Popular James Bond Island

Have you heard about James Bond Island? The original and local name is Ko Tapu or Nail Island because it’s used for making James Bond movie (The Man with the Golden Gun), now it’s more popular as James Bond Island.



Two of my friends and I joined tour to Phang Nga Island for reaching the island last March 2010. A long tail boat was taking us to the island passing by mangrove for around 45 minutes rides. The tour won’t provide water or soft drink, so you have to prepare by yourself. Each row could only contain 2-3 passengers, it had more than 10 rows. During the trip we could also see some beautiful stones or hills in the middle of the sea. If the boat run too fast, all of us got wet by the sea water as impacted from the wave.


Reaching the island from the front, we could see directly the mascot of the island, a stand alone rock right in the middle of the other rocks. We went around the island to embark on the other side of the legendary rock. Our long tail boat had to queue, as there were many tourists arrive in the island. Everytime only a boat could put a shore their passengers. How the sailor stroke their long tail boat in a very limited space was very interesting. They could forward and reverse the boat to be closer to the pier horizontally.


Tourist would be welcome by adjoin stalls selling souvenirs made of seashells, sarongs, magnetics, etc. Bargain was a must here, they would give very high price, you had to bargain to get the best price. Some of them were kind, but some of them were also fierce and impolite to tourists when the price didn’t match their expectation.


The guide gave us 30 minutes to enjoy the island. We went to the main attraction of the island, the stand alone rock to take picture. My friend and I posed as if we carried the rock. It took many shots to get the best one. The other tourists were kind enough to wait for us, lucky us :-) You could play with the water, but it’s not too clean, I just put my feet under the water while taking pictures. The sand beach was not too soft here, you’d better wearing sandals.


After satisfied taking some pictures from different position, I was wearing my friend's hat, she was kind enough to lend it to me, because she has bought the brown one which were matched with her blouse. We explore the stalls to find any interesting stuffs, the good and nice one with reasonable price :-) I found interesting bracelets, after selecting from many options, I decided to buy 3 of them, 2 made of seashells while 1 made of white pearls. Because the color was matching with my blouse, I directly changed my bangle with the new one.


On the way back to Phuket we stopped by for lunch in Koh Panyee village. It’s a moslem floating village with houses, restaurants and markets. They had provided a set lunch for our group, the service was quite fast and efficient, they also provided water and soft drink with ice. It’s very suitable with our condition after hot journey on the boat under the sunshine. The toilet was built with ceramics as if on the land. I could not imagine how they could get the water and build the buildings. After lunch we still could have a chance to shop again, the price here was quite reasonable, although you still have to bargain. The trip was quite satisfying with enjoying the scenery, taking pictures and shopping.

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Spectacular Sparkling Night at Macau

My friend and I finally reached the central of light, the first hotel we visited was Grand Lisboa, it’s built as lotus, the symbol of Macau. A big dome was built from mirror crystal that could shine with colorful light. The lobby’s very luxury with crystal chain and sparkling golden interior, so amazing. There were some good quality statues made of gold, wood, jade, etc, also some big porcelain jug.


A shallow pool inside the hotel was decorated with lotus, bird, eagle and sparkling chandelier, it’s very beautiful. The lobby was decorated under hanging beautiful crystal chain. I’m sure the decoration inside the hotel casino is also luxurious, but we didn’t try to play gambling. We just wanted to see and enjoy the beautiful night in Macau with its light.




The next hotel was just next to Grand Lisboa was Lisboa Hotel, this hotel was the old version of Grand Lisboa. After visiting the extravaganza Grand Lisboa, we felt that this hotel was not too interesting. It’s much less modern and sophisticated comparing to the new one, although it’s still big and shiny.


Firework was attracted us after leaving Lisboa. It seems that the source was very far away from our place, but when we crossed the street, we saw the river, and that's the good spot to enjoy the attraction. Some people already sat on the wall at the edge of the river to enjoy it, we joined them. With the white bridge cut across the river giving a good background for the show. Every good firework performance, all spectators gave applause by clapping hands. The show had last around 15 minutes.


In front of Wynn hotel, there was a big pool, which played dancing fountain every half an hour. While waiting for the show, we entered the lobby dominated with red and golden color interior, we could see the beautiful swimming pool guidance by a couple of camel through the window in the lobby. Many high-class boutique, such as LV, Dior were available in this hotel. The beautiful dancing fountain was played accompanying with music and light. Fire effects were also taken part during the show. We were very tired, although we still wanted to visit Venetian Hotel, but we had walked since 7 o’clock, almost 4 hours long, we didn’t have any energy to go across the island (Venetian hotel is on the another island)

On the way home we passed MGM hotel, it seemed the backside of the hotel, because it’s not crowded and not too luxury such as other lobby hotels that we had visited. Although tired, I still had a chance to take picture in front of the golden bear statue.

Macau is very amazing at night, although you don't want to play gambling, you still could enjoy the sparkling light. You should stay overnight to experience it. So many hotels are available depends from your preference and budget, from the competitive (budget) hotel price to the most expensive one.

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