Camping Out On The One & Only... "The Beach"!

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We both love camping, so naturally one of the things on our must-do list was to spend the night camping on Maya Bay Beach. One company has the exclusive right to take tourists there over night, and we were very much looking forward to enjoying the infamous beach sans crowds.

If you didn't know, Maya Bay is where the movie staring Leonardo DeCaprio and Tilda Swinton, "The Beach", was filmed. It is a very popular tour stop, making it extremely crowded during the day. Getting to enjoy the beach with potentially a group of less than 40 was a huge appeal to us, as was being able to wake up on a beach!

We managed to drag ourselves away from Railay for this trip. First we had to pay 150thb each for a longtail back to Krabi town (we missed the 9am ferry directly from Railay to Koh Phi Phi which only runs once per day). From there, we shelled out another 400thb each (although we did see places up the hill from the pier for 300thb) and took a ferry to Koh Phi Phi. We were quite worried that we would miss our camping trip as we didn't get in to Phi Phi until 3:30, which is when we were supposed to meet the group at the dock for our 4pm departure! And we still had to walk 5-10 minutes there and back to drop off our backpacks at the head office! By a stroke of perfect luck we managed to get on the boat with some time to spare, and relax before the boat departed.

We were part of a small group of 14, plus our 4 guides, Nemo & Coco(from Thailand), Jess (from England) & Max (from France). There were some people from Italy, France and Belguim who spoke little English, as well as two lovely girls from London, a lad from Ireland, another from Indonesia, and shot out to our Vancouver girl who is living the life traveling the entire world! There was also a couple - the girl from England & the guy from somewhere in Europe - who met a year prior in Mexico & were heading to England to get married the week after the camping trip. After spending the evening with this couple, we understand what picture we would find under the definition "GET A FRIGGEN ROOM!". Never ever have we seen two people who were literally unable to seperate their bodies for such a long period of time.

We first stopped to do some snorkeling, and although the water wasn't as clear as that in the Surin Islands, the snorkeling was amazing, and the schools of fish were massive (in quantity, not size!). Coco & Nemo were having a blast throwing bread at the fish, meaning we were getting nibbled every so often. We also stopped in front of Viking Cave, which unfortunately for us is now closed to the public and has 24 hour security officers living at the front of it to enforce the closure. Viking Cave is 3.2 square kilometers and was named for the Viking ship drawings found on the caves walls, likely drawn by sea gypsies or pirates taking solace in the deep caves during monsoons. The Cave is now protected by the Thai government as thousands of swallows live within, creating their nests from their saliva that are used for Birds Nest Soup, a Chinese delicacy. Because of the increase in the amount of birds, the Cave was closed off to tourists. Although we weren't able to explore the interior of the Cave, it was still a beautiful sight and worth the stop to have a look at it from the outside.

We arrived at Maya Bay just as hundreds of tourists were beginning to head back to the mainland via longboat - and yes, our guides blasted Moby's "Porcelain" as we were pulling up to "The Beach"! The beach was beautiful as we pulled in, but nothing beat the view once we made it to the sand and turned around, gazing in awe at our 100-metre plus limestone cliff surroundings. It was hard to believe that this was connected to the ocean, and not just a lake. The water was as clear as it gets, and the angelic white sand as soft as it gets. Pure Gorgeous!

Our small group owned the beach for that evening, watching the sunset while swimming in the clear water, eating delicious home cooked Thai food (two cooks came with us, and they used a generator as their power source) and drinking the buckets that were included in the price. It was alot of fun hanging around the fire on this beach, however it did rain an undesirable amount for some time as well. Luckily it was still warm, and the rain stopped around midnight, so we were able to sleep on "The Beach" after all. There was a covered hut but we were relieved not to have to sleep under that! Colin scouted the other end of the beach and found us a fabulous and secluded place for us honeymooners to sleep - under some large rock formations should it start to rain during the night (it didn't - phewph!) and in perfect position to view the sunrise in the morning while feeling as if we were the only two people on the beach.

Truthfully, we both had a crappy sleep. The sleeping bags and "pillows" provided by the company were terrible. The sand was soft but not soft enough for sleep! Still, we knew to expect this so we weren't disappointed. We have done our fair share of camping in extreme conditions so this was no hardship. And, it was totally worth it the next morning when we woke up to dawn just after 6am!

We quickly walked to the other side of the island, where our guides let us know the "first" sunrise of the morning would be. Luckily we were the only two to make the trek so we had that sunrise all to our honeymooning-selves! Then, we hustled back to Maya Bay where we watched the "second" sunrise of the morning!

We hung out on the beach for a few more hours then made our way back to Koh Phi Phi, with a quick snorkel stop on the way. Steph put her nursing skills to work when one of our guides, Max, had an allergic reaction to a red ant bite. Luckily Max didn't suffer anaphylactic shock, but his reaction was very severe (hives & the hand with the bite was so swollen she could not find a pulse!). We managed to break some language barriers and discovered the French girls had anti-histamines packed with them. Why the tour company wouldn't keep a medical kit with basic pharmaceuticals is beyond us, but that's the last time we will be leaving our medical kit in our backpacks nowhere near us!

We made it back to Koh Phi Phi Don around 11am, and the tour company had no problem with us leaving our backpacks at the office while we wandered around. We were torn on whether to spend the night on Phi Phi or head back to Krabi. In the end, we decided to take the 4pm ferry back to Krabi. The price of an A/C room on Phi Phi was 1500THB versus 400THB in Krabi. We knew that Phi Phi was a party island, and with such a sleepless night on the beach, partying wasn't exactly on our to-do list that evening. A cheap night in Krabi with massages the next morning sounded fabulous though!

We had some time to wander around Phi Phi while waiting for our ferry, and we ended up quite happy with our decision to leave, because everything negative we read about the island was coming into perspective while we were here. A low-20's crowd or partiers with everything overpriced to capatilize on the crowds that had accumulated here. There was garbage everywhere, and although we don't doubt it is home to some stunning beaches, the sheer volume of tourists there allowed us to understand that it probably isn't the Thailand Tropical Paradise we were after.

We found a terrific restaurant called Tamarind in Krabi to eat at that evening, where Colin had a delicious deep-fried seafood basket, which was reminiscent of good pub food in Canada, and Steph had an amazing thin-crust pizza - better than most restuarants back home. We only wish we knew of Tamarind earlier, as we would have eaten every meal we had in Krabi there! It was an excellent finish to what we knew would be our last evening in Krabi; a town that doesn't have too much to offer, yet we truly enjoyed as it allowed us to take time to relax and explore without expectations.



Maya Bay Tips

Because we weren't certain if we would make it in time, we didn't pre book our camping excursion. You will see it advertised at all the tour shops on Phi Phi, and you can also prepay via their website/PayPal, but we ended up just giving them cash right at the boat. It was 2500thb either way, but that included two buckets, dinner, a chicken BBQ later in the night, and eggs and toast in the morning. Alcohol is expensive there so bring your own if you are on a budget. The only company that offers this excursion is http://www.mayabaycamping.com/

Bring your own sheets if you can manage it. We used our sheet on top of the "mat" they gave us, which really was just one of the beach mats you see everywhere in Thailand for sale. If you can, grab a pillow from one of your flights - it will come in handy on this evening, when the pillows provided are harder than the sand!

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Photos

Sparkling Sun
Around this cliff is Maya Bay!

Comments

[Camping]

What are some fun ideas for going camping
I'm going camping with my family and a few friends. What are some fun ideas for going camping?