Many people will look down on the floating village of Koh Panyi in Phang Nga Province as they fly into Phuket wondering what goes on in this magical floating village. Some 200 years ago, Toh Baboo and two other families left Indonesia in search of a new home. On arriving in Thailand they wanted to be near the huge amounts of fish they had found in nearby waters, but there was no flat land, so they built over the water to solve this problem. Koh Panyi (Flag Island) is named this way because Toh Baboo climbed up to the highest cliff towering above the island and planted a flag claiming the fishing rights as his own. Today Koh Panyi is also famous for football. The village was inspired by Maradona and the 1986 World Cup to build their own pitch over the water. They then entered a local youth tournament and won! Koh Panyi FC is still a force to be reckoned with to this day in local southern Thailand football tournaments.
Click here to watch a short video on how the villagers of Koh Panyi were inspired to start thinking differently.
