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Published: March 14th 2009
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Getting up early wasn’t a struggle (despite all the beer we drank last night) as we knew it was going to be an awesome day.
We descended the steps while the sun was still low in the sky. As our pre-booked long tail boat wasn’t quite ready for us we had a walk on the beach which was amazingly empty. We knew that in an hour it would be packed again but it was nice enjoying it quiet while it lasted.
Around 7.30am we got into our boat for the day and started the journey over to Phi Phi Leh, the smaller island close to Phi Phi Don where we’d been staying. The water was much choppier than we’d expected and sprays of water kept coming over the bow of the boat but luckily we were sitting far enough back to escape being drenched. The boat rocked from side to side over the waves and I kept my fingers crossed that it was safe as there were no lifejackets on this particular long tail.
As we approached the island, the trees perched on the sides of the vertical limestone cliffs came into view. The island was made up
of towers of limestone, streaked with different colours. The water surrounding it was a deep emerald - as the sun rose higher it would turn more aqua but for now it looked deep, dark and mysterious.
We started heading straight for the cliff face. A gap emerged before us and a few minutes later we chugged into a hidden lagoon. The entry point was only visible when you got up close to the cliff face so it was a perfect place for boats to hide out. We’d heard the lagoon was the most beautiful place with bright green water, surrounded by cliffs and dense vegetation. The sun wasn’t high enough in the sky to see the colour - for us it was a murky dark green - but we could see that later on it was going to look stunning.
After a few laps of the lagoon it was time to go to Maya Beach. This was the place where The Beach was filmed although it wasn’t the beach that inspired Alex Garland to write the book (hopefully we’ll get to see that later on in the trip). Pulling through another gap in the cliffs we watched in
awe as the thin strand of white slowly started to turn into a perfect little beach.
There were a few people there already. Some had their own yachts, others had spent the night as part of a camping trip (there were actually still people sleeping on the beach in their sleeping bags!) and the rest had, like us, hired their own longtail so as to avoid the crowds.
The beach really was perfect. The sand was soft and fine, creating a sweeping arc that framed a turquoise lagoon. I had to get straight in for a swim. The sun was just peeping over the top of the cliff, drenching a narrow section of the beach and lagoon in sunshine. I headed straight out for the sunny patch and made the most of it.
Having our own boat for the day meant we could stay as long as we wanted, so we were able to watch with smugness as tour groups arrived and then were called back to their boats one by one.
Eventually we decided we had to make a move as there were a lot more places to see before our six hour boat hire
ran out.
Reluctantly we made our way back to our boat and our guide for the day started the motor. We left with a plumb of smoke trailing out behind us. Long tails are handy but they definitely aren’t environmentally friendly!
After showing us some more hidden lagoons and beaches, our guide took us to Monkey Beach, back on the main island of Phi Phi Don. Again it was a beautiful picture perfect white beach, that was being lapped by a clear blue ocean. I was most disappointed that there were no monkeys in sight, despite the fact that the snack bar sold bags of money food.
Just as we decided to move on, all of the speedboats around us called their guests back to the boats and the beach was empty again. We had to hang around for a few more minutes just to enjoy the peace and serenity of the place without all the tourists.
Our next stop was Bamboo Island. It was quite a distance from Phi Phi Leh, much further than we’d expected. The choppy water from earlier had become even more rough as the day wore on. We sat as far
back in the long tail as we could but every wave we crashed into soaked us through. In the end I took off my glasses and shut my eyes as they were full of salt. I kept peeping out every now and again to make sure that there were no massive waves coming our way that could topple to boat over. I asked Matt whether it was safe to be out in this sort of boat in these conditions looking for some reassurance. He simply shrugged and said he didn‘t know.
When we arrived at Bamboo Island the water became more sheltered. Our guide offered us the chance to snorkel off the boat close to the island. Matt was keen to but I just fancied laying on the front of the boat and catching some rays so I left him to it.
When he’d hauled himself out of the water Matt asked our guide if we could go to the beach on the island as it looked beautiful. We had to pay another park fee but it was well worth it even though we only had 40 minutes left to enjoy the idyllic white sand. There were safari
tents on the island so that people could camp over and if we’d had more time we’d have loved to have stayed there as it was by far the most beautiful beach we’d seen so far in Thailand.
We both had a swim in the crystal clear water and then lay on the coral sand, unable to believe just how spectacularly beautiful the place was.
Unfortunately our day had to come to an end eventually and we realised we were going to make our guide late back so rushed along the beach to the boat.
The journey back was much calmer as we were going the opposite way. We almost managed to stay dry and arrived back only 20 minutes late. Nobody seemed to mind.
Although we’d been out for six and a half hours, it was still only lunchtime, so we called into the Phi Phi Hill Resorts down hill bar and ordered some milkshakes and deep fried banana. It was delicious - deep fried fruit is one of the best inventions ever!
Afterwards we decided to make our way back up the hill to our room and chill out for a while as
we were so hot and sweaty it was ridiculous. I used the chance to persuade Matt to start the packing so that we didn’t have to do it after dinner.
We set out for the night on a mission to drink lots of Chang beer to celebrate how much fun we’d had on Phi Phi. We managed it. Matt was unfortunate enough to get his meal long after I’d finished mine (timing of food doesn’t seem to matter out here) so he’d already downed an extremely large bottle of Chang to himself before having his first proper meal of the day and moving onto his second bottle! I’m a lightweight anyway when it comes to beer so by the end of the night we were both pretty merry.
The Phi Phi Hill Resort had been an interesting experience. At first we really weren’t sure about the basic room, but we both ended up loving the place. The food had been great, the staff had been efficient (although grumpy looking), and the views were the best on the island. All in all we'd had a great time and the fact that there weren't really any roads meant not chance
of dying in a road accident!
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