EXCLUSIVEInside Thailand's last untouched island: Empty beaches, authentic villages, mangrove forests - discovering that Koh Yao Yai is like Phuket used to be 40 years ago

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A tourist にわか景気 over the last three １０年間s has turned Thailand into the busiest tourist 中心 in south-east Asia, with 28 million 訪問者s piling in every year.

Which is a problem, 特に in Phang Nga Bay, 近づく Phuket, which was so deluged with tourists that it was の近くにd to 訪問者s in 2018.

You can see why young backpackers are so drawn to a country which 申し込む／申し出s sun, sea, dirt-cheap-yet-excellent 宿泊所 accommodation, lively 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s, party boats which 巡航する the islands blaring out dance music and the legendarily hedonistic 十分な Moon parties.

But for someone in her 50s whose 私的な hell is a party boat, is it possible to find a corner of Thailand that hasn’t become 侵略するd by gap year students?

Of Thailand’s 1,430 islands, you can probably only 指名する a few. Koh Yao Yai, an island on the west coast 近づく Phuket, is so unknown that even 本土／大陸 Thais 港／避難所’t heard of it.

Soak it up: Fiona McIntosh travels to?Koh Yao Yai, an island on Thailand's west coast 近づく Phuket that is so unknown, even 本土／大陸 Thais 港／避難所't heard of it. Pictured above is the island's 'showstopper' beach - Laem Haad

Fiona 述べるs Laem Haad beach (above) as a 'long spit of 有望な white sand and coconut trees'

While Phuket these days is 十分な of sparkling 訴える手段／行楽地s, mega-郊外住宅s and rich ロシアのs swaddled in designer clobber, all of that changes the moment you 速度(を上げる） away from the jetty on a bumpy boat ride across the Andaman Sea.

On the way, we pass a 星座 of tiny i slands covered in rainforest, with 略章s of sandy beach and few 調印するs of life apart from wonky 木造の fishermans’ cottages.

The twin islands of Koh Yao Yai and Koh Yai Noi sit 味方する by 味方する, separated by a 狭くする stretch of water. While the latter is smaller and more developed, Koh Yao Yai looks from a distance as if it’s nothing but ジャングル-覆う？ hills which 宙返り／暴落する 負かす／撃墜する to the sea.

Fiona checks into Anantara Koh Yao Yai (pictured), the island's first five-星／主役にする hotel

Fiona says that Anantara has 'all the trappings of five-星／主役にする 高級な'. Above is one of the hotel's opulent 郊外住宅s with rainforest にわか雨s and 私的な 急落（する），激減（する） pool

Just 35 minutes after leaving the bustling jetty at Phuket, we arrive at the island no one has ever heard of. ‘Welcome to Koh Yao Yai,’ says our guide as we step off the boat. ‘This is what Phuket used to be like 40 years ago.’

The island is an 18-mile long, thin stretch of concentrated ジャングル with a smattering of small rubber and coconut tree 農園s, a couple of dinky villages and some very beautiful and very empty beaches.

As the small island 全住民 is 90 per cent イスラム教徒 and many of the small restaurants and cafes don’t serve alcohol, it means the young, party （人が）群がるs have given it a wide 寝台／地位. Koh Yao Yai is so 罪，犯罪-解放する／自由な that it doesn’t even have its own police 駅／配置する. As we were told by one 地元の, you can leave your moped by the 味方する of the road with the 重要なs in the ignition and it will still be there when you get 支援する.

The hotel has been 'designed to sensitively blend into the undulating 沿岸の landscape'

Fiona says you can visit the island's mangroves to 位置／汚点／見つけ出す native hornbills, or take a ジャングル 引き上げ（る）

Until recently, accommodation 選択s on the island were 限られた／立憲的な to a handful of cheap and 中央の-範囲 hotels and self-catering 郊外住宅s. But this year the island welcomed its first five-星／主役にする hotel, the Anantara Koh Yao Yai.

Although in some ways it is a shame 進歩 is finally catching up with this wonderfully pristine island, the hotel has been designed to sensitively blend into the undulating 沿岸の landscape ― rather than stand out with 有望な lights and bling.

The 訴える手段／行楽地 has all the trappings of five-星／主役にする 高級な, from opulent 郊外住宅s with rainforest にわか雨s to 私的な 急落（する），激減（する） pools, a hydrotherapy spa and 広大な, delicious beds that are an 完全に different 種類 to the palm mats I once slept on 30 years ago.

A buffet breakfast is served in an airy pavilion restaurant beside the 解放する／自由な?form swimming pool; lunch can be ordered by your sun-lounger on the sandy beach which looks out across a 静める, （疑いを）晴らす sea; and in the evening you can choose to dine on 地元の food, Japanese or a BBQ. I was also rather relieved to see that cocktails, ワイン and beer flow 自由に.

You could choose to stay put and relax at the Anantara, but that would be a 広大な／多数の／重要な shame. Our hotel guide, Jo, took us on two rollicking excursions around the island on mountain bikes and a jeep.

We bumped along a 静かな road, past farms, the 半端物 孤独な water buffalo and ギャング（団）s of monkeys who 注目する，もくろむ-balled us from the 最高の，を越す of 貯蔵所s, past 白人指導者べったりの東洋人, palm and cashew nut trees to the island’s showstopper of a beach, Laem Haad. On this long spit of 有望な white sand and coconut trees, the only other people we saw were a sun-bleached French couple in their 60s, who were 明確に having a wild old time on their grown-up gap year.

The hotel can also organise ジャングル 引き上げ（る）s through the hinterland, kayaking through mangroves to 位置／汚点／見つけ出す native hornbills and snorkelling and scuba-飛び込み trips to nearby islands.

It is also 井戸／弁護士席 価値（がある） getting a taste of 伝統的な Thai food. Jo took us to try delicious 白人指導者べったりの東洋人-filled roti from an unassuming 道端 立ち往生させる, and at night we dined at 地元の, open-空気／公表する restaurant 冷気／寒がらせる 冷気／寒がらせる @ Pai where we both had a sensational Thai green curry 負担d with seafood and a 一連の会議、交渉／完成する of cocktails for いっそう少なく than £20 ($25.12).

That French couple 明確に had the 権利 idea. How wonderful to revisit the gap year experience, with all the adventure, culture and thrills of 青年, but with proper beds, 空気／公表する-条件ing and no bugs. Even better to do it in a place still wild and 自然に beautiful ― and not a 選び出す／独身 party boat in sight.