Ko Phi Phi

Asia
April 22nd 2010

Published: May 21st 2010

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KieranandKate

Ko Phi Phi

I liked the sight of long-tail boats parked together

We arrived on West beach nice and early as that is where we were getting out boat to Phi Phi. We waited outside one of the posh hotels on the West beach as the boat was running late and ate our breakfast of fruit and yoghurt bought from the 7-11. As Phi Phi is about 45 minutes round the Pennisula from the West beach you can see the boat coming round the headland; as the boats cannot come in that close to the beach we had to get long tail boats out to the bigger boat. The journey to Phi Phi was really nice and we managed to squeeze a seat on top deck and enjoyed the views whilst reading books and listening to music. I had given up on trying to find space on the boats to sunbathe by now so opted for a bench seat next to my Dad. We pulled into the Phi Phi harbour and off loaded with our backpacks. We had planned to try and find somewhere cheap but we knew we wouldn't find anywhere as cheap as when we were here in November as we were now in peak season. So again Kieran worked his

Ko Phi Phi

Me welcolming Malcolm to Tropical Gardens

magic and walked around looking for accomodation whilst Dad and I sat on the Harbour front and had breakfast.

It was much busier on Phi Phi than Railey so we knew that it was going to be difficult. However, as Kieran always does, came up trumps with a couple of options for us but we decided to opt for the Tropical Gardens where we had stayed last time. One of the main benefits to this guesthouse above the rest is that it has a pool and the guys that run it were really friendly. They also offer a free service where they come down to the harbour and collect your rucksack, so the 15 minute walk up to the top of Phi Phi Village didn't seem such a mission!!!!!!!!!!

We had opted for a triple room at tropical, mainly to keep the costs down as it worked out a lot cheaper and when seeing the room it wasn't that small that we were literally on top of each other either. There were 3 single mattresses on the floor with 3 mosquito nets hanging from the top of the hut and a spacious al Fresco bathroom on the side

Ko Phi Phi

Kieran's bar

and a lovely balcony out the front with a hammock-brilliant! We didn't settle in till after lunch so decided to make use of the pool and chillax. You could really notice the difference in seasons both from the heat and also from how busy it was, so finding a bed by the pool was a bonus. In Railey and Bangkok we had raved about the lovely food we had ate on Phi Phi island loads to Dad so we knew the places that we wanted to eat. There was Papaya which was the Thai place recommended in the Lonely Planet which took about 2 1/2 hours last time we were here to get our food, Cosmic the lovely Italian and another couple that I can't remember the names of but we decided on our first night to try a bit of Italian and had a lovely meal.

Afterwards we thought that we would go for a bit of a party down on the beach and show Dad the fireshows that are put on every night; these consist of drunk people skipping and limbo-ing through ropes on fire!!!! In many of the beach bars they have a special 10 minutes

Ko Phi Phi

Stating the obvious

on where you get a free bucket with a coupon so me and Kieran made the most of that and got a bucket each and Dad bought beers from 7-11; a much cheaper way when on the beach as you can take your beers to the bars. They had a music curfew this time round and the music stopped abruptly at mid night when the Thai police showed up. We didn't let that stop us and made friends with a couple of girls Rosetta and Caitlin from Cornwall who we partied with till the early hours and then made our way back to our hut for some ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz's.

The next day with a slight hangover in place and after a much needed lie in, we decided to take a walk along the coast to Long Beach. As explained in the last blog from Phi Phi it isn't actually that far and the walk to the beach is a nice walk and not too strenuous with a hangover. Me and Kieran had some lunch at the restaurant on the beach, a little snooze on the beach and headed back before it got dark. On our way back we booked the

Ko Phi Phi

Our second time in Cosmic

half day boat trip to Maya Beach where the Leonardo Di Caprio blockbuster was filmed. I was really looking forward to this part of Phi Phi, one because the weather wasn't great last time, we arrived too late onto the beach and was really too dark, secondly because I knew that Dad would love the trip in the long tail boat and the views throughout the trip are spectacular. As we always do, we shopped around for the best price and managed to find it pretty cheap.

That night we thought we would try Papaya, a very cheap but really nice and loads on the plate sort of place, as last time we were in Phi Phi it had taken all 7 of us 2 and a 1/2 hours to get food so this time we were prepared for a wait. We arrived and waited a while for a table but as it was full we decided to wait at a great little bar called "Kieran's Bar". Now I'll try explain this the best way I can-Kieran's Bar wasn't ACTUALLY a bar it was a currency exchange counter that was just across the road and facing a massively overpriced

Ko Phi Phi

Malcolm's first bucket, its a bit different ro real ale Malc

bar that showed the football on a huge screen. As the 7-11 was just around the corner we used our noddles and realised that if we bought from the shop and stood against the exchange counter and used that as a bar we were quids with a front row seat to watch sport. So that's what we did for an hour each night. We got quite a few strange looks especially when the glass collector from the bar over the road came over to collect our empties-BONUS!

