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Well we’ve been on Koh Phi Phi for around a week now and you know what I said about the weather being not too great? Well we’ve had about 4 scorchers in a row now so we’re happy topping up our tans!
Phi Phi is really expensive and it’s low season at the moment so I’d hate to think what it would be like in the high season! We ended up finding a room for 4oo baht, and that includes a toilet with a flush AND hot water!! For those of you that don’t know, that is serious luxury over here, and for a bargain price! We’re not in a resort, it’s literally a room that somebody is renting. We’re right in the Thai quarter of the village and we have lovely views of brick walls, but I don’t mind. We’re only ever there to sleep, shit, shower and shave and the village is so small that wherever you are you are literally 3 minutes from the beach, and pretty much everywhere else for that matter!!
Met up with Kiwi Paul and have been partying a lot with him. Phi Phi is mostly mountains and forest so the main
View 2
One for the photo album!village is basically the only settlement here. It is probably not much bigger than Nayland (for those of you that don’t know how big Nayland is tough titties!! ) so there isn’t really much else to do except sit on the beach all day and party at night. Our Usual crawl is to Jordan’s Irish pub, then onto the Reggae bar (the one with the boxing ring in the middle), then to Apache bar (more of a club, had some good nights, but not really my scene, all they ever play is girly house or down right crap R&B) after here we move on to hippies bar (more of a chill out place to round the night off.).
The reggae bar is by far my favourite. The Muay Thai fights that they have there are all exhibitions so are very much staged, but still excellent to watch. It’s more like watching WWF Wrestling Thai style. The guys are great showmen; they sometimes jump out of the ring and hit each other with tables. It’s hilarious watching the new arrivals as they think it’s real, you can see their faces wincing when kicks are thrown etc. (although it’s an
excellent excuse to start up conversations with fit girls). When the westerners fight they get really serious, it’s quite funny, but at the same time quite pathetic. There are no gum shields so 99% of the time they come out of the ring with chipped teeth and bleeding lips. I was really not interested in getting up there with someone I didn’t know, but after some gentle persuasion from James in the form of Sang Som buckets he convinced me to get up there with him. Unfortunately we did not have the camera out with us so no photos. It was a good laugh, just three rounds of light sparring, but the audience loved it because it was actually kickboxing and not just brawling (and it was an easy way to get a free bucket).
Koh Phi Phi is made up of 2 islands. Phi Phi Don and Phi Phi Leh. Don is the built up island where the parties and guesthouses are, whereas Leh is a national park so is uninhabited (it’s the island where they filmed ‘The Beach’). We took a day trip over there to go to a place called Maya Bay. Maya Bay is actually
Steps
A long climb to the viewpoint, but definitely worth it. THE beach and it was so beautiful. We took a longtail boat over there, which was actually fucking dangerous! There was not one point in the journey when I felt that we weren’t going to capsize! When you approach Phi Phi Leh it looks completely impenetrable due to the sheer limestone cliff faces surrounding it. We continued around a corner and entered Maya Bay, we were all pretty much speechless. You know that beautiful turquoise colour that the sea should be, but never is? Well here it certainly is! I just couldn’t wait to jump over the side of the boat and have a swim. We arrived at a perfect time - we were told by somebody that 10 minutes prior there were about 200 people there all on a big island hopping boat trip - so it just looked like an untouched paradise! The mood was slightly ruined after about 5 minutes however, as a Thai bloke came over and told us that we had to pay 200 baht for the privilege of setting foot on the sand! It is legitimate. They charge everyone because it’s a national park, but we couldn’t help but wonder what the actual price
is and how much he pockets! Oh well, it was definitely worth it.
We then continued around the island past the Viking Cave. You cannot go in this cave as it is protected due to the birds nest harvesting. Over here there is a species of bird called the Sea Swift. It looks very similar to our swift back home however it is totally white. These birds build their nests high above sea level (on cliff faces or cave canopies) and construct their nests entirely of their own saliva. Now in Japan (I think) there is a dish called ‘Birds Nest Soup’ that people pay a ridiculous amount of money for, therefore harvesting these nests is a very lucrative (albeit very dangerous) business. If you look on the picture attached you’ll see loads of bamboo structures that they use to get up high enough to reach the nests. We also went past the tidal lagoon on the island that is also pretty spectacular. After a very choppy and down right scary boat ride back I was pretty tired, but happy with a day well spent.
In Thailand all of the restaurants screen DVDs at scheduled times, like a
Me and Rune
This guy is a great bloke, but he's a Calvin Klein underwear model so it sort of ruins you chances if you go out on the pull with him! cinema. It’s nice in some ways as it’s great to chill out and watch a film when you’re really hung over, however on the other hand we came out here to experience different cultures and we keep getting Hollywood thrust in our faces. On Phi Phi they show the film ‘The Beach’ numerous times a day. It’s like an advert for the island. There is a very interesting part of the film when Leonardo ‘Irritating Squeaky-voiced’ Dicaprio’s character observes a load of travelers watching a film and comments that it seems pointless that all of these people travel thousands of miles to do exactly what they do at home. You could see every one in the restaurant look a little bit uneasy! If I was on a 2 week holiday then I would regard it as criminal, but being here for so long makes it a luxury I can deal with.
We went up to a place called view point and looking down onto the two bays from up there was absolutely amazing, but at the same time very scary as you can imagine the route that the Tsunami took, totally flattened everything in its path and washed it
all out to sea. There is still a lot of evidence of the Tsunami hitting the island. There are areas that were once filled with bungalows and beach huts that are now completely flattened, the only way of telling there was ever anything there is seeing lines of concrete foundations where the bungalows once stood. On our way back from the viewpoint we also saw the grave of a young child killed in the disaster. This was a harsh and upsetting, but very real reminder of the devastation that was caused by the wave.
I get the impression that Phi Phi island has an uncertain future. The redevelopment here could go two ways - geared towards backpackers or package holidays. Walking along the beach I noticed a couple of plush hotel complexes in mid construction. Phi Phi is a truly beautiful place and the people are very friendly, but I can’t help but feel that the village is slowly losing it’s charm to make way for the western culture. Every time I go out I really enjoy walking through the Thai quarter. You see no Westerners, just shops selling fresh fish and authentic Thai dishes being fried in a
wok on the side of the street - a steal at 30 baht compared to the numerous restaurants charging extortionate amounts for poorly imitated burgers, pizzas and spaghetti bolognaise.
I hope that they manage to find a happy medium with the redevelopment in order for the island to keep it’s Thai charm, hold onto the great backpacking party atmosphere, yet still be the ideal romantic destination for lovebirds, young and old alike.
Sorry about that guys, went on a bit of a rant there, I promise the next blog will be a bit more lighthearted, I just felt that the whole Tsunami thing had to be mentioned.
P.S. Sorry if some of the photos are a bit blurry, we found a grain of sand in the lens of the camera - what an arse!! It's all sorted now though.
Until we meet again.
Over and out.
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Lee Barker
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Yeah, whatever!
Locations all right but just cannot compare to the panoramic views of the Asda industrial estate from my flat, sorry nice try.