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I never finished off my Thailand blogs from our trip in late February so here is the first long overdue update with the Bangkok blog to follow shortly.

After our 3 days on Phuket we took the early morning ferry to Phi Phi Island. Phi Phi is actually made up of a couple of islands, the larger island being inhabited (Phi Phi Don) and the smaller a national park (Phi Phi Leh). Like Phuket, Phi Phi is off the southern coast of Thailand, which incidentally put the islands right in the path of the Boxing Day Tsunami. For now lets just say that the Phi Phi Islands are simply stunning and about as close to that idyllic picture of an tropical island setting as you can probably get.

So idyllic in fact that it has featured in the Hollywood movie “The Beach” starring Leonardo di Caprio. Indeed any write-up on the Phi Phi Islands wouldn’t be right without mentioning that The Beach was filmed at Maya Bay on Phi Phi Leh. The Beach wasn’t the biggest of blockbuster hits, but just like at Phuket's James Bond Island, the local tourism industry is quick to make a buck out of the film set mania. Coming from Middle Earth NZ we were weren’t about to begrudge them that!

Anyway our ferry to Phi Phi stopped off at Ton Sai (the main village on Phi Phi Don) before heading to the north part of the island to drop us off. Again we were cashing in on the employee discount by staying at the Holiday Inn resort near the top of Phi Phi Don. When we arrived the Hotel GM went out of his way to say hello to us and give us some good advice on where and what to do during our time on Phi Phi. And so on his recommendation, later that evening we headed to the hotel’s Sunset Bar at the top of the hill for a few cocktails while the sun set which was a nice way to end the day. Yep sunsets, and here I have to admit to a criminal piece of hypocrisy. Back in my Santorini blog of August 06 I roundly bagged those who take a million photos (and even videos!) of the sun setting, but I have to admit that this time the temptation proved too great and we went a little crazy.

We were really keen to spend a day exploring the islands and doing some snorkelling, so the next day we organised a longtailed boat and headed off just after dawn to get a full day in. Our guide was a local who knew his stuff, and so he took Cush and I straight to Phi Phi Lei so that we would beat the crowds to Maya Bay. Sure enough we got their first, although pretty soon the serenity was broken by a couple of powerboats laden with a Bollywood film crew there to shoot an Indian music video on the beach for some pimped out boy-band. Maya Bay has some pretty good snorkelling so we spent some time snorkelling around the area before heading off for the next bay.

We stopped to snorkel another couple of pristine but deserted bays before heading to Monkey Bay where we ran back into civilisation. Monkey Bay, funnily enough, has a colony of monkeys who are kept extremely well-fed by the boatloads of tourists that stop there to see them. Eventually we arrived back to base having spent the day circumnavigating both islands and getting lots of great snorkelling in. Having
not done much snorkelling before it was all pretty new to me, although Cush is an accomplished diver and she reckoned it was some of the best snorkelling she had done. The water all around Phi Phi is remarkably clear and the coral is the home to some pretty spectacular looking tropical fish. Our only regret was that we hadn’t had the foresight to get a cheapo disposable underwater camera to record it all.

The next day we headed in to Ton Sai to have a look around. As we expected the shops there were the usual collection of outrageously faked clothing labels and pirated DVDs, although we largely resisted the temptation to indulge after doing our fair share of shopping on Phuket a few days earlier. The day was incredibly hot, so we parked up at a random reggae bar on the beach and enjoyed some cool beers while waiting for our boat ride back to our resort.

While there we met an English couple who were also staying at our resort and after a good yarn with them we ended up selling the virtues of the Sunset Bar to them as well. In return they gave us a tipoff about this nice and cheap little Thai restaurant just down the beach from our resort, so that night we headed along there for one of the best Thai curries I’ve ever had (anyone who has seen me sweat my way through the mildest of curries would have been impressed with my commitment). And so we crowned our last day on Phi Phi with a superb meal on the beach which between cost all of NZD$6. The next morning we were again up early to catch the ferry back to Phuket, and from there we flew back to Bangkok for the final days of our holiday in Thailand.

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