Advertisement
Published: April 4th 2008
On our first night in Phi Phi we found plenty of places showing the football and settled for the classic Irish Pub. Joined by 3 other Newcastle fans I was in heaven as we destroyed spurs 4-1 so unexpectantly. It was hilarious that I was watching it in Thailand yet people at home weren't! A good night would surely follow and it did. We headed to Reggae Bar which has a club upstairs and a Thai boxing ring downstairs where drunken westerners could challenge each other to effectively a street fight with gloves and a few vague rules. Pretty funny to watch though as some swedish guys fell over trying to punch each other. We partied the night away upstairs with our gang from the boat until katie managed to slice her foot up on some broken glass on the floor. We took her home bandaged up but it had been an alright night to start off in Phi Phi. We couldnt help but feel we missed Koh Tao a bit though... The next day we went for a 'Full English' only to find it had no bacon, the sausage was a frankfurter and the beans were cold... we ran into
Del and Ben, some people we met in Bangkok and have seen all along the way and decided to go to the much nicer Long Beach a short long tail boat ride away. We werent keen on the main beaches as although they were beautiful they were overdeveloped, overcrowded and a little dirty. We headed to the harbour area and haggled hard to get ourselves a cheap ride up there. It was my first long tail ride and its a pretty nifty way to travel when you're sat up on the front cruising through the crystal clear waters! Long Beach was much nicer, the water was deep so we could actually swim and there was something approaching surf which was nice! We spent the afternoon swimming, exploring and throwing big rocks into the water, or me and rob did anyway.
Afterwards we got the same long tail boat back and grabbed some dinner; the 5 of us plus 2 swedish girls we'd recognised from Bangkok. If you're recognising a trend here then you're right, about half the people here are Swedish and thats not overexaggerating! The food was great and dirt cheap so it wasn't our last visit! Me,
Del, Ben and the girls decided we'd make the climb up to the viewpoint which overlooks the island for sunset. It was tiring as hell but good exercise I suppose and completely worth it. The views were breathtaking. Phi Phi must be one of the most beautiful places on earth, unfortunately it is not a secret and the same cant be said for the developed area.. After being blown away by the view we headed back down and got ready for another night out. Irish Pub was throwing some sort of party with a free BBQ so we rinsed the free food and headed back to Reggae. Rob the Canadian took to the ring and we stood in his corner going nuts. He destroyed this French dude who kept cheating, it was great. We also got chatting to this ridiculously racist southern American guy who was off his face. Like scary racist... idiot. I went to chat to Hanna the swede and when we came back a wet t-shirt contest was going with the girls getting a bit too into it and the guys watching likewise... This was why we miss Koh Tao, Phi Phi is so party geared but
like Ibiza style its really tacky and we just werent feeling it. If we wanted Europe we wouldve gone. We still made the best of the night and had a good laugh before getting a late night pancake and following the American guy home from a distance cracking up at his feeble attempts at pulling.
After another not quite full English we had a really chilled out day just monged out in the sea and on the beach. Doing nothing inspired us to go and book another boat and snorkeling trip like the one me and Rob did in Tao. We found one for only 450baht on a longtail which was ideal so booked it up with Del and Ben for the next day. I made the climb up for sunset yet again but had Rob for company this time. It doesnt get easier second time but the sunset was better than the day before and I met Hanna up there too which was really nice, they were heading off to Cambodia the next day. We started the night off at Tiger Bar, we were trying hard to avoid Reggae again. We chatted with some English girls we'd met
on Tao and some guys we'd met here before Hanna and her friends arrived too. After the chillout I got dragged yet again to see the lady boys as Hanna hadnt seen it... Me and Rob looked at each other in disgust and questioned why it was the second time we were at a lady boy show... hmm. After swapping facebook details with a bunch of people we'd met who were leaving we partied it up a bit and had another good night. Its strange saying goodbye finally to people you've literally hung out with everyday for 2 weeks and will probably never see again. But thats just travelling I suppose! Waking up at 10 for the snorkeling proved to be tricky and for some reason we had our 3rd terrible english breakfast. We were clearly better than Del and Ben though who missed the whole trip never showing up ontime! We walked to the pier area and hopped onto our longtail boat and set off for an isolated cove around the other side of Koh Phi Phi Don. The sea was amazing and the snorkeling pretty good but nothing on some of what we'd see later. Me, Rob and
Katie managed to blag the front of the boat and just sat there and enjoyed the ride. This was the life. We took a cheesy picture too which I'm sure you'll love. Next stop was almost deserted Bamboo Island which had an amazing beach which we had lunch on and relaxed for an hour or so before heading to Monkey Beach back on Phi Phi Don. The scenery was unbelievable. I snorkeled into a small cave in the cliff and came accross literally a wall of fish just circling round and round ultimately chilled out. Maybe 5000 or more. It was amazing! Me and Rob discovered the strangest type of coral, like a black tail which hides under rocks and senses all sorts of movement around it. Naturally we teased it a little. Monkey Beach lived up to its name when a load of very fat and well fed looking monkeys came zooming down from the hills at the sight of westerners with food. The long tail then took us to the much smaller Koh Phi Phi Leh which has no development at all and is where 'The Beach' film was filmed. It was completely beautiful and "untouched" apart from
by the tens of speedboats, long tails and larger boats around! We went into Maya bay where the actual beach from the film is. It would have been stunning, well it was stunning but it was spoilt by rowdy people drinking cans of beer in the sea. Now I'm all for getting rowdy but it kind of spoils what is an amazing location. Me and Rob swam out quite far and I just floated finally seeing the appeal of the place - so peaceful and beautiful. Katie was sat on the beach with these 2 nice English girls analysing how certain trees were different in the film and wandering if Leonardo was around.
