Close your eyes. Think of one thing: Thailand. Many envisage happy locals, pristine beaches lined with coconut trees, mouth-watering curries and virgin rainforest with monkeys busy chattering and swinging from a playground of branches. After travelling through the country for over a month, I realised it is very much a place where you can find all of these fantasies. It’s a place where lone travellers, groups of friends and honeymooners can wish for dreams, and these will come true.

However, those in search of adventure off the beaten track will find that Thailand has few unbeaten tracks left to offer, and most of their fascinating experiences will be shared with hundreds of other tourists around them. So with just one week left in beautiful-yet-busy Thailand, I went in search of paradise.

That’s where Ang Thong Marine National Park comes into the picture – a beautiful group of 42 islands in the Gulf of Thailand. Easily accessible on day trips from Koh Samui or Koh Phangan, it comes as no surprise that they are also a popular tourist destination. And so I was back to square one. I couldn’t beat the other tourists to this paradise. But I discovered that I could join them, and then stay there after they all left.

Not many tourist agencies or websites actually advertise this, but the park headquarters offers five spacious yet basic two-bedroom bungalows and a small amount of tents for rent, so some of the visitors can stay the night and enjoy the tranquillity of the place.

So off I went on one of the day tours (the only way to get into the park unless you charter a speedboat) with a small rucksack on my back carrying the essentials: a towel, sunscreen, GoPro, bikini, cap and, what I later discovered to be the most essential of all items, mosquito repellent.

The islands are completely uninhabited except for two: Ko Phaluai, which is the largest and inhabited by sea gypsies, and Ko Wua Talap, which is home to the park headquarters, a restaurant, and accommodation.

At the top, breathtaking views make it worth every drop of sweat it takes to get there

As the first views of the islands came into sight, I felt entranced by my magical surroundings. I entered my own world where the people around me were gone, the rumble of the boat had fizzled out, and all I could see was island upon island made out of limestone cliffs entwined with endless green hills, overlooking hidden inlets and beaches with bright white sand. I was awestruck.

I was shaken back to reality by the voice of our tour guide on the loudspeaker announcing that our first stop would be on Ko Mae Ko, where we could enjoy a swim or huff and puff a 10-minute climb up wooden stairs to a viewpoint overlooking Emerald Lake. The lake couldn’t have been given a better name: its exotic emerald green colour only added to its astonishing surroundings of towering limestone cliffs and evergreen forest. What a sight.

Spectacled langur sitting in a tree, Wua Talap island, Ang Thong National Marine Park.

The tour also offered an optional kayaking tour that takes you round a section of this island, enjoying more dramatic cliffs, magnificent rock structures and small caves, before kayaking back to the boat and heading to Kha Bay on Ko Wua Talap. Lined with coconut trees and having a dense jungle backdrop, this powdery white beach was actually one of the nicest beaches I had seen in Thailand. And I was excited to be able to call it my home for a short while.

We settled in our tent that was already pitched for us on the lawn about 50 metres behind the beach, and enjoyed the rest of the day on the soft, squeaky sand and in the warm azure water. By 4pm, the tourists and boats had all left the park, and we were left to enjoy this paradise with around 15 other local and foreign visitors who were also staying the night.

What was originally planned as a one-night stop turned into a three-night stay as we were completely enchanted by the island. We watched a spectacular sunrise on the beach, which remained almost deserted until the first tour boats started arriving at around 12pm. Days were spent sunning ourselves on the main beach, kayaking around the island and stopping to sunbathe on other empty beaches, trekking through the forest to get to other beaches, watching the cute local gang of Dusky Leaf monkeys frolic around, exploring Bua Bok Cave with all its stalagmite and stalactite formations, and staring out into the sea to try and catch a glimpse of one of the Bryde’s whales that inhabit the waters. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any whales, but we were lucky enough to see some monitors lizards on the rocks and an absolutely stunning Oriental Pied Hornbill while we were kayaking.

As amazing as all this sounds, the best part is yet to come. And it goes by the name of Wua Ta Lap Viewpoint. Although only 500m long, the trail up to the viewpoint is extremely steep and at times slippery, but has a rope to guide and help climbers along the way. At the top, breathtaking views make it worth every drop of sweat it takes to get there. Calm water dotted with what seemed like an endless row of rugged green islands: it was hard to pull my eyes away from the sight before me. If you’re lucky enough to go on a clear day, take a head-torch and head up for a once-in-a-lifetime sunrise view.

Although I would have been happy to stay much longer, unfortunately our stay had to come to an end after three days as I had a flight booked from the mainland. So we packed our belongings, sadly bid farewell to our paradise and hopped back on our tour boat. I now fully understand why Alex Garland chose this very place as the setting for his best-selling novel, The Beach. Don’t we all just wish we would also find a secret map to a paradise like this?