Notes on Ko Mook – A fishing village on an island paradise

Ko Mook (or Koh Muk) is an island in the Andaman Sea in Trang Province, Southern Thailand. I didn’t know about Ko Mook until I went to Ko Kradan and the boat stopped there en route. I was intrigued by its shape, with its long sandy beach and jungle interior, so I filed it away to include for my next visit.

[My first sighting of Koh Muk in 2019, on the way to Koh Kradan.]

After that sneak preview, I read another review from an island specialist who said it was the island that turned him into an island lover. I knew I couldn’t miss it next time.

This time my Andaman island hopping took me to Koh Ngai, and from there I got a speed boat to Ko Mook.

The speed boat services are different to the long-tail services in that they are indeed speedy. The boat will take as many shortcuts as possible to shorten the journey on their multi-leg trip. When I arrive at Koh Ngai I was picked up by a long-tail boat to save docking on the island. And at Koh Mook, the boat stops on a beach on the other side of the island from the main pier.

I didn’t realise that this beach stop was my stop, so I stayed on the boat. Meanwhile, the boat crew had unloaded my bag onto the beach and started taking off again before they realised there wasn’t a passenger with the bag. So they went back to the beach, and I did a walk of shame through the boat as everyone watched me get off.

There was a motorbike tuk-tuk at the beach, and he didn’t charge an excessive amount for the fare. We drove on a rough dirt road through the jungle to get to the populated side of the island.

I was staying in the small village, which felt like a metropolis after being on Koh Ngai. It is small enough that you can just say the guesthouse name and your tuk-tuk driver will know where to go.

[Lucky Bungalow, Koh Mook.]

After dropping my bags off I went looking for the beach. The first beach was a shared working area for fishing boats. The sand is nice enough but this is a working beach first and foremost.

I went further along the beach until I hit the area with beach resorts. It’s not a long stretch of beach but it was enough to satisfy my feet.

The beach is part of a big sand bar that sticks out into the sea, with the Koh Mook Sivalai Beach Resort wedged in the middle of it.

Going around this sand peninsula there is more beautiful beach sand before reverting to an area for working boats. Koh Mook is an active fishing village that just so happens to have some nice beaches.

Going back inland I had a look around the village. Even though many shops had not reopened after the pandemic closures, this is a proper working village.

More shops support a residential community than a transient tourist population.

There is a school here, and a hospital as well.

Going further inland and up the hill, the village gives way to true rural living.

This area is characterised by free-range chickens and more kids yelling out hello mister to this tourist who strayed behind the tourist area.

Even though the beaches aren’t as good as Koh Kradan and Koh Ngai, Moh Mook makes up for it with its lush jungle interior. People also come here for the Emerald Cave, which I didn’t go to. It was only afterwards that I discovered that it seems to be the thing that people come here for. I had obliviously worked out that there was more to it than the Emerald Cave.

There are no hipster cafes here yet, but I soon found my favourite coffee places. I enjoyed Miss Island Bakery for coffee.

My go-to beach bar was Sugar’s.

I walked to the other side of the island (which took about 30 minutes) to where the speed boats land. This is known as Farang Beach (Foreigner Beach), and there are some cafes at the top of the beach.

Here you can truly sit on the beach with your feet in the sand with a cold drink in hand (iced coffee for me).

I even made a friend at the seat next to me.

In the morning I found a breakfast stall selling Thai-style chicken biryani.

As I mentioned in my notes on Koh Lanta, this is the meal I always seek in the south.

I still have some more islands to visit in the Andaman Sea, but I would like to come back one day and see how Koh Mook is doing post-pandemic.

Transport

From Koh Mook I got the ferry from the main pier back to the mainland, which included a minivan transfer to Trang City.

If you are continuing your island hopping of the Thai islands there are agents all over the island selling speed boat tickets to the surrounding islands.