Phi Phi Island

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We arrived in Bangkok airport and quickly boarded our plane to Phuket. We were planning on staying in Phuket just for one night, and catching the ferry from there to Koh Phi Phi, which we heard was one of the nicest of the islands. The flight wasn't too long, just an hour or so, and when we arrived in Phuket airport it was after 10pm. The public bus we were planning on taking to our hostel was finished up at this stage, so we gingerly stepped outside the airport only to be hounded by taxi drivers. It was pretty stressful, and after a day of travelling we were pretty tired and grumpy. One particular taxi driver was pestering us so much, we snuck back into the airport through a different door just to get away from him! We went to the taxi desk and agreed a price for a driver to take us to our hostel. On the journey there, our impression of Phuket was not a great one. It looked very run down and dirty. We arrived at the hostel which was not much better than the places we saw on our journey, but at least it was only for a few hours till we got the ferry. There was no air conditioning (which is a must in Thailand), there was just two whirly fans which kept us awake because they were so noisy and they kept fluttering the bedsheets. I kept waking up thinking something was crawling on me.

The next morning we woke early and got out of there pretty quickly to catch the ferry to Koh Phi Phi. We arrived at the ferry terminal and grabbed ourselves a seat in the upper deck which was air conditioned. Our backpacks got thrown into a big pile on the outside deck; we hoped they wouldn't slide off into the water! The journey was grand, we dozed for most of it as we were still pretty tired. When the boat got to Phi Phi, we finally found our bags and made our way onto the pier. The island was really busy, packed full of people. It reminded us of Ihle Grande in Brazil; there were no roads just dirt tracks. There were bustling market stalls, shops, restaurants and bars. We were hassled by people offering us hostels, but we had already booked ours so we made a beeline for Kinneree House. We checked into our room which had a fridge and air conditioning which was all we really needed! We went for a nap before heading out to have a look around the island. We wandered down to the beach which was lovely to look out at, but was pretty dirty. There are bars all along the beach so there was lots of rubbish in the sand like peoples' shoes, broken bottles, plastic bottles and loads of other stuff. We got a bite to eat and then went looking for a bar. We found this bar down by the beach which had a fire show (these are pretty popular in Phi Phi as we found out). We had a few drinks watching the fire show, Dave had a bucket. A bucket is basically a plastic bucket where they throw in a naggin of your choice and then a can of the soft drink of your choice. After a few drinks we headed back to the hostel.

The next day we got up really late and wandered around the island, and checked out the markets. We spotted loads of things we would like to buy so we sussed out some prices to get an idea. We took another wander down to the beach and chilled out. Stephanie and Stephen in Melbourne had recommended "Captain Bob's" booze cruise which would take us all around Phi Phi and the surrounding islands, as well as visiting Maya Bay where they filmed the movie "The Beach". We found Captain Bob's office and booked tickets to go on the booze cruise the following day. The cruise wouldn't start till 2pm. Most activities on Phi Phi don't start till the afternoon, they probably wouldn't get any business if they ran stuff in the mornings!

The next day strolled down to the pier. The guy at the office gave us directions, saying the boat is parked by the second pier and Bob would meet us there under the big coconut tree. Well, we got there, and we couldn't see another pier, and there were about 20 coconut trees. We spotted another couple looking around, and we asked them were they coming on the cruise. They said they were, so we chatted with them until Bob showed up around 2:15. The couple live in Sandycove and their names were Ben and Karen. Bob was from Canada, and was very chilled out. He got us on board (by the way, the "second pier" was a big long boat with other boats parked beside it). He showed us where everything was. It was a small boat. we could sit on deck and then down below was where he lived. He had crates of beer and crisps, and vodka on ice in a pot on the counter. We set off, looking out over the sea where it was pretty cloudy. We had a few bottles of Chang and chatted away with Karen and Ben. Turns out Ben and Dave know alot of the same people, so we all got on great. The first stop was "Monkey Island" where Crab-eating Macaques live. The boat couldn't go too near because the water was so shallow, so we had to put our cameras into dry bags, jump into the water, and climb into kayaks that were tied to the back of the boat.

We paddled over to monkey island, and Ben had some watermelon with him to feed them. We pulled the kayaks onto the sand and straight away the monkeys were over. I was really nervous so kept back, but there were people there from other boats who were trying to pet the monkeys. They have huge teeth and were pretty vicious! One guy gave a monkey his bottle of coke. There was a huge amount of litter on the island where people just left behind the packaging from the food, or give the monkeys bottles of stuff to drink and then it gets dropped. One monkey got onto our kayak and tried to unclip our drybag, so I roared at him and stared him out of it. He bared his teeth and then ran away. We threw a bit of food to them and took some photos before taking a wander into a little cave just off the beach. We then got back into the kayaks and paddled back to the boat.

