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Published: August 26th 2009
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We decided to take the budget option of getting from Koh Samui to Ko Phi Phi even after the warnings from other tourists of the hellish journey. We had to get from an island on one side of the mainland to another island on the opposite side of the mainland - distance wise not too far, but a good amount of effort required.
We got picked up by a minibus at 6.30am taken to the ferry terminal where we left for the mainland at about 8am (1.5 hr journey) then 2 very crowded minibuses and 4 hours later we arrived on the otherside of the mainland and just caught the 1.5 hr ferry to Ko Phi Phi. We arrived at around 4pm and were ushered to the Phi Phi Casita where we had booked 1-night online.
Ko Phi Phi is very different than Koh Samui - Samui has the feeling of a bustling resort island with every ammenity one could imagine. Phi Phi is much more the backpacker's mecca with no cars or mopeds on the islands and bars and cafes lining the streets. It was a nice change for us to be able to walk everywhere!
We
only stayed at the Casita for 1 night as it was ok and relatively expensive - Kat consulted with her friend Katie back home and they were soon checked into The Whitehouse 2. It was a sweet and simple room with a little patio out front. The bathroom was like a greenhouse - literally - it had a glass semi-enclosed roof that was open around the edges and was about 35 degrees at all times. Kat had many a showers watching the open spaces on the sides for snakes to wander in.
We spent our first few days wandering about, looking in the shops (tons of cute clothing stores) and spent a bit of time on the beach. We didnt spent as much time on the beach as we thought we were going to as a. we discovered Ed doesnt like suntanning as much as Kat b. Kat had burnt her chest on the last day in Koh Samui and after accidently applying bug bite ointment instead of burn ointment her chest was one huge blister - lovely
We went snorkleing one day which was ok, but slightly dissapointing. We chose a relatively cheap option and definitely got
By Mayan Bay
AKA 'the beach' that type of service. We headed to the pier looking at all the nice day boats with huge sun decks, music blaring etc then we came to our boat AKA a fisherman's boat with little planks to sit on. We thought ok it's fine we're here to snorkel. We loaded all 10 of us onto the boat and headed to our first destination called shark point. Thank God there were no actual sharks there but lots of fish and some coral - it was nice but not the mind blowing stuff we thought we were going to see.
We headed to monkey beach next where we were greated by a troop of fat monkeys who were very used to seeing tourists and equally as used to being fed by tourists so they had very little timidness. A few idiot boys thought they'd flex their muscles and go in really close to a mother and baby monkey - seriously some people are so dense - the mother monkey was getting very agitated and before he could go in any closer one of his friends finally pulled him back. The beach itself was quite pretty and you could have easily sat
there and watched the monkeys play for hours (although we would've needed a few beers!)
Our next stop was another cove that was incredibly shallow - our driver who spoke no English just jarred the boat right up onto a coral bed and told us to get out. It's amazing how these boats can get away with just crashing marine life and not giving a care about it. Most of us on the boat were quite uncomfortable with his lack of regard for the environment. We snorkeled there for a while although it was challenging as there was a constant fear that you were going to scrap your stomach whenever passing over coral!
Next stop 'the beach' - we were pretty excited about going there as there is so much hype about it. Our boat docked offshore and we hopped into the water and swam to shore then walked maybe 1km to get to the bay. It was truly stunning - cant really say it looked a lot like the movie but it was beautiful. We sat in the shallow blue waters for a while - getting sand in every single pore mind you - then headed back
to the boat for fruit and sunset (or so we thought)...
Sunset was a bit of a debacle as when we got back on the boat the driver signaled to us we would wait there for 2 hours til the sun set and then go home. Well the first issue was that we were on the wrong side of the bay to see the sun set and second issue being that we didnt want to be there for 2 hours just sitting there. After much debate and hand gesturing the group decided to head back to land to watch the sunset on the beach with some beers as it's meant to be done.
We had met some really nice people on the boat and after sunset beers decided to meet up with them again at the Reggae bar later that night. This bar is a blast because not only are there lady boy shows once a week, every night they have kick boxing fights where they pry the tourists with booze buckets to fight each other. The evening started out in such a civilzed manner, nice conversations being had, buckets of booze being drunk - until the ring
master was touring around a big beefy guy for the 3rd time looking for someone to fight him - it really was a slow motion thing of Kat turning around seeing this guy in the ring to hearing Ed behind her saying I'll fight him and raising his hand - Oh God.
Ed had gotten into his mind that he wanted to do this a few nights previous, but didnt want to leave Kat alone in the audience while he potentially got his ass handed to him, so now we were with other people he thought now's my chance! He did however not really take a good look at this guy and his size or question why no one else would fight him!
(Kat's words when she saw who Ed had agreed to fight: "What are you doing? He's a big pile of muscle!")
We should mention Ed has never been in a fight in his life and has taken one kick boxing lesson - gotta admire his spirit though!
Ed was getting changed and wetted down while Kat was giving him pointers (what a pair). Kat and Laurie took to the side of the ring
to cheer Ed on and film the fight. Ed didn't exactly get "his ass handed to him" (thanks, Kat), but was beat by a guy 10 years younger than him and quite a bit bigger than him. Realising that there was a danger he might be outclassed as soon as he clapped eyes on him, Ed started a charm offensive and in the toilets where they were changing before the fight, established that the guy was from Ilkley (West Yorkshire, near where Ed was born) and they had shared a few old drinking haunts. Whatever aggression both fighters had was rapidly sapped by exhaustion, though not before Ed had received a good couple of hits, resulting in a pretty good black eye!
Overall our time in Ko Phi Phi was nice but we didnt love the island. Perhaps we were both getting a little traveled out and craving some of the comforts from a bigger city. Next stop Bangkok for 10 days - and we are so excited!
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