Half Moon Restaurant Ras Al Khor

[Jeremias Resendez]

Butwhat did I need to know? I was offered a good job at a new university for Emirati girls in Dubai. My salary was tax-free. They gave me a free place to live. I was young and looking for adventure. Dubai was a bustling city with thousands of great restaurants and bars. The nightlife was becoming legendary. Beautiful beaches were just minutes from downtown. It was one of the safest and most luxurious places on earth.

After a few weeks, things went back to normal. More or less. One of the first things I did was go to the khor, the creek that splits the city in two. Bur Dubai on one side, Deira on the other. I saw a sign for Heritage Village, an authentic recreation of a traditional Bedouin camp.

The woman wore a loose black abaya, the traditional robe of Emirati women, and a black shailah covered her hair. She wore jewelry of bright 24-karat yellow gold around her fingers, wrists and neck. She also wore a burqa, which in the Emirates refers to a face mask adopted by the women of more conservative families. The burqa covers the nose and half the face with a prominent hooked bill that resembles the beak of a falcon, the national bird.

She handed me a tiny ornate cup and I took a sip. I expected something like Turkish coffee. Thick, black, sludgy, strong. A direct kick to the solar plexus. But this was entirely different. Pale, thin, brownish-yellow. The taste was floral and nuanced, lightly seasoned with ginger, cardamom and rosewater.

I learned, a few years later, that for Bedouins a cup of coffee was a symbol of friendship, community, socializing, and unity. Out in the desert, if you heard someone in the next tent crushing coffee beans and cardamom seeds with a mortar and pestle, you knew this was an invitation to come over.

If touristy Thai islands like Koh Phi Phi, Koh Phangan, Koh Tao and Koh Lanta are not your cup of tea, I expect that this island will be what your dreams are made of. In this post, I will tell you about the best things to do on Koh Phayam, its beaches, my favorite places to eat, how to get there, and where to stay!

If you want to visit the island and stay in the liveliest part of it, then consider booking your accommodation near Long Beach. At Long beach, you can find a few bars and restaurants that host parties regularly and have a distinct Hippie vibe.

If you want to stay at Long Beach but are looking for a quiet spot stay, consider walking all the way to the left of the beach, where you can find Big Tree Bungalows, a lovely local accommodation with decent snorkeling opportunities just in front of the restaurant.

Buffalo Bay is another long stretch of white sand beach that is locally referred to as Ao Khao Kwai. The left part of this bay is conveniently located in the middle of the island which makes it a great spot to stay to easy reach other places on the island.

Gulf Kwangpeeb or Monkey Bay is a beautiful stretch of Beach in the north of the island. There is no accommodation near the beach and you can only reach it by taking a gravel road that is not accessible by Tuk-tuks.

There are various viewpoints on the island from which you have wonderful views of the surrounding area and other nearby islands like Koh Kham. The area between the Moken Village and Long Beach is a lovely area to hike around.

At the southern tip of Buffalo Bay is a river that goes inland. You can rent a kayak and explore the mangrove forest that surrounds the river at high tide. Kayaks are for rent at a few accommodations. Vijit Bungalows rents them out at 100 THB per hour.

A great walk on the island is to the local temples which are located to the left of the Koh Phayam Pier when facing the sea. There are a few sites to explore here. The first one is a pier with a small temple and a statue of the former King Bhumibol. From the pier, you can also see many colorful fish in the water.

Furthermore, you can visit a large and scenic Buddha statue with next to it a statue of another god. One of the great things to do here is walk around the monk village. The village consists of little domes, some of them funny looking, in which the monks live or retreat for meditation.

While diving is not possible on Koh Phayam itself, there are some nearby islands with amazing diving opportunities. Trips to the Surin Islands, Laem Son National Park, or Richelieu Rock are all possible from Koh Phayam and even overnight trips to the Surin Islands are on offer.

The Moken people are sea gypsies that live a nomadic life on the water. Unfortunately, due to Westernization, the cultural identity of the Moken people decreases at a rapid pace. Instead of living on their boats, they now mainly live in small settlements on the island in the Andaman sea near the Thai and Burmese mainland.

Late in the evening and at night, bioluminescent plankton can be seen on the beaches of Koh Phayam. Bioluminescence is produced by chemical reactions in the Plankton causing them to emit a blueish glow.

Koh Phayam has some very scenic bars with the Hippie Bar being the most spectacular one. If you like to bar-hop around the island, try out Eagle Bar near the Moken Village or the Rock Bar and Viewpoint which cuts Buffalo Bay in the middle into two separate bays.

