendly place, wonderful people. It’s a small kind of, everyone says hi to each other still and even in the village and stuff, and it’s a good place to go as a family as a couple or as a solo traveler.
There’s some really chill little bars there to meet people and stuff, and you can set up camp there and the accommodation there is relatively affordable, so you can set up camp there and then take trips over to Ko Ngai and Ko Kradan, which are just absolutely stunning islands where you can snorkel at those and maybe stay a night at those and come back to Ko Muk that I think is just like you know, quintessential kind of island hopping area. Rent a little long tail boat and go out and see what you can see in just an absolutely stunning part of the world.
Stuart
OK, I’m going to stop you there because otherwise I know that you’re going to try and slip more islands in. So just to wrap up, what are the best ways for people to find you?
David
Well, the newsletter is thaiislandquest.substack.com and the old URL thaiislandtimes.substack.com does redirect to the new one automatically. So if you have that bookmarked, you don’t have to worry and that’s the main way. I’m also on Twitter a bit here and there, @davidluekens. Not that anyone ever will remember that.
Stuart
OK, I look forward to December 21 and getting a list of 800 islands, that of which about 750 I haven’t been to. So it’s always good to have a list to tick things off, so have a good time, have a good trip down south and very good to talk to you.
David
Yeah, you too, thank you.
Stuart
You’re welcome.
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