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Published: March 14th 2008
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Oh man, it's been a while. So where was I? Right, diving on Ko Phi Phi. I highly recommend it, scuba diving that is, not Ko Phi Phi. Saw a tiger shark, a big turtle and half the cast from Finding Nemo. I know I'm being flippant, but words fail the beauty of the underwater world. Simply put, it was spectacular. In fact, I stayed an extra night in cocktail-bucket hell after the three-day course just so I could slip in two more dives. And I managed not to hurt myself, mainly because of my excellent Swedish diving instructor Per. Always a plus! (I did swim into the red once though, the divers among you will know what that means.)
On my last night, one of the restaurants/cafes was showing "The Beach" and I couldn't resist the temptation to sit down and watch it, seeing as we had taken the boat past the actual beach used in the movie several times on the way to the diving sites. In a beautiful twist of fate, I would find 'the' beach for myself on the next stop after Phi Phi.
Note: I have left the precise location of this blog entry blank to
do my little part in keeping this perfect little hideaway a secret from the travelling community at large. For a small price I may reveal the location to you, and you alone.
Things started well when on the longboat to the beach I met Steffie, Sandy and Matthias from Germany and Jacob from Sweden (did I mention that about 80% of the tourists here are German and Swedish). We all got along immediately and ended up spending a great week together (hampered only by a couple of bouts of diarrhea and one case of angina).
The beach is basically one of the premier locations for rock climbing in the world, and as such attracts not only relaxed climbers (all of whom seem to smoke) from around the globe, but also young rastafarian Thais, who come here from other parts of the country to run climbing shops in the day and quiet beach bars, that play mainly reggae music but also some seriously sweet other tunes, at night. There are no big resorts, only small bungalow operations, no hawkers on the beach, peddling tacky trinkets, beer and massages, and most importantly there aren't hordes of drunken tourists. (Beer and massages are
the gang
from left: Jacob, Steffie, Matthias and Sandy available upon request in case you were wondering.) It's like a bunch of hippies got together and set up a kind of commune, complete with a sense of family and belonging and an ample supply of pancakes and real coffee. The beach is separated from the rest of the mainland and beautifully framed by karst mountain cliffs and therefore only accessible by boat, giving it a distinctly remote feel. In fact, we had a hard time not referring to it as the island. Swimming is only possible at high tide, a small price to pay, I think, for staying in paradise. (Man, I'm really talking up this beach aren't I?)
Two nights quickly turned into eight and the time was passed laying around, climbing (ably assisted by my chilled-out instructor Mon), playing cards and Jenga, learning how to walk a tightrope (a very popular pastime here), swimming, eating and more laying around.
There were a couple of rough days in between. Both Jacob and I suffered through the obligatory spell of Thai diarrhea, which luckily passed after a day and a night. (Though not without some freaky dreams on my part, including one in which developers were trying to tear
my beautiful bungalow
luckily the developers haven't gotten to it yet down my bungalow with me in it, something I wanted to do myself after 24 hours in bed, 14 of which the electricity (the beach runs on generators) and thus the fan didn't work.) Anna, an unfortunate Austrian girl, however came down with angina and had to leave the beach, a fate worse than the angina itself I'm sure. But not before we taught her friend Franzi a lesson at playing cheat, lovingly pronounced 'shit' by Sandy.
After five nights the gang had to move on to the last destinations of their Thailand trip, but I stayed on another three nights, not being able to tear myself away just yet. I took the time to finally finish the Hermann Hesse book (Rosshalde) I've been reading for four years now (since my days at the call centre!) and I tell you it was worth the wait. I also did a bit more climbing and cave exploring, together with Jan (another German), Per (a different Swede) and our generous Spanish climbing guide Daniel. Daniel, by the way, taught himself how to speak and understand a very decent level of English in just three months, merely by talking to people on his travels
my bathroom
what more do you need? through Australia and Asia. Very impressive!
On the morning of the eight day I knew it was time to move on myself. I had already sacrificed (without any regret mind you) the northern part of Thailand and with that Chang Mai and Pai, which everyone raves about, and had only nine days left to get myself to and explore Bangkok and some of the surrounding region before my flight to Nepal on the 20th of March. With a heavy heart I took an early morning longboat to a nearby tourist beach and hopped on a sawngthaew (my first one after three weeks in Thailand!) to Krabi.
PS: I finally updated the last two posts with pictures.
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Jackie
non-member comment
Oh yes
Have been there and loved it