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Published: February 17th 2009
Van
Our van ride to the ferry.Bright and early the next morning, our van left from our hostel at 7:00am. Along the way, we picked up other hostel/hotel guests planning on making the ferry ride to the islands. The ferry was leaving from Phuket Town, which was on the other side of the island, so it took about an hour to get there.
The ferry left around 8:30am, and we were on our way to the Phi Phi Islands (properly known as Koh Phi Phi)! As for their reputation, these islands are infamously known for being the location for heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio's movie, The Beach (or so I've been told by Hillary). The ferry was nice, with plenty of room outside for picture taking or soaking up the sun. And there were free croissants! Yes, that was my favourite part of the ride.
After about 2 and a half hours, we finally arrived! The main island looks like two mountains, with a valley between where the majority of the town is located. Once you arrive at the port, it's only a couple minutes walk to the other side where the beach was. We didn't have anything booked, so we needed to find a place, and
Ferry
Hillary on the ferry to Koh Phi Phi. chose one of the cheapest places on the islands. Unfortunately... that also meant the furthest, which was through the town, down some dirt roads, up some rocky paths, and around the water resevoir (a big hole in the ground with a black tarp keeping what little water there was inside). Talk about a workout in the sun! And one more thing about the island, there's no motorized vehicles on the island! Everything is either pull carts, or bicycles. Crazy.
Our place was decent. It felt like it was in the trees, which was cool, but a lack of hot water was annoying. For just one night, it didn't matter. Once settled in, our first stop was the beach. Definitely great weather for it. For dinner we had thai food. I know, shocking. lol We took a walk around after that, and climbed up to First Lookout Point which was 323 steps high! Definitely didn't look that high from the bottom. lol Shame we were only getting up there once the sun had already set. Didn't make for very good pictures. Just meant we'd have to come back the next day!
So that's what we did. We made sure
Scenery
Scenery from the ferry. to get up bright and early to see the view from the Lookout Point in the daytime. Just awesome. There's even a shopkeeper who lives at the top (great idea to sell drinks to parched tourists) who speaks several languages! He spoke Thai, English, some French, some German, some Russian and some Swedish! He said Chinese was too difficult. lol
Once back down, we tried the beach again but this time the tide was out. No last minute swim for us. So we packed our stuff and looked for a restaurant with WIFI to chill at until our ferry left (around 2:00pm). Luckily we were successful, and even got to watch a good amount the Australian Open! Also, just before the ferry left, Hillary was able to go swimming in the harbour with some Thai children. Lucky for her!
The ferry back to the mainland was a lot quicker, mostly because it involved napping. lol We had a place booked in Phuket Town already, and our ferry came with a ride into town. The nice thing about all this shared transportation is the chance to meet new people. In the van, we sat beside another backpacker by the
Ferry - 2
The view form the front of the ferry. name of Tony (from England). He had one of those backpacking travel books, and we chatted about what he'd seen so far and his impressions. It's always great to hear advice from people in the same situation as you, because it's usually something right up your alley.
Our hostel in Phuket Town had a much more communal feeling than the one on the Phi Phi Islands, with a huge common room with backpackers watching movies and outdoor patios (mostly for smoking). Instead of staying in, we decided to try our hand at checking out the town since we were only around for 24 hours. Good thing we did! We stumbled on a Chinese New Year Festival which was great fun for the both of us! For dinner, we ate some of the food on sale from festival stands. Good stuff! I even convinced Hillary to try some breaded squid, which, in her words, wasn't as bad as she thought it'd be. lol As for entertainment, there were presentations being made on the main stage, including dances, martial arts, and acrobatics! Amazing stuff!
The next morning (Feb 2nd 2009), we took another quick look around the town (this time
Phi Phi Island
The port to Koh Phi Phi. in the daylight) and saw some cool temples and elementary schools. We were even invited into a prayer by a monk who spoke a little English! Monks always seem to have the most laid back attitudes ever. When we asked if we should take our shoes off, he waved his hand like "Ya, ya. Doesn't really matter". We then got back to the hostel, picked up our stuff and made our way to the bus terminal to head to the airport for our flight back to Bangkok!
Kevin (and Hillary)
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