Koh Sirey, Phuket

Koh Sirey is not an island in the open sea that can be reached by boat.

This small island (5km long in one direction and 3km in the other) is connected to the island of Phuket by a bridge, and separated from it on the whole "West" side by rivers (klongs) that flow into the sea, so it is an island....

We cannot say that this island is very "touristic "....

There are very few foreigners and the poles of attraction are quite rare except for a few superb views of the bays, and some beaches that are not made for swimming but where Thai people like to go for a walk and pick up some crustaceans at low tide...

En franchissant le pont de Koh Sirey, on peut apercevoir une partie du port de pêche de Phuket

au sujet duquel j'avais fait un petit reportage il y a quelques mois

As soon as the bridge is crossed, statues representing monkeys can be seen.

There are several groups such as this one along this road.

When I got back from my walk, so around 5pm, a lot of cars were parked
and many people with their children came to visit hundreds of monkeys in the mangrove just across the street from a klong.

The entrance to the Fishing Harbour is just a few dozen metres from the Koh Sirey Bridge.

There are not many tourists walking around Koh Sirey,
but there are some well established resorts like the "Westin Sirey Bay Resort"...

I ended up with a first small restaurant by the sea.
You can have lunch in the main building (on the right) but also in small bamboo huts on the beach (left)
Located between the Westin Resort on one side, and the Sea Gypsy Village on the other...
I must admit that it feels rather strange....
On one side, luxurious housing and houses (5 stars) and on the other side barracks from another world, another civilization with extreme poverty.
Almost shocking... no, shocking at all.

I left the small restaurant, and about twenty meters further on, I am at the beginning of the Sea Gypsy Village,
with two stands where people try as best they can to sell some typical decorations...
After these two stands, I cross the village which extends over about 400 meters...
by contemplating this large population (probably because it is Sunday...?) and living in really precarious conditions....
I would have liked to take some pictures of these people... not of their poor habitat, but their marked faces, their looks....
Yet here in Thailand people love to be photographed... but honestly, this time, I didn't dare.
I felt embarrassed, despite my many years in Phuket.

I go around the village, and on this side, I find some simple houses,
more recent than what I saw just before....
At the limit I would almost dare to say that these are more "luxurious"....

An overview of this very poor village... and its blue sheet metal roofs...

I go back on my way, leaving aside the Westin Resort and its ultra luxurious houses
that I showed you before, to take a small road
that will take me to another bay, another seaside.

Sunday afternoon, the children do not go to school....
they spend their day playing on the beach or picking up some shells.

If the children are on holiday on Sundays, the same is not true for welders of a small shipyard, busy assembling the frame of a boat under a blazing sun...