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Published: April 11th 2009
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And So Phuket Draws To A Close...
But before it does, we managed to get out to Koh Phi Phi (the islands off the east coast of Phuket), for a day tour on a speedboat. These islands, and especially Phi Phi Ley, was the location for the movie "The Beach" starring Leonardo DeCaprio, and has become an enormous draw card for tourism since it being released.
So from the top....we got picked up from the hostel and taken to the port in Phuket City before being ushered onto our speedboat. A quick check of the weather and I decided to for-go the sea sickness tablets, hoping to confront my inadequacies, and off we went. The first stint to Phi Phi Ley was to take an hour, and the first 30 minutes was a breeze. All of a sudden, we came out from the shelter of the other islands and into open water. The swell grew.... the waves grew... and I held firm!!!
Approaching the island was quite possibly one of the most majestic sights I've experienced, the cliffs looming up out of the sea, a haze of islands on all sides. Rounding the tip we were shown the
Viking Caves, where swallows nest in their hundreds. These nests are harvested for chinese medicine and provide a good source of income for the Thai that work there.
Further round the we visit the pure, clean waters of
Loh Samah Bay, with cliffs on all sides and the blueist water ever seen. You would never know, but it's over 20 metres deep and still looks like you could touch the bottom just by leaning out of the boat.
Next stop....
Maya Bay, the famous bay used in the aforementioned movie (even if they did CGI it a little to close the entrance to the bay). If I could see it in the early morning before the crowds get there at would be magnificent, but it was teeming with tourists and had become very commercialised. Definately worth a look just for the scenery though.
Around the Northern tip of the island and on to Phi Phi Don, the larger of the two islands,and very resort driven. Stopping at
Monkey Bay just around the point from the main settlement, the bay is named after the countless monkeys that reside in the trees near the waters edge. Obviously they weren't
hungry when we got there, but no matter, that meant that more snorkling time was available at the reef just off the shore. A lot of it was destroyed when the tsunami came through so there aren't many colours but boy are there fish!!!
Being offshore, the 4pm rain became 2pm rain and just didn't stop!!! The last stop, a traditional island and it's population of about 20, was rained out, so lunch was held in a big shelter before the trip back to Phuket. Surprisingly enough, the sea wasn't too bad for the return trip, even tho there was lightning crashing all around us. Maybe it's because I was so tired from a full on day of spectacular sights and amazing adventures.
The morning before leaving, we were out for breakfast and noticed a t-shirt with the title of this blog on the front (although it did include a few more explicit words too), and no matter how good the scenery is and the fun to be had.... that one sentence sums up Phuket all too well I'm afraid. Would I go back..... probably... but I'd stay on the islands like Phi Phi Don and just relax
and soak up the beauty.
We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment. ~Hilaire Belloc
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