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Published: November 23rd 2007
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Just across the waters from Phuket Island lies the islands of Koh Phi Phi. It only consists of two islands, although it is just Koh Phi Phi Don that is inhabited and that was where we were heading for our next, and last, Thai island visit.
We had heard great things about this place and we weren't to be disappointed in the slightest. The boat trip from the pier at Phuket was the standard hour and a half that we had come to expect in Thailand. When we arrived, we feared the worst in regards to the accommodation as legend had it that Phi Phi was
the most expensive island in Thailand, both for guesthouses and other amenities. This was partly due to the devestation of the 2004 Tsunami, which had hit the place hard, and they were still in the process of rebuilding. Supply still didn't meet demand though as this was a busy place.
We walked past the inevitable hotel touts at the harbour into the town at the pier. To be honest, these touts didnt really bother us as we were concentrating so much on the clear water and the vast number of fish that was
Maya Bay
Beach from "The Beach" (it's not closed off like in the film). We captured some on an analogue underwater camera on the beach itself, which looked really impressive. in the harbour. We were happily surprised that there were no vehicles here and it was walking lanes instead of proper streets. Evidence of the tsunami damage was visible, but it was surprisingly developed considering it had only been 3 years before. We viewed a lot of different guesthouses before we opted for Oasis Guesthouse, which had very basic rooms but was at the cheapest end of the market here. Although it was still the most we'd ever paid for a hostel!!
We spent the first day having a wander about and seeing what the place had to offer. We took to it pretty much immediately as it had a great feel and the surroundings were amazingly picturesque. The hot weather (the hottest we'd felt so far in our trip) also helped and we discovered we were a stone throw from a fairly nice beach. We spoke to a dive company too about the prospect of doing a couple of fun dives here, although this ultimately never happened, mainly due to time and money. After having dinner we headed to the waterfront to enjoy a couple of Chang beers and watch an impressive fire show.
The next day
was going to be a day of snorkeling, swimming and relaxing on a boat tour we booked. We ended up visiting 5 different beaches and snorkel areas, including the famous bay from the film The Beach. It was the nicest place we'd ever been to, although the trip there involved swimming so couldn't bring the digital camera. We ended up getting pictures on a cheap underwater camera we bought for the trip, although they don't really do it justice. The waters were crystal clear for snorkeling though and we saw almost as much marine life and coral as we had done on our dives! It was a brilliant day and we ended up sitting and watching the sunset on the boat.
Later that evening, we ended up at an Irish pub (it's not like there aren't much of those about) with some of the people we had done snorkeling with earlier and Brid and Mary even made an appearance. They were everywhere! It was a good evening as we had an all-you-can-eat barbeque buffet, although it ended up on a sour note as we saw the Scotland-Italy game at the end of the night. Needless to say, I went
back pretty frustrated.
The next day was a nice lazy one at the beach near the town which felt amazingly relaxing. Emma said the water was ridiculously warm, although I gave it a wide berth due to my sunburned back from the day before (I'm an idiot!). We met Jenni, from the snorkel trip the day before, and went for some dinner before another surprise awaited us. Stew and Megan, our fellow Koh Tao divers, were on their way so we arranged to meet them at 8. After exchanging stories, we ended up at Reggae Bar with more Sangsom buckets (we never learn) and a night of Muay Thai Boxing, a hybrid of kickboxing and normal boxing. Basically what Sagat did in Street Fighter 2, minus the fireballs. The boxing was interesting and pretty funny, as there was only one proper Thai fight, with the rest of the fights being between drunken westerners who were promised a bucket of alcohol for their troubles. It was funny seeing them getting the cockiness beaten from them and I'm guessing some of them woke up in a lot of pain the next day. The Thai people were good to watch though, as
they actually knew what they were doing and it was entertaining.
Our last day in Koh Phi Phi was again to be a lazy one. I woke up hangover free (Gary 1 - Hangover 9999!) and in good spirits when we saw the cloudless sky and felt the warm sun. After breakfast at the superb local French bakery, we ended up buying some things such as new sunglasses and cheap Billabong shorts before meeting Stew and Megan for a sneak-in to their resort. They were staying in plusher digs than ourselves and as well as their smart bungalows, they had an amazing swimming pool with a built in bar! They said security was lax so it wasn't long before we were all sitting idly in the water. Minutes turned to hours as we soaked up the sun and the beers/cocktails at the bar. We experimented with underwater beer drinking (harder than it sounds) and met a few other people and had conversations about Neighbours, Home and Away (they brought it up), and being scammed in Thailand. Which we all had experiences of.
It was with regret that we had to get out of the pool at 8pm when
Island
One just off Phi Phi. it closed although we decided to meet up for food and drinks later. A thunderstorm appeared out of nowhere though and by the time we met, both Megan and myself felt a bit sick (couldn't have been alcohol related!) so we were swallowing our food with some difficulty. Calling it a day, we headed back early and arranged our tickets to leave the island the next day and a bus journey to Malaysia. We decided to give drinking a miss this time as hangovers are definitely not fun travel companions.
Things couldn't really have gone better in Koh Phi Phi and had a brilliant time. The island itself was really beautiful and would be what most people would imagine when they hear the word "paradise". It was quite sad to leave it and we did even consider staying another extra day (our third day had already been an extension) but we still wanted to see Malaysia and Singapore before flying to Australia at the end of the month. Just like Vietnam, we vowed to return one day on holiday.
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