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Koh Yao Noi has around 4,000 inhabitants and is around
10 x 12 km in size. It is one of the largest in an
archipelago of 44 islands which is famous since it
was featured in the James Bond movie "The Man
With the Golden Gun". Yao Noi's sister island
Yao Yai lies only 15 minutes away by boat and offers
a chance to enjoy a pleasant day's trekking or cycling.
According to local legend the strait between the two
islands was created when a very angry Naga - Sea Dragon
- crashed through on his way to Krabi to see his fiancee
being married to someone else.
For centuries it has been believed that the two islands
were populated by Chao Lay people, also called Sea
Gypsies - nomadic groups who travelled from island
to island for fish and other seafood.
It is, indeed, obvious from the darker skins that
some Koh Yao Noi inhabitants are relatives of the Sea
Gypsies but there is also evidence that many early
settlers here migrated from Thailand’s southern
Province and from Malaysia . Like all people of South
Thailand, these migrants have mixed origins such as
Thai, Burmese, Malay, Indian and Chinese.
On Koh Yao Noi the locals speak a dialect similar
in many ways to some of the Malay languages but they
also speak "Bangkok Thai", should you want
to practice. The main sources of income on the island
are from rubber, sea food, rice, palm oil and coconuts.
Sea farms, holding bays for live fish and lobsters,
are also popular and a common sight around the island.
Tourism here has not been developed as it is in Phuket
or Krabi therefore - if you take the time to look -
you can experience the island as it was centuries ago,
observing local people going about their daily business.
The Island remains a very natural, quite and easy
place to live: Koh Yao Noi and its surroundings gathers
in a short distance some of the most interesting things
to be discovered in South Thailand, in one of the most
beautiful locations. |
