Thailand: Ko Si Boya, Krabi Coast

Si Boya Island, located close to the Krabi Coast is accessible by boat from the jetty at nearby Ban Laem Kruat. The island’s population is only around 1,000 people, most of them local Muslims working as fishermen or on rubber plantations. There are about five small settlements on the island, all connected by unpaved tracks. The main attractions are the isolated, undeveloped beaches and mangrove forests.

Krabi Province is made up of more than 5,000 sq km of jungle-covered hills and sharp, jagged karst outcrops, as well as more than 100km of luxuriant, pristine coastline and around 200 islands in the neighbouring Andaman Sea.

About 40 per cent of the provincial population is Muslim, the remainder being predominantly Buddhist. This is a clear indication that Krabi sits astride the invisible dividing line between Buddhist Thailand and the four southern provinces—Satun, Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani—which are predominantly Muslim. Far from causing any sort of problem, this adds immensely to the cultural width and diversity of the province, blending mosques with temples, Malay cooking traditions with Thai cuisine, and giving the province a pleasantly relaxed multi-cultural feel.

Copyright:

CPA Media Co. Ltd.

Photographer:

David Henley

Credit:

Pictures From Asia