The ride back was very choppy and it was at this point that I realised we were literally all just sat in a plank of wood with a motor on the end of a stick. It was all good though and the sunset on the way back was pretty cool. We all (us and the girls) had been idiolysing the cheese burger we were going to have for the past 2 hours and so made a beeline straight for the same restaurant we liked earlier and
stuffed our faces. 100% satisfied that they made the best milkshakes in Thailand we waddled back and chilled out for a bit before going accross the path and booking our tickets to Penang, Malaysia for the next morning. Its strange but as much as it really is the most beautiful island so far and possibly the most beautiful place we've been, we've found ourselves not really liking Phi Phi as much as other places. As much as the nights have been fun, its just really not that nice to stay on. I understand the place got flattened by the Tsunami but you get the sense they rebuilt it so hastily that it just hasnt worked. Theres like an open sewer stream and some of the buildings look like a gust of wind would knock them over. Plus it has a real package feel to it with lots of people just on holiday and getting really rowdy not respecting the culture one bit, we've got rowdy sure but not so much as to insult some of the local people. However we have met some really sound people and had some laughs here I think it just doesnt compare to Koh Tao,
maybe we did them in the wrong order! We had a reasonable last night in Thailand, a few jokes here and there but nothing too mad! Woke this morning at 8 which well and truely KILLED us. We checked out and headed to the pier to catch our boat back to Krabi on the mainland. It was baking hot and there were no seats left on the air conditioned inside so we just went and sat next to the toilet door haha. Caught up on some journal for an hour and a half before we got there. Transferring to our air con minivan was nice and smooth which was a relief and we cruised through Thailand heading south past tropical scenery. In the southerly town of Hat Yai we changed minibus and they got annoyed with us as we held it up doing a McDonalds run! About an hour more and we crossed the border, the Thai side was hilarious, obviously a retreat for malaysians wanting prostitutes and whatever they couldnt get easily in Malaysia! Like an eastern Tijuana or something! The border crossing was easy and we were through and into Malaysia in no time. Went an hour ahead
so its back to 7 in front now. With the backdrop of the most stunning sunset (writing this keeps is repetitive) we sped past paddy fields and mountains. The roads seemed marginally better! Dropping off on and off we made it to Butterworth ferry terminal at around 8 and got the frequent car ferry over to the lights of Georgetown, Penang Island. On first glance it seemed like a quirky place with lots of colonial buildings as Britains first colony in SE Asia. We found a room with 3 beds for 50 ringgits nice and quickly (about 3 quid each) and couldnt be bothered to see if there was anything cheaper about as we were knackered and had Air Conditioning! After a bit of a rest we ventured out and found some food and a beer. Strangely we ran into another one of the Bangkok hostel gang who was on a visa run getting his Thailand visa renewed. So so strange! I hit the internet and started on this whilst chatting to some friends from home on msn which was nice!
We had such a good sleep that we didnt even realise that it was already 1pm. Lack of
sleep finally caught up on us perhaps! After sorting ourselves out Katie and Rob decided to go to one of the huge malls and do some shopping, Katie still needed a new camera, and I decided to explore by myself and wander around Georgetown. After 3 weeks of partying in Thailand I think I was ready for a cultural fix! Armed with a leaflet containing a map I spent around 4 hours exploring the streets. I really like the place, its so interesting historically and culturally with something on every street corner to take your interest. It reminds me a little of Macau although its much nicer. The small and occasionally cobbled streets and alleys remind me loads of Europe yet the influence of the Indian, Chinese and Malay population mixture is obvious with temples from all sorts of faiths although chinese are the most dominant making up the majority of Penang's population. Curry houses, shops selling indian fabrics, huge shopping malls, rickety little 18th century chinese houses, noodle stands, grand chinese clan houses, British colonial forts and stately buildings and even catholic convents all rub shoulders on the fascinating streets. Some highlights for me were the Leong San Tong
Khoo Kongsi Clan House, absolutely stunning Chinese Architecture and better than anything I'd seen in Hong Kong. Climbing the Cornwallis Fort Lighthouse was pretty cool but in general I just enjoyed wandering the streets of what is a fascinating city! It was also quite nice having a little time to myself too before meeting up with the guys back here at the internet cafe. Not sure what tonight holds, maybe a beer or two but nothing nuts. We're planning on going down to Kuala Lumpur overnight tommorow night but havent booked anything so don't know how thats going to go but I guess we will see! Send me some emails or something let me know what you're all up to!
Luke
Advertisement
Tot: 0.084s; Tpl: 0.017s; cc: 12; qc: 30; dbt: 0.0396s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Dad
non-member comment
Welcome to Malaysia
So you've finally arrived in Malaysia! Enough of all these silly beaches, sunbathing, boat trips, late night parties, and beautiful views. It's time you enjoyed a serious country!! love -Dad