Koh Phi Phi - Home to the Beach!

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After the hell hole that was Pooket, we caught a boat over to Koh Phi Phi as fast as we could. The boat had a sun deck, which gave us a great opportunity to catch some rays and see some eye candy ;-). Coming into the port through the gorgeous turquoise blue water we were escorted by a group of dolphins, this was a beautiful sight watching them jump in and out of the water along side the boat.

Docking at the port was met with the usual swarms of locals trying to get you into their bungalows and guesthouses, which was becoming more and more tiresome as our trip has gone on. We always avoid there desperate pleas and search out our own accommodation. This time was no exception although arriving at the the hottest part of the day with our 20 kilo backpacks which seem to never get any lighter, and spending the longest amount of time so far trying to find somewhere tested each others patience to the limit. Finally we found somewhere right next to the beach and with air con, which is a must in these conditions, we'd done well.

Koh Phi Phi, is famous for the film "the beach" which was set here. It was also on a more sad note devastated by the 2004 tsunami, evidence of this is still around today. The ruined remains of wooden huts are still scattered around the island, and they have many pictures in bars and shops with before and after pictures which are quite graphic, but really hit home how badly the island was hit. The actual wave that hit the island was 10 feet high on one side and 18 feet high on the other. The water receded from both bays at 10am and it didn't hit until 10.37am. Nature truly is powerful and unforgiving and I can't imagine what it must have been like to have been here on that day.

Koh Phi Phi's main village Ton Sai, is built on a sand bar between two long and tall limestone ridges. On both sides of the village which is only a few 100m wide are two the beautiful semicircular bays. This is where everyone is during the day, catching the rays and just chilling out looking out to sea thru the limescale peaks. We played quite alot of frisbee in the water as the water is only knee deep for a few 100m's. There are also quite alot of bars along the beach which provide refreshing cocktails and shakes which keep you hydrated during the day. At night everyone heads into the village for some food and drink. Some of the bars provide fire dancing which is quite entertaining, there is even a boxing ring where tourist can fight a thai kick boxer. I found this quite amusing when the tourist were going into the ring full of an evenings drink to fight this thai kick boxer threatening to knock his block off! I don't think the kick boxer had to try to hard!

Phi Phi is a beautiful island and definitely recommended and what a place to be on a sad day when I found out that my pride and joy had been sold!! Next stop Koh Samui stay tuned folks!x

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