Guesthouse Name: Phayam Sport Bungalow
Address: Moo 1, T. Koh Payam, Baan Aoyai, Koh Phayam, Thailand
I stayed at the Phayam Sport Bungalow on Ko Phayam, Thailand. I booked online at the rate of $13.40 USD (which would have been about 470 THB in the local currency). I booked it as I liked the look of the bungalow accommodation and its proximity to the main beach (Baan Aoyai), which was about 500 metres walk away.
I hadn’t heard of Ko Phayam until two days before I went so I didn’t know what to expect. Ko Phayam is a small island on the Andaman Sea side of southern Thailand, and it is a car-free island. There are scooters and some work tractors, but no cars. This is one of the factors that makes Phayam popular with the hippy community.
The roads in the island are concrete laneways and I arrived at the bungalows via a motorbike taxi (which was 70 THB from the pier).
The property is set in an orchard of cashew trees, which it turns out that Phayam is famous for cashews.
I arrived to my nice little bungalow home, complete with a hammock.
The bungalow room had a comfortable double bed with a mosquito net permanently set up. I’ve stayed in a few bungalows like this before and this was the nicest mattress I can recall sleeping on (a thick, springy mattress).
The room had a wall fan and a decent shelf space by the bed and I had my backpack by the door. It was a good use of space considering the size of the room.
As with many of the guesthouses on this island, the electricity isn’t on during the day. There was electricity from 6 pm until late (I forget, maybe midnight).
There was an attached bathroom behind the room, with a western toilet and a decent sized sink.
A cold shower which is fine in the tropics, though the concrete floor wasn’t levelled right, so the water didn’t drain to the drain hole naturally.
The property advertised having internet but I really didn’t expect it to work given it being an island with limited infrastructure. I got a signal in my room but was unable to connect. I was using my mobile internet plan to check emails in case of work emergencies, so I wasn’t bothered about not having internet. I actually enjoyed the stay more because I was there on a weekend and I treated it as such.
There was a hammock hanging out the front which I used, and at night I loved listening to the sound of geckos and crickets and who knows what other critters.
Overall I enjoyed my stayed here. I have stayed in Southeast Asia beach bungalows before and sometimes there are so many little faults that they make staying in them a hassle. Perhaps I was in the right mindset as well to enjoy this bungalow stay, but just simple things like a nice mattress instead of a crappy piece of foam made a difference in the comfort.
Book the Phayam Sport Bungalow online or search for more hotels in Ko Phayam.
Read my review of Ko Phayam, and if you are looking for more island ideas, then read my complete guide to the islands of Thailand.