So after waiting for our table in our very own homemade bar we settled in for what we thought would be a long wait but the food came very quickly and we realised it must be a touch and go type of place. As we had overdone it the night before we spent a little time sitting outside the bookstore/cafe for a while and headed back for sleep.

We had booked the boat trip to Maya Beach for the afternoon on the next day so after a lazy morning by the pool and getting some breakfast, it was close to that time anyway, we met the guy that was to lead

Ko Phi Phi

Free buckets for 10mins, the queue was massive

us to the boat and made our way down to the water. We knew that snorkelling was involved so on the way to the boat we had to go and get our correct sizes for the snorkles and fins. There were another 6-7 people on the trip and all were really friendly (other than the one girl-part of a couple. The guy was really friendly but the girl seemed to have something shoved up her buttocks all day). We stopped off firstly at Monkey Beach which OBVIOUSLY had Monkey's on which were cute and you could feed them out of your hand. After that we did a bit of snorkelling, Dad didn't really like going under the water but me and Kieran spent ages looking at all the amazingly coloured fish. As we needed to get to Maya beach and then to watch the sunset we set off again to pass in at the lagoon where you could swim and dive off the boat-it was amazing and the water was crystal clear. We took loads of lovely photos.

We arrived at Maya Beach in time to have a lie on the sand and look at the views, it was

Ko Phi Phi

The fire limbo

really nice that my Dad could be there to see it-a memory that will stick on my mind forever. It really was beautiful. To top it off we got a really good sunset on the way back to the island, something that we didn't manage to get last time as the weather was poor. All of the boats that had done the trip stop in the middle of the ocean to watch the sun set in the distance. the sunset was amazing (see photos) and it did dawn on me and start to feel like our time with Dad was coming to an end but this topped off a fantastic few days.

Without fail we had to AGAIN experience the joy that was the boat trip back to Phi Phi village. There comes a point on the trip back where the boat passes between the headland of Phi Phi Ley and Phi Phi Don and the sea gets very rough and at times feel that the boat is about the capsize!!!! Its only a short jounrey but the wave swell increases and there are times when you are unsure if the poor boat can handle it. After everyone had

Ko Phi Phi

Not sure who's giving who a pole dance here!!

got soaked from the waves and after a period of nervous laughter we made made it to the home straight and back in one piece.

Although we were a little wet that didn't stop our bellys rumbling as we were hungry so decided to have a meal in the village before we went back and had a rest before heading out for a night out. We ate at Cosmic again as we enjoyed it so much a couple of days previous. After our meal and a quick snooze we were ready to party and headed down to the beach again and met up with the girls from Cornwall for some dancing and drinks. A good night was had and me and Kieran left the beach about 4 when Dad went off to find a bar that was playing the Man U match so he came in about 6/7 in the morning. There's not many that can say that their Dad out did them at what time they get in after a night out-DIRTY STOP OUT!!!!!!!!

As we hadn't been to the view point yet we decided to do this on our last day on the Island. I knew

Ko Phi Phi

How funny??!! On a snorkelling trip to Maya Bay(The Beach)

that Dad would love the views and we also planned to head down the other side of the Island to Rantee Beach-the best beach I thought on Phi Phi. The viewpoint was a bit of a trek with a hangover but was well worth the views at the top. It is now very hard to tell that the Village was ripped to bits with the Tsunami back in 2004. It still has a plaque up to show how it looked after the destruction to show the difference. The walk down to Rantee Beach is a bit of a trek through the forest and nearly down the side of a cliff but well worth it when you get down to the beach at the bottom. Everytime we have been to the beach it has been almost deserted and the sand so white and the sea is out of this world. We lazed in the sea, ate at the one restaurant on Rantee, read books and listened to music-the best way to spend the last day on Phi Phi we collectively thought. When we walked back to the village, me and Kieran booked our tickets to Ko Phag Ghan, got a couple

Ko Phi Phi

Contemplating diving in backwards like Scuba Steve

of drinks from the shop and headed to the beach to see the sunset for Dad's last day with us in Thailand. We talked about it being his last night and Dad was a bit gutted to be going back to cold England and me gutted to be seeing my Dad off and not seeing him again for a very long time. But the positives fair outweighed the awful feeling I had that evening. I felt very fortunate that I was able to see my Dad on our special trip and take him to some amazing places and share some special experiences with him. All in all I was sad that evening and seeing him leave the next day but deep down I was happy.

K&K
xxx

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