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Published: November 30th 2009
Ko Phi Phi Don We arrived at Ko Phi Phi later on in morning & was welcomed with the usual mayhem that we were all now accustomed to. Thankfully waiting for us at the pier was Kieran & Barry who had gone straight to Phi Phi from Railey. Phi Phi has no roads, just walk ways to get around, so Barry & Kieran had arranged for a taxi man from their resort to come a meet us & taxi our baggage as it was about a 10 minute walk from the pier to the Tropical Garden Resort. As there are no roads, the taxi was in fact a guy pushing what can best be described as a big wheel barrow. As we weaved our way through the busy & hot walk ways of Phi Phi, we finally reached the Tropical Garden resort where Barry, Elaine, Kate & Kieran had been staying for the last 3 nights. After much deliberation & haggling of prices Sam & I checked into the Tropical Garden resort. The room was small, but tidy, had its own mosquito net & bathroom - it was ideal for what we needed & we wouldn’t have got a better
price. Dean decided as there were no single rooms at the Tropical Garden, to check into a place that was just a 2 minute walk from where the rest of us were staying. His room was small & a sweat box, however that was compromised by a TV & hot shower. After we all had checked in & dumped our bags, we headed up the walk way to the top of the Tropical Garden resort, where we had a swimming pool. The pool was a welcomed extra as it’s always nice to cool off in a pool on a hot day. The clear water had a green colour like appearance, & better resembled a pond - this was still very much needed in the hot sun, so we dived right in & swam up to the pool side bar to order ourselves a nice cool Chang. After a couple of Chang’s & catching up with what we had all been up to over the last 4 days Sam, Kate, Dean, Kieran & I decided to head down to the main beach, Ao Lo Dalam. We lasted 20 minutes before heading back to the pool - it was an especially hot
day, the tide was out & the sea that was deep enough for us to sit in was like a hot spring.
Later that night we went into the busy centre of Phi Phi. It certainly had changed since Sam & I had visited in 2003. The centre evoked thoughts similar to being back in Ibiza - annoying gob-shite’s waving flyers in your face trying to get you into a bar with overpriced & weak cocktails. We found somewhere to eat, a place called Cosmic, which served good Pasta & Pizza. After enjoying our first Pizza in a longtime, we all headed out for drinks to celebrate the arrival of Sam, Dean & I… any excuse. Later on we met up with James & Vicky who we had met earlier in our travels on Railey & all enjoyed a bucket enticed piss up!
For the next couple of days, & nights we pretty much did the same thing: wake up, eat, sleep, walk about, eat, drink & drink some more. Believe it or not, this became a little tiresome, so we decided we would organise a snorkeling trip out to Phi Phi Leh, a smaller & uninhabited Island a
short Long Tail boat ride away. This should have been a fairly straight forward exercise, however when you’re in such a big group, it can quickly become more complicated than necessary as people have different ideas of what they want & expect for the price & what it includes etc. It became a fairly stressful affair arranging the trip; however we did it & did so at a very reasonable price, with a friendly local who in the end would take 11 of us out in his Long Tail boat. The route we agreed on was: Monkey Beach, Bamboo Island, Viking Cave, Blue Lagoon & Maya Beach - who for those of you that don’t know, is now the famous beach that was used in the making of the film ‘The Beach’. Once people had got their flippers hired & underwater camera’s bought, we got underway & left for Monkey Beach.
Monkey Beach is a beautiful beach that has lush greenery, golden soft sands, crystal clear waters & of course Monkey’s. First off we went onto the beach where we enjoyed the playful Monkey’s fighting with each other & some even moping about because no one would give them
any food. We then enjoyed some snorkeling just off the shore, however the reefs weren’t brilliant as we weren’t far enough out, & the reefs closer to the shore were victim of anchor drag from the many Long Tail boats, which as a result has gradually destroyed them. There were however, plentiful amounts of vibrant & curious fish who at times were more than happy to pose for an underwater snap shot. We then moved onto Bamboo Island, which in hindsight we stayed on a bit too long on - meaning we had to rush & make up time to reach Maya Beach, for sun set. Whilst on Bamboo Island we enjoyed the fish & snorkeling, much the same as Monkey Beach & we also ate & had lunch before heading back down to Phi Phi Leh where we would see Viking Cave, Blue Lagoon & Maya Beach. Viking Cave wasn’t up to much, probably because we couldn’t actually go in & see the ancient paintings of styalised human & animal figures, so we were left looking at the front of the cave, which might as well have been any cave. We then made our way round to the Blue
Lagoon which is absolutely stunning - beautiful different shades of blue & turquoise shallow waters, surrounded by massive cliff faces, over grown with trees. We didn’t spend too long at the Lagoon as sun set was fast approaching, so we headed for Maya Beach. By the time we reached the beach, it was apparent we weren’t going to see the sun set, as the sun was masked by thick clouds in the distance. Upon returning to Maya Beach, it was sad to see how much of a commodity it has become, where anyone who wants to, can pay to do a camping excursion & stay on the beach. Although this has it’s appeal, having visited the beach in 2003, it has become subject to more change, much like it did in the making of the film The Beach. For example, where you could once take a short walk to the back of the beach to enjoy a small Lagoon, you no longer can as it is now blocked & has been replaced by temporary private accommodation. Anyway we enjoyed what Maya Beach still had to offer in the remaining evening light, before making a move back to Phi Phi Don.
We endured some harsh waves on the way back & I’d say pretty much everyone got soaked through as we travelled in the dark.
Later that night we enjoyed some great Thai food, with massive portions (something that doesn’t usually go hand-in-hand) although it took nearly 1 & half hours before the food was actually served, but no one could complain given the popularity of the place & the limited resources they were working with. One odd thing Sam noticed, being the ever observant individual that she is, is that they seemed to house a number of Cats in their fridge - forgive me if it doesn’t strike you as being strange, but it certainly was a weird sight, seeing 3 moggies curled up next to a fridge full of beer! We took some comfort from the fact that they weren’t being kept refrigerated for someone’s meal. As perusal, once we were all stuffed, we went out for drinks before separately heading off to bed at different times throughout the night.
Because it was Kieran’s birthday on the Tuesday, the group decided it best that we stay an extra night on Phi Phi so we could celebrate Kieran’s
birthday in Phuket, rather than whilst travelling back north. So we did. In the day time, Sam, Elaine, Barry, Dean & I visited the Tsunami memorial garden. We had trouble finding it, & I’m not surprised as we were looking for a big, well kept space for all the people that fell victim to the 2004 disaster. We eventually found the memorial garden, it was a small & un-kept garden that was situated in between the back of a busy bar, waste land & land being developed on. It was disappointing that the names of relatives & loved ones weren’t better represented & one local even told us that the local government had already decreased the size of the garden & probably would continue to do so as they want to sell & develop the land it occupies, which we all found quite sad.
That night we had a relatively quite one in retrospect to some of the previous, however we all wanted to be in sound mind & shape to travel to our next destination - Phuket.
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abdul
non-member comment
Yes mate
U look as if your loving it mate! I hate Spring : ) Tell sam i said hello Look after Abdul