DESCRIPTION
Phang Nga is the modern Thai transliteration of the Malay word pangan, literally 'heathen, pagan, primitive people,' or as proper noun, Pangan in reference to a generalised tribe or people typically inhabiting jungle areas of the Malay Peninsula and its offshore islands. Historically, in 1824 when Siamese troops defeated the Burmese and the challengers were expelled, King Rama III renamed a major area adjacent to the bay phang-nga. This bastardisation of Malay pangan offers vivid indication that the entire region was likely populated by Orang Asli or other aboriginal people