Ko Phi Phi and "The Beach"

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The Beach!

We woke up at the crack of dawn on the 15th and jumped in a taxi at 6am to take up to the Pier. We boarded a ferry and promptly went back to sleep for a couple of hours. The King's Sister in Thailand has recently died and we had decided to travel on the day of the funeral - or commemoration or something. All over the TV were pictures and video snippets of her visiting poor children and shaking hands with people int he army. There was a big demonstration at the Grand Palace in Bagkok. But all the TV coverage was in Thai and I was nursing the cocktails from the previous night and so I can't tell you whether it was any good or not.

We got off our boat - not entirely sure where we were but hoping that the people working the boat would. I was armed with a small sticker that read "Phi Phi" on it and hoped that that would be enough! With everything that I owned on my back I wandered down the pier and was eventually accosted by a little Thai man who ushered me onto a coach. Wonderful!

The coach travelled for about half an hour and then stopped. We were all told to get off the coach and stood on the side of the road. I knew I should have asked the lady we bought our tickets from what exactly we were doing... Standing at the side of the road we were whisked away by a disco taxi bus thing - which asked us to squeeze as many people on as possible. Not very fun in the blistering heat with a bag about the same size as you...

The disco taxi took us to a small cafe - where Vix ordered some suspicious looking scrambled eggs on toast. We sat there with a load of people some what perplexed. This is not really what we were expecting.... An houe and a half later another bus turned up and called out, "Phi Phi" we ran across the road Vietnam Style and flung our bags in the back and got on the bus, hoping to god that this one would take us to Krabie where we could get a ferry to Ko Phi Phi Island. Fortunately for my nerves it did... (I am now starting to worry about how I am going to cope with London Transport when I get back home).

Krabie Pier is the Heathrow airport of Piers in Thailand. Modern, clean and designed to make you walk about 6 miles before you even get to the ticket office. Again in typical Thai style you are given a ticket and a sticker and sent to a little man in the corner. Who gives you a different colour sticker and a blue ticket. You then wander over the the desk where a lady smiles at you takes the blue ticket and gives you a yellow one. You give the yellow ticket to the man at the pier who in turn gives you a red one and sends you off to pier One. At Pier One you give your red ticket to a man and get on the the smallest boat you have ever seen. Boy do they like to pack you in! Lucky for me I am a midget so I just tucked myself in a corner with my bag and played dead soldiers for the whole trip.

Once we arrived in Ko Phi Phi we found ourselves some accomodation and collapsed. We had been travelling for over 12 hours and I was exhausted. We arranged to meet up on the Beach for dinner and went to a Lonely Planet recomendation called, "Ciao Bella". Which was lovely albeit the mossies and cats that roamed the restaurant.

We spent the next day sorting out trips and lazing around on the beach. Ko Phi Phi is a gorgeous Island it is very touristy without being tacky. It has the right amount of bars and restaurants to make it interesting without giving it the feel of staying in Benidorm.
That evening we went to the James Bond bar - which is the most over rated and pointless bar I have ever been to. The cocktails were rubbish, no one was there and I was horrified to find that the film that they were showing was Titanic! What's that got to do with James Bond?

The following day we were set to check out of our hotel as we were going to visit Maya Bay and camp out on "The Beach" over night. I was dead excited. Our boat was not as big as advertised but good enough. Our driver had a voice like a sesamie street character which was hilarious and out main guide was a small Thai guy called "Em". Our taxi boat picked us up at 4pm and took us over to the Bay, the journey was about half an hour or so. It was lovely and refreshing bobbing along the sea with the wind in my air. I felt very content with life. When we turned the corner to reveal Maya Bay, the place where they filmed The Beach my heart sank a little. The whole place was completely littered with boats and other travellers.

Before we docked we were invited to do a bit of snorkelling which was really cool. Jane and Pinder are not so keen on the sea but they jumped in as well. We were given loads of tiny bits of pineapple to feed the fishies which was really cool. And to my delight by the time we had finished and head over to the bay most of the other tourist boats had gone!

We found out that there was a restriction on the amount of people that were allowed to camp on the beach each night. We were in a group of 14 people which seemed like a good number. There was a couple of hours to kill before we all sat down for dinner and so me and the guys explored the island and drank in the scenery. We met a couple on their honeymoon called Jay and Crystal who turned out to be a real good laugh which made things easier.
The beach was really shallow which made the water change colour really slowly. I took numerous pictures but it was starting to get dark . Our guide set down mats and lit little night lights and we all sat down and drank in the atmosphere. It was really magical. We were made Chicken Pagnan curry which was too spicy for some - but not for me who had thirds. We drank buckets and I chatted to Crystal about life. Em then sat down with his guitar and we sang loads of Bob Marley and Oasis songs. I was having a right merry time. We played a few drinking games and got to know a Scouse couple who were alos lovely and easy to talk to. The drink, games and songs totally broke the ice and we all became one little family.
At about 12 we hit the hay - or should I say the sand. I grabbed my mat, sleeping bag and token pillow and head off down the beach with the guys to find a spot to sleep.

I was so excited about sleeping on the beach under the stars that I did not put too much thought into what I was doing - foolish. When lying on the beach sun bathing I often find that I have to dig a little hole for my boobs to fell into - that knowledge should have made me think about flatterning the sand that I slept on. But no lay down on the lumpiest sand going and attempted to sleep.
My sleeping bag smelt and my pillow was not much better but hey I was on Maya beach right? The rum ensured that I fell strat to sleep and stayed there for a good hour and a half. But then I was awake...
I tossed and turned and tried to iron out the sand without actually standing up and starting again. I then decided that if I could not sleep that I should just rest and take in the atmosphere.

The funny thing about sleeping on the beach is that everyone just goes to the loo in the sea. I was no exception and during our drinking session me and the girls wandered doen the beach where we were out of sight. Bottoms sticking out to the sea we all peed happily and laughed about it feeling a bit sheepish but happy with the knowledge that no one could see us.
Now and silly o'clock in the morning that was not the case. The light from the moon lit the entire beach and I could see other bodies lying around wiggling trying to sleep. The waves that were previously lapping against the shore were now crashing and coming closer and closer to me. I could hear little crabs scurrying around and could only begin to imagine what was nibbling away at my toes. I tried to take it all in and enjoy myself but even the halo around the moon could not stop me from feeling annoyed with myself for not being able to sleep.

At 5:30am we all got up. No one had slept. We wandered to the other side of the island to watch the sunrise. And boy what a sunrise it was. There were a few clouds in the sky which made it really moody and atmospheric as the light had to bend its way the obsticles in the sky. The sun rose quickily and lit the whole bay. On the way back to the beach I suddenly saw just how beautiful it was and relished being awake so early and having the beach virtually to myself.

I began to explore the beach and savoured the moment by taking a picture of my footprints - the first footprints on the beach that morning. The dispjointed sleep was totally worth it. I sat on the beach and felt completely at peace with the world.

We jumped on our boat and said goodbye to Maya bay feeling as though once again we had just experienced something magical.

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