Looking for a massage or yoga on the island? There are several small beauty parlors on the island offering traditional Thai massage. Rose Massage, located on the main rod of the island gets good reviews.

Thailand is very easy to enter because you can stay in the country for up to 45 days with a tourist visa on arrival. If you want to spend more time in Thailand, check out the official Thai e-Visa website.

Get access to mobile data straight away when entering the country with a Thai E-sim or an Asialink E-sim when traveling through multiple countries. If you are already in Thailand, the best local prepaid sim card is AIS.

Ranong is a well-connected city in Thailand and can be reached by air, bus, or a train+bus combination. From Bangkok, you can reach Koh Phayam by plane in one and a half hours but taking the train and a bus is more environmentally friendly and better for your wallet.

Once you arrive in Ranong you have two options: You can take the local ferry at Tai Kak Pier which will reach Koh Phayam in two hours or take a speed boat at Ranong Pier that covers the same distance in only 45 minutes.

There are no cars on Koh Phayam which makes it a delight to spend time walking around the island. The best way to explore the island is by using your own two feet or bicycle. The island is not large in size and if you stay in the middle of the island you can easily plan day hikes to every corner. With a bicycle, you can even get to all the corners of the island in one day.

I had to change accommodations several times during my stay due to this and it makes your stay less relaxed if you need to pack up your bags again every few days. On the other hand, this gave me a good insight into what Koh Phayam has to offer.

Koh Phayam experiences two distinct seasons, the dry season and the rainy season. The best time to visit Koh Phayam is during the dry season which runs from November up to April. During these months the weather is nice and sunny with little rain.

What to eat in Cambodia? Hint: more than just Amok and fried tarantulas! This massive list includes all the popular dishes and street foods that you should be experiencing on your journey through Phnom Penh, Siem Reap/Angkor, Sihanoukville, and beyond.

The country is also highly regarded for the quality of its rice, sugar, pepper, fruit, and pork while also having abundant fish resources thanks to the Mekong River and the Tonle Sap. So, there really is no reason not to go nuts and have a foodie holiday! With this guide, inc. pics plus Khmer and English, you should be able to do just that.

A fresh noodle salad with rice noodle, fresh herbs, cucumber, lettuce, tender pork belly, chopped peanuts, and sometimes fish cakes. It is served with cabbage leaves which are used to wrap pickings of all the bits which can then be dipped in sauces.

Kuy teav is a type of cut noodle made from long grain rice and Kuyteav Phnom Penh is a popular breakfast dish eaten across the country in varying versions. The noodles are served in a pork broth along with lettuce leaves, bean sprouts, chopped scallions, sawtooth coriander, a slice of lime, caramelised garlic oil and other additions or sides may include pork belly, ground pork, congealed pig blood, pork offal, heart, liver and lung, roasted duck, prawns, fish cake and squid.

Mea Kiev (sometimes mi kheav) is a Khmer version of the Chinese wonton soup. Dumplings are added to a chicken-flavored broth and topped with Chinese chives and a few slices of pork. There are versions with egg noodles and wheat noodles.

Often called simply Khmer noodles, or Nom Banh Chok Samlor Khmer, the dish features rice noodles of the same name which are topped with a fish-based green curry gravy made from lemongrass, turmeric root, and kaffir lime. It is served with sides inc fresh mint leaves, holy basil, bean sprouts, green beans, banana flower, cucumbers and other greens which you can add as you feel. It is a cold dish.

Num Banh Chok rice noodles in a curry soup (Somlar Kari/Samlaw). The curry may be yellow (Turmeric soup base) or red (Chili curry soup base) and may include chicken or beef, potatoes, onions, and carrots.

Stir-fried rice noodles with soy sauce, oyster sauce, garlic, spring onions (scallions), bean sprouts, egg, and sometimes crushed peanut. Sometimes the egg is mixed in, sometimes fried and plopped on top.

Cha Mi Sua is stir-fried egg noodles. You can find numerous variants in street stalls including mee cha with vegetables, chicken, pork, shrimp etc. The common base ingredients are bell pepper, celery, bok choy, broccoli, soy sauce, sugar, and oyster sauce. It is equivalent to Chow Mein.

Featuring lort noodles which are short tapioca noodles, often called pin noodles, stir-fried with soy and oyster sauce, fish sauce, garlic, bean sprouts and topped with an egg. Sometimes it is vegetarian but some stalls sell it with chicken.

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