After reading all the wonderful reviews on TA my wife & i decided to do the Hongs by Starlight trip.

The trip was fantastic!! A detailed review of the same is as follows;

1. Booking: We booked the trip online via asiareservations.net. The reservation process was easy & in no time we were booked on the Hongs by Starlight trip :-)

2. To & Fro Transfer: The coach picked us up from the hotel @ the scheduled time. The Ao Po Pier is an hour's drive from Karon. The drive to & fro was fun.

3. The Boat: The boat was more like a ferry. There were 30 of us on the boat. It was fairly comfortable.

4. Service: Ole was the lead guide for the trip. He's a charming young fellow with a good sense of humour :-)

Natt was our guide for the trip. He's extremely knowledgable & spoke fluent english. He helped us in spotting a fair bit of wildlife - monkeys, moniker lizard, rat snake, water snake & different kinds of fish.

All the crew members are polite, friendly & courteous.

A dry bag was provided to us to help us carry a camera on the kayak.

In the lagoons we saw kayas being operated by other tour companies. One of the company had employed kids to steer the kayaks & all they did was race into the lagoon & back to the boat.

Another tour company sped into the lagoon & back to the boat. The guides didn't speak any english whatsoever.

We were so glad that we were with John Gray's crew. The extra money paid was well worth it :-)

5. Kayaks: The kayaks were well-maintained. We had absolutely no problem manouvering into any of the lagoons.

Self-paddlling the kayak for 30 mins was loads of fun :-)

6. Kratong: Making our own lratong was a whole lot of fun.

Kayaking @ night is a surreal experience. Watching the bio-luminescence or glowing plankton is sheer joy.

Releasing the kratong in the lagoon & watching it float with all the other kratongs is enjoyable.

6. Food: The light lunch & heavy (if i may call it so keeping in mind the plethora of options on offer)dinner both were delicious.

The vegetarian spring rolls were so tasty :-)

The crew confirmed eating preferences -Seafood, vegetarian etc.

My wife is a vegetarian but she enjoyed the veg soup, salad, onion & pineapple fritters, rice & curry.

I on the otherhand relished the sea food soup, rice, prawn friters, chicken with cashew nuts & grilled fish.

We highly recommend the Hong by Starlight Trip!!