5. Phang Na Bay, Andaman Sea, Malay Peninsula

I survived.

Yesterday I passed the most dangerous challenge on my journey so far: I took a mini-bus!

The young driver undoubtedly had a death wish which he, maybe, also needed to communicate to close relatives and friends since he operated two cell phones while driving at insane speeds on these curvy roads.

One passenger, a young lad from India, managed to work his way up to the driver and asked him to slow down and take it easy. The reply was: "Theeeeze eeez eeeh miiini-buzzzz!" I am not certain what the driver wanted to express by pointing this out; maybe he wanted to assure us that we are indeed in a mini-bus, and not in a death-trap, what most of us had assume quietly.

I have not issues at all with the code of standards on board of the mini bus.
Its good to be clear about it, though. I like that.

Two eyes on the phone, one eye on the road. 

The driver Nong, nickname "Fangio".

At the end we made it to the fishing pier from where I took a boat to cruise all day some of the stunning islands of the archipelago of islands in the Malay Bay.

Beautiful, fierce and fast raptors: The sea eagles (Brahmani Kites (Haliastur Indus)
put on quiet an air show while circling the boat. They have excellent eye sight and spot fish close to the water's surface; however they also like chicken skin. It is amazing that you can hear them fly. Sorry, humans, no aircraft capability can even come close.

I am holding my Loi Krathong ("Floating Crown", "Floating Decoration") which I will release to the sea later, for good luck.

The captain of the "Silver Hawk", our trusty vessel.

Extensive Mangrove forest

Mangroves.

Ko Panyi, a village almost completely built on stilts and solely inhabited by Muslims, descendants of seafaring Malay. 2500 people inhabit the island, drinking water is brought in by boat from the mainland. Fishing is the main commerce, of course.

Pretty much everything needs to be brought in by boat.

Koh Ping Kan (above, below)

At the end of the day thunderstorms made the sea a little choppy, but I made it back well.