Bang Pat Village

 

Our work also took us to this little village on the Phang Nga Bay (where the famous James Bond Island is located).  Bang Pat is on an island and you walk across the water on a concrete walkway.  Inside the village the walkway continues down to the end of the buildings and everyone's house opens right onto the walkway (houses all have an open living room, not really a porch because it is literally a living room without a front wall).  walking down the walkway inside the village was very intimate, youre right next to someone's house!  honestly, it felt like an alley or tight pedestrian walkway you might find in a city.  it was really cool!  

we met some of the locals and were invited to join them for lunch.  we were served fresh crab and curried crab legs (the village gets its income mostly from fishing and seafarming), the best fish i've had here (red snapper), and mango salad.  best meal in phang nga!  it was all so delicious and we ate it in an open air pavillion at the end of the walkway, looking out at the bay.  longtail fishing boats were going in and out.  it was so cool!

the buildings are all on concrete stilts and when the tide comes in at night, there is water underneath all the homes.  they didnt get too damaged in the tsunami because of the mangrove forests on the rest of the island.