Stayed at Sivalai Resort.
First, thank you Timur who suggested this trip. He told me that he found a very nice poster about Koh Mook and he would like to visit the island if it’s possible. And…. why not?
4 of us went there during a long weekend in October (22nd -25th , Piyamaharat Holiday), it’s a perfect duration for our holiday in Koh Mook for a 3N/3D trip.
Unfortunately, the Indonesia wild fires blotted out the sun. Smoke blew over most of the South of Thailand, and Koh Mook was about 30% effected.
So it’s kind of foggy/Smokey during our visit…
From Bangkok, we flew with Air Asia to Trang Airport (but don’t fly with Air Asia like us! You can fly with Nok Air the service is much better!!! It’s kind of a long story but in short, I always pay a little extra for early boarding and a little extra leg room. But the way they board makes it impossible to get there! And I find the flight attendants rude. But we have a choice… And my choice will be Nok Air for my next trip). It only takes about 1.15 hrs for the flight.
Trang is a small quiet town and the people are very nice, calm and always have a smile.
If you fly in after 4pm, I recommend that you to stay one night in downtown Trang. And if you are looking for a hotel in Trang, try the Rua Rasada Hotel. This hotel can provided an airport pick up at 100 baht/person, also the hotel restaurant is great for dinner (it exceeded my expectation!). The hotel is about 15 minute drive from the airport… Hotel info can be found here http://www.ruarasadahotel.com/
The day after, we woke up and checked out of the hotel about 9am, I hired a van to pick up us at the hotel and take us to the pier called Kwan Tang Ku (ควนตังกู้) which is about an hour away from Airport or downtown Trang.
10am, we arrived at the pier, and it’s an easy pier, not busy. There is no friendly sign for foreigners, so that may be hard… But I can read Thai… LOL.
We set up the long tail boat for round trip transport by a local agency, and it’s about a 25 minute ride to Koh Mook. The long tail boat cost 600 baht for all of us (4 people), but if you stay with Sivalai Resort they can provide a speed boat which is about 500 baht per person (we are saving 1,400 baht totally!!!)
It’s a short ride and here we are at Koh Mook.
Koh Mook is a large island and it’s well known as the home of Morakot Cave (Emerald Cave). Koh Mook is the 3rd largest island in Trang which is on Andaman sea side.
Most Thai people like to go Koh Ngai more than Koh Mook, because it’s cheaper. But Koh Mook is more center and easy to access to another islands or attractions.
Koh Mook’s population is mostly Muslim and it’s the first time I saw a Muslim style spirit house!
For our first visit Koh Mook, I checked with many agencies and read thru all the reviews for resorts in this island. Most Thai agencies strongly recommend us to stay at Sivalai Resort, Sivalai is located in a really cool spot at the end of Koh Mook, it looks really great in the pictures!
Overall, it’s a beautiful resort (maybe the most beautiful one in Koh Mook right now) but they didn’t fully follow up with commitments. For example my first reservation, they offered 2,850 baht per night but when I wanted to confirm the reservation they asked me for 3,087.50 baht per night, just because the first offer was responded by the manager not the reservation desk!
Another example is when I tried to book for one more room, they told me that they will try to put his room next to mine. But when we checked in, we stayed in a different zone. And!! I didn’t get the room that I booked for me which was already confirmed back by them.
All the rooms looked the same, like little separate houses just different location (by the beach or in the middle row).
Anyway, we had a nice stay for 2nights and at the last day, they let us do a late check out at 2pm. Also, they set up the yogafly for me 🙂
Sivalai did a pretty good for international food, great burger for lunch. Dinner is just right, it was a little disappointed that they didn’t have more seafood since we are in a fisherman village island! (but we found a better spot called Chawlay tour restaurant, it’s the same agency for out boat trip over here… And great food!).
There are not many resorts in Koh Mook but here is a list of what I saw… Charlie Beach Resort (this is famous for foreigner, nice front beach and offers diving trip), Koh Mook Resort, Riviara Beach Resort, Pawapi resort and Mook Lamai Resort (this one has no beach, it’s about in the middle of Village).
What to do on Koh Mook?
In Koh Mook, we couldn’t do many things. We did ride the motorcycle around the island but it’s a short ride and it’s 100 bath each! Nothing to see, only the local life. There are no night markets and only a few shops and local restaurants.
I think walking along the beach is the most fun for us.
I thought Koh Mook means Pearl Island (Mook is a Thai word = Pearl), but there are so many star fish here, it should be Pla Dow Island!!! (Pla Dow is Star Fish)
You can take a boat trip to Emerald Cave, Koh Kradan, Koh Rog, Kho Ngai. They are all surrounding Koh Mook and it’s easy to get there by a long tail boat.
For our trip, we did a half day snorkeling at Koh Kradan (30mins away from Koh Mook) on the 2nd day, and another 6hrs trip to Emarald Cave with many snorkeling stops on the last day.
My summary of expenses for this trip (without shopping, there is NOT much shopping in Koh Mook!!!)
• Flight from Bangkok to Trang (round trip) = 8,000 baht
• 1st night hotel in Downtown (Rau Rasada) = 1250 baht (included airport pick up & breakfast at 2,500 per room per 2 person)
• Transportation (Van) from Rau Rasada hotel to Pier = 250 baht ( 1000 baht per 4 of us)
• Boat from Pier to Sivalai resort = 150 baht (600 baht per 4 of us)
• 2nd day snorkeling trip to Koh Kradan = 300 baht (1200 baht per 4 of us, no food)
• Last day ***Emerald cave & snorkeling = 600 baht (1,800 baht per 4 of us, with lunch)
• 2 nights at Sivalai resort = 3,087.5 baht each (included breakfast)
• Return boat from Sivalai to the peir = 150 baht each
• Transportation (Van) from the pier to Airport = 250 baht each
Total = 14,200 baht ($430) each for 3nights/3days trip in Trang to Koh Mook.
***For foreigners, you are required to pay 200 baht (about 6 bucks) to the National Park Officer for access to the Emerald cave
