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Published: November 3rd 2005
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Me
Even if the skies weren't filled with sunshine when we visited Bamboo Island, it was still pure beach bliss What a pleasure it was to cover so much territory in just a few hours! I caught my first flight in Asia from Luang Prabang to Phuket and although I had a few arguments with immigration, I had made it back to the land of Thailand. Whilst on the minibus into town I met a couple of girls that were also avoiding the tourist trap of pre-arranged hotels. It's so annoying when bus drivers/companies do this. I understand that everybody needs to make a business of sorts, but I still have a bit of a brain and would like to do things for myself thank you very much! Unfortunetly, I wasn't really organized enough to have a chosen hotel, I just didn't want the tour companies'. Luckily, Tanya and Helen from England didn't seem to mind me tagging along in roaming the streets for something decent.
In the morning we raced out of the hotel to catch a ferry over to the island. We had thought it's departure time was a little later, which put quite a pressure on getting to the port in time. Not seeing a tuk tuk or taxi in sight, we joined forces and paid
Maprao Beach
A nice view from the breakfast table for a ride from a bloke driving a 1980's low riding dreamcar. Eye contact is crucial in a time like this, and the girls and I stayed on full alert. I heard a few sighs of relief (includiung my own!) when we stepped foot in the ferry port and paid the few baht to the Magnum P.I. wannabee.
As we crashed through the waves and eavesdropped on a few conversations, we decided it would be best to trek to the furthest accomodation from the center of town. Phi Phi may not be known for full moon parties, but as the bright night skies in Thailand seem to attract late night celebrations everywhere, better to be safe than sorry. Perhaps if I was travelling at the age of 20, I'd have been in the thick of it. But I'm not 20, and I'm looking for the chill out zone.
Much to our dismay, as we docked in Phi Phi the skies had opened up and many heavy drops of rain attacked us. We trudged past the pamphlet holders and the day trippers and kept searching for the perfect bungalow. Where the hell is it? Not wanting to
Maprao Resort
Most of the meals that we had were sitting at this table looking at beach view (previous picture) settle in for something less than perfect, we kept going. I did start to doubt my union with Tanya and Helen when we began scaling the muddy pathways. However, we finally found a trail that didn't require us to take our packs off and it led us directly to Maprao Resort. The bungalows were tucked in the trees overlooking the bay, and the restaurant area was just a few steps away from the beach. And the packs were off.
After a coffee and a change into dry clothes, we ventured back into town to for a walking navigation. We took a few back routes and immediatly felt as though we had entered a construction site. The tsunami only happened 8 months ago, and although the main strip is ready as ever for the hoards of tours, behind the scenes there are many areas still within the throes of cleanup and re-building. 2000 people died at Phi Phi, and the islanders are still in the process of moving on. They seem very prepared for any type of natural disaster, but the school has still yet to be rebuilt. It's a bit sad that the hotels and bungalows came first.
3 Girls on a Boat
Big smiles (perhaps slightly posessed looking on my part!) as we started the boat journey with the burning sun The government and insurance companies have not sent money, so everything that looks new has come directly from families life investments. And everything is now re-enforced cement blocks, which has far less charm than the original rickety tickety towns. However, as we discovered, further down the island the charm is still there.
At breakfast the next day, we decided the least amount of movement was required in order to reach the peak of relaxation. Although, swimming movement wasn't included! Tanya and I beached ourselves on some of the rocks in the bay and found that the slippery surfaces made a great slide. It may have only been a long arms lenth slide but it's still great to find the simple pleasures of life. Back at the resort, we decided to have a wander further along the trail as we had heard there was an even nicer set of bungalows that had just re-opened after refurbishment. And what a find it was! We packed our bags and settled into the spacious and fresh smelling bungalow with room for all three of us, at 'Viking Beach'. I'm pretty sure they'll be changing the name once all refurbishment is complete, as
Phi Phi storm coming
Lost the sunshine by this point, but the narrow section is where the tsnumai came through before swirling around the bay the name really isn't apporopriate to the paradise that it was!!
Soon after rolling out of bed the following morning, we stepped into a boat that we had rented for the day. We powered over to Phi Lae Island and had a chance to snorkel in various locations. The colours of the fish and being surrounded by a school of stripes that were having their lunch of floating pieces of bread was a refreshing change to the green mountains of Laos the week previous. I was most impressed when I saw a black and white snake tucking itself in between some rocks, impressed really that I didn't panic!! Snorkelling is such a different world, too bad I didn't have enough time to take a diving course this time.
Although the sun had retreated it was still a pleasant temperature and we stopped for lunch on a beach back on Phi Phi. When we ordered a coffee from the chap that sat in the one and only shack on the beach, I felt a bit bad upon realizing he used the hot water from his personal flask. "No bother" he said, and proceeded with his snooze. Aaaagggghhhhh,
Skies
Even without the sun there is always something interesting to look at life on an island.
The next island that we approached would most certainly define 'beach bliss' for me. The white sands reached a crest at one end of Bamboo Island, and the feeling as you ran up to it and looked out to the turqoise waters would put a smile on even Scrooge's face! We walked around and began examining shells and sharing our top finds before placing them back within the sand. There were a few relics that had washed up that we assumed were from the December wave. They would no doubt be cleaned up by the solitary man on the island. As it is a national park, there was a beach cleaner that we saw just once fropm a distance. Quite an ideal job really, maybe I'll be returning sooner than I think!
For my final day on the island, I finished a book. I cought up with some emails. I paddled around in the water. And then eventually, I put my head down and started to pack my bag. It's sad to go having just reached a point of pure relaxation, but as my flight to Australia leaves from Singapore in a
Helen and Tanya before the lunch stop
We stopped for a coffee and little snorkel on this beach, of which I can't remember the name. But 'The Beach' was filmed there I think. few days, it might be best to make my way towards the correct country. Helen, Tanya and I had a final feast at the Mapro Resort which was a great way to end the beach holiday with new friends. I then joined the girls en route to the airport the next morning and hoped I might be able to find a cheap flight. Well, as much as I was looking forward to the living on the edge reputation, I didn't manage to get a flight for that day. Soooo, back to Phuket for one night to return to the airport in the morning. My time in Thailand is definitly up, but it's certainly not over.
I now have a couple of days in Singapore follwed by just 6 days in Australia.
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John Reilly
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beauty sheer beauty
hi....had to say that of all the places you have been these shots of Thailand gave me goose bumps! What a gorgeous place....could easily forget about time on one of those beaches. I know you are having the best ever so keep it up. Just came back from New York with Liam which was fabulous. Saw Daniel briefly in NY and he is thrilled and scared about being the new James Bond...what a great life we have and i loved your comment about the people you meet being the best part of travelling...couldn't agree more. Liam told me when we met again in New York after he had been to LA and i had been to St. Louis that i "collected wonderful people" nice thought. love you and i know you will keep in touch. also saw JoJo peter ross and blaise who came to New York for a day and we had mucho fun.