Ko Phangan is a beautiful and relatively unspoiled island off the east coast of southern Thailand. It is easy to reach from Ko Samui by ferry. We spent 6 weeks on Ko Phangan because one of us became unwell and needed emergency surgery. One day on Ko Phangan the coconut-picking monkeys came to visit. Coconut trees need de-nutting for safety and to harvest the ripe coconuts. On Ko Phangan the nutting is done by trained monkeys.
“We really have stumbled on a little slice of paradise on the Thai island, Ko Phangan.
The beach is perfect. Clear, safe waters and an aquarium of sea life for us to explore. The kids are happy playing with new friends and we have a simple but lovely beachside bungalow to call home.
We had a bit of excitement this morning. The arrival of the Ko Phangan monkeys.
Trained working monkeys, with their handlers. Large, aggressive-looking males, so we stayed well away.
They scampered up the coconut palms, gave each nut a monkey-handed twist and the older nuts fell to the beach. I have never, in all my years of travelling, seen monkeys do this job before.
We really should take this idea back to Port Douglas, it’s $50/tree for safety de-nutting back there!”
Head to our Thailand Travel archives for all of our Thailand coverage, including more on Koh Phangan.
Alyson Long is a British medical scientist who jumped ship to chase dreams. A former Chief Biomedical Scientist at London's West Middlesex Hospital she started in website creation and travel writing in 2011.
Alyson is a full-time blogger and travel writer, a published author, and owns several websites. World Travel Family is the biggest.
A lifetime of wanderlust and over 6 years of full-time travel, plus a separate 12 month gap year, has given Alyson and the family some travel expert smarts to share with you on this world travel site.
Today Alyson still travels extensively to update this site and continue her mission to visit every country, but she's often at home on her farm in Australia.
Very interesting, the boys would have loved seeing them.