It was a 007 day here in Thailand. We spent it on a boat in the Andaman Sea of the eastern Indian Ocean. It was part of a tour to “James Bond Island,” made famous in the movie Man With A Golden Gun (1974). Of course my favorite Bond was Sean Connery, who starred in seven of the action films beginning with Dr. No (1962) and continuing with From Russia With Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964), and Thunderball (1965). David Niven (Casino Royale 1967) was a temporary Bond before Connery’s return in You Only Live Twice (1967). George Lazenby was the next 007 in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) before another Connery encore in Diamonds Are Forever (1971). Then it was Roger Moore’s turn for Secret Agent-hood with Live and Let Die (1973) followed by the filming in Thailand at one of the islands we visited today.

Sean Connery of course came back the seventh and final time to play James Bond in 1983 with Never Say Never Again, while Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and most recently Daniel Craig extended the timeless “Bond…James Bond” role into its 26th production, scheduled to be released later this year. I think that it’s remarkable that the franchise has survived despite seven different actors in the same role. However, each generation now seems to have their favorite. I was personally disappointed with the change from Connery to Moore, especially after the single appearances by Niven and Lazenby. In the transition, the Bond character lost some of it’s appeal to me, and I honestly don’t remember much of the Roger Moore Era, including The Man With the Golden Gun. Here’s what I found on Wikipedia:

“Location – Ko Tapu, Phang Nga Bay, Phuket. Scene -Bond flies over Phang Nga Bay on his way to hitman Scaramanga’s island hideaway on Ko Tapu, now known as James Bond Island. It’s a beautiful setting and the movie has made it a popular tourist attraction. I will have to watch it again to refresh my memory, but it was a memorable day of canoeing through caves, seeing bats & monkeys, and swimming in the warm ocean waters. I was also embarrassed to discover that I have been having some trouble with the conversion rate of dollars to bahts. I embarrassingly under-tipped in Bangkok on several occasions to the tune of small change, and significantly over-tipped twice today. It must be a function of jet-lag. James Bond would have never given someone a 65-cent tip. I honestly thought it was the equivalent $7.50, but the recipient graciously smiled and acted like it was generous anyway. I’m sure they were probably thinking, “cheap American tourist.”