We sailed for a while before arriving at Viking Cave, where there are some really rare birds living. These birds are only found here. They use their spit to make nests, which is really valuable. Each female makes three nests, and for a long time locals would harvest the spit for medicinal purposes. They would only harvest one nest per bird, so each bird had two other nests to lay their eggs in. Because of the risk to get these nests (you have to climb sheer cliff faces and climb through very narrow caves) the value is pretty high, which is why eventually the mafia moved in and took over the cave, harvesting all the nests and selling the dried spit. In recent years, the army drove the mafia out, and now a few soldiers live in the cave all year round to guard the nests from tourists and the mafia. What a strange life! We weren't allowed in, so Bob just stopped the boat for a few minutes. The soldiers were pretty formidable so we didn't stay long.

After some lunch and more beer, Bob stopped the boat at Maya Bay, where they filmed "The Beach". Bob dropped anchor at the other side of the island, because commerical boats aren't allowed directly into the bay. We jumped off the boat and swam to the shore. When we got ashore, we had to scramble over some rocks, crawl through a cave and come out the other side. I slipped on the rocks, went up in the air and came down with a smack. It was so painful I wasn't sure if I'd broken anything so I just lay still for about five minutes before I moved! I just had scrapes and bruises, so we continued on through the cave to get to the other side. On the other side was a lush forest, where people sometimes camp overnight. We wandered through the forest, and when it cleared, we saw The Beach. Although it was a really dull day, it still looked beautiful. We hung around for a while and took some photos, when Dave ran in to someone he knew from football, and by co-incidence, Ben knew him too. You can't go anywhere.

We made our way back to the boat and started to make our way back to Phi Phi. We could see a storm coming, the sky was looking really black, so we were glad we were heading back. When we docked at Phi Phi, we arranged to meet Karen, Ben and Bob at a mexican restaurant later that evening. We were hoping to meet with Luis and Eduarda from Lisbon, but we hadn't heard from them. Phi Phi was pretty small so we imagined we would bump into them anyhow. On the way backwe noticed that alot of the tourists wore bandages on their legs and arms; we figured it was just from drinking accidents.

That evening we met the gang for some mexican, and afterwards we went upstairs to The Jungle Bar which was really high up and there were lots of balconies where you had to climb up on a ladder to get to them. After spending the day on a boat, it was pretty dodgy. We had a few drinks there and then headed home. We planned to meet Karen and Ben in the Irish Bar the following night.

The next day, we just hung out on the beach for the day. We had half thought about doing a scuba course but it was pretty expensive and took two days, and we weren't to stay in Phi Phi for that long. We got an email from Luis and Eduarda, they were staying in a different part of the island than us. The only way they could get to our part was by boat, and they stop at 8pm. So that's why we hadn't seen them. That night we grabbed some Phad Thai and then went to find Karen and Ben. We had a few drinks with them in the Irish Bar and then decided to head down to the beach to the Slinky Bar. We soon realised the reasons for all the bandages. After the fire shows, they light up a skipping rope and punters are allowed skip the flaming rope. One guy ended up with one leg either side of the rope- it was a close call as he nearly burned his misters. After a bucket or two, we decided to call it a night (or a morning) and made our way back to the hostel.

The following day was our last full day, so we took a last look around the markets, and met Luis and Eduarda for lunch. THey had enjoyed their stay in Phi Phi, and were heading to Phuket before flying home to Lisbon. They caught the ferry and we headed to the beach. That evening, we got something to eat and as we were pretty wrecked from the night before, we didn't stay out too late. We called into the bar to see if we could catch Karen and Ben before we left, but there was no sign of them so we just had a drink. After a few minutes, we spotted them walking by, so they called in to say goodbye as we were leaving the following day. After our drink we went next door to the reggae bar to catch some Thai boxing. We thought it would be organised boxing with Thai people, but it was just tourists fighting each other. It was pretty funny.

The next day we had a long day of travelling ahead of us. We were to get a boat to the mainland, get a bus across the penninsula and then a boat out to Koh Phangan, where we would spend 4 nights and take in the half moon party.

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Photos

Fuck it, lets get a Bucket!
Buckets are a convenient way to drink in Thailand, as they contain such a large amount of drink that you don't need to go to the bar as often. They also come with a handle which makes them easy to carry around!

At Maya Bay
This is where they filmed the movie "The Beach".

Ben and Dave at the Slinky Bar
The bars were all along the beach so there were beach parties all the time. These were great craic but the rubbish on the beach was pretty terrible.

Ouch
At the fire shows, they let the punters skip the fire rope. Not the best idea when you've had a few. There were always so many people going around with bandages on!