Advertisement
Published: February 23rd 2007
Maya Bay
This is where the movie "The Beach" was filmedSo much for our dinner on the beach....cancelled because of RAIN of all things! Oh well, we ended up eating at this cool little restaurant with low tables where you sit on cushions on the floor. Very comfy!
Because it had rained the night before, it was marginally cooler when we set out for our snorkelling/island trip. It began at 11am (well as close to 11am as you can get considering we are in Asia and nothing is on time!) and were scheduled to get back just after sunset. So a full day of island life! We took a long boat to a bunch of different islands and snorkeling locations. The snorkeling was absolutely amazing! I spent half the time being totally in wonder at all the tropical fish and coral and sea life - and the other half of the time ridiculously scared because the sea is sooooo massive and it's totally another world under there. It hit me quite a few times that humans aren't supposed to breathe underwater, so i'd have to try to breathe slowly and keep myself from hyperventilating! Two interesting beaches we came to were called Monkey Island (for obviously reasons!) and another was
the place where they filmed the movie "The Beach". Very beautiful places. By the end of the afternoon, heading to the last stop, we were all freezing cold, it was windy, and we were soaking wet from the spray, and all 16 of us vetoed the last stop (Shark Point). That and i was STARVING! Snorkeling is really a lot of work 😊
The next day we left Ko Phi Phi - boarding an overnight ferry for Ko Pha-Ngan. First we had to take a ferry from Ko Phi Phi to Krabi, then a minivan over to Surat Thani where we stopped for dinner, then got on a night ferry which took us to Thong Sala, on the island of Ko Pha-Ngan. We then had to take a sawng thaew (their taxis - like a pick up truck with two inward facing benches lining the bed, with a cover over top) to Ban Chalok Lam, and THEN a long tail boat over to Hat Khuat (Bottle Beach). By the time we settled in our little bungalow, we had been on the move for nearly 24 straight hours!
The overnight ferry had two levels of around 100 beds each
- when i say beds, i mean narrow, flat mattresses with tiny pillows at the head where you're in trouble if you are over 5'6". I was shoulder to shoulder with Emily and Pamela (a girl we met from Calgary who i'm glad is tiny as well!) I slept ok - with my day pack under my knees and my fleece on! The one time you don't want to be early somewhere (because most places you can't check in until around 9-11am) we arrived in Thong Sala before 6am. We definitely picked the right hours to travel, though - before it gets really hot!
Bottle Beach is only accessible by long boat - there are no roads to get there. I instantly fell in love with it! It's a very small stretch of beach flanked by lush cliffs of forest and palm trees on either side. Very turqouise water, soft sand...it's very beautiful. (i'll get some pictures of the beach up later). Most of the accomodation is beach front - although our bungalow is a little further up a garden path (about 20 extra steps to the beach!) It's really adorable - it's called Smile Bungalow, and we both
have pink double beds (mind has hearts!) and someone really went to town in the bathroom - it's very artsy and beach-y. We can't get electricity in our room during the day, but at least all the plumbing works!
There's nothing to do here, which is absolutely fabulous to me. I'm not spending any money here, at least!
Here's a little lesson in Thai for everyone (we learned a couple of words!)
Sa Wad De - means "hello"
Ka Kun Ka - means "thank you"
And so it continues!!!! Miss everyone lots!!!
Linds 😊
Advertisement
Tot: 0.077s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 7; qc: 56; dbt: 0.0527s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Corina
non-member comment
Heaven
It sounds so nice there even if the trip there wasn't. It must be nice to have real toilets instead of the squatties. I'd be excited too. Love Mum