Beach Hopping – Koh Phi Phi, Krabi, Koh Pha Ngan

---

So much of Thailand, of course, is the beaches. That’s what you visit there, at least in the south: you go to a beach, sometimes get in a boat to visit another beach, watch the ancient rock formations protrude from the water’s edge like tips of rockets about to take off beyond our stratosphere on your way to another beach, and soak up the sun on a beach somewhere else. In our case, we could now also go diving into the water.



We traveled from Phuket on a bus and then high-speed tourist ferry to Koh Phi Phi, quite possibly the most famous island in Thailand. Personally, I wasn’t expecting much, as Klaudia and I now live near a beach, which suits me pretty fine, but that’s not to say I wasn’t looking forward to visiting an island with no roads. As we departed our super-speed ferry onto Koh Phi Phi, the island seemed nice and quaint enough, barring the thousands of tourists. I had spoken to a Thai woman on the ferry who stated that there were no longer any secret places in Thailand. Now, I find that incredibly hard to believe since I’m "a priori" certain the rich have their secret, secluded resorts where we commoner-schmucks are not deigned to enjoy; and Koh Phi Phi was obviously not one of these places and was created for us commoners.



Here I go again – a person’s impression of a place depends on a lot. Klaudia and I had visited so many beaches at this point that I was hard-pressed to glimpse the allure of the island, though I made an earnest effort. Again, not that I don’t think it wasn’t nice, it just wasn’t that great either: firstly, it was extremely crowded, almost like Chicago’s Wrigleyville during St. Patrick’s Day; and, consequently, it was loud. But a major point of us being there was to do some diving.



We registered for a dive for the following day and were introduced to the way our dives would proceed from this point forward. We purchased a package of two dives and lunch on the boat. Bottled water was included, which was great and, when spun positively, we also had the opportunity to spend a couple hours on the boat, on which we could relax and take in some rays. No, it was not the same experience as in Malaysia.



The dives themselves were fun - with colorful, picturesque coral - though they lacked, at least on this day, the dynamic aquatic life of Malaysia. But we did see a faint-banded sea snake almost immediately on our first dive at Bida Nok, a limestone island a few kilometers from Koh Phi Phi. For those in-the-know, the banded sea snake, or laticauda colubrina (not sure I got that right, so go easy on me) for those really in-the-know, is a sea snake found in the Indo-Pacific oceans and thought to be ‘the most’ venomous snake in the world. Our divemaster later elucidated that we had nothing to worry our little heads about since the snake is very shy with an unaggressive temperament – like most living things, it’ll leave you alone if you leave it alone. Furthermore, its teeth are supposedly not long enough to even puncture one’s skin. However, a quick Internet search, though it confirms the former, contradicts the latter: fishermen, trying to release the sea snake from their nets, are bit frequently, thus, sometimes even requiring serious medical attention. However, only a small proportion of these fishermen are also injected with venom. Exciting stuff…



Our next dive took us to Whale Shark Wall. On the way, we stopped to have lunch on the boat near Maya Beach, where the movie “The Beach” was filmed. Again, I was astonished at the enormous size of the armada of ships (even more than to James Bond Island) transporting tourists to the beach…only because a movie – which wasn’t even that good – was filmed at that particular spot. The island itself is fairly dull in terms of both beauty and topography in comparison to other Thai islands and beaches, even those that are right next to it.



Whale Shark Wall, despite what its name might suggest, does not commonly have whale sharks, if ever: our divemaster stated that he’d been diving there for years and had yet to see one; the same was true for all the divemasters of the dive center. It is, however, this time as its name suggests, a wall dive with interesting coral formations and boulders stacked atop each other to construct exciting swim throughs that are home to large schools of glass fish. Swimming through these schools scattered the little fish in all directions in cramp quarters, giving us a close-up view. Although leopard sharks are supposed to be common, we didn’t see any, though we did see plenty of our favorite triggerfish, lionfish and puffer fish.



The next day or so was spent wandering around the island. We walked the beach a bit and I was finally able to eat Indian food again since we’d left India – I’m convinced that Indian cuisine is better everywhere outside of India. I had a couple Tiger beers – actually, my last ones since I’ve heard Tiger uses arsenic as a preservative, although I’ve not been able to confirm this - before we headed back on the ferry to Krabi.



There isn’t much activity in the town of Krabi. Located on the southwest coast of Thailand, Krabi would be more like a village if it weren’t for the touristy restaurants. This provided, as opposed to Phuket or Koh Phi Phi, just the right amount of the peace and quiet we were seeking. There are a couple narrow beaches near the main road that travels through the town. We found a guesthouse right across the street from Hat Noppharat Thara Beach, which is part of Koh Phi Phi National Marine Park, making it less crowded and less developed than is the neighboring Ao Nang Beach. Interestingly, many of the neighboring islands that can be seen from both beaches can be easily reached by foot during low tide. The gems of the area, however, are Railey Beach and Pra Nang Beach, located on a peninsula just outside of Krabi. The two beaches, adjacent to each other, cannot be reached by road, nor did we find a way to reach them by foot; they are only accessible by longtail boat and we both thought they were the most beautiful beaches that we’d seen in Thailand.



The boat dropped us at Pra Nang Beach first. At the end of the pristine beach, from which we could see gorgeous views of rock formations with lush vegetation, was a large limestone cliff that towers above pretty sunbathers. At the base of the cliff is Princess Cave, which holds, what seemed to be hundreds of religious symbols of the phallus kind, pertaining to some pre-Buddhist religion. Fisherman visit the cave to leave offerings for a successful day that I’m sure includes catching things besides fish. It’s possible to hike up a portion of the cliff with views of the clear, turquoise waters and beautiful vistas. The only downside to the beach, depending on how you look at it, as this may not be an annoyance to some, is that the pretty sunbathers mentioned above are mostly Russian ones.



Honestly, I may jest at times, but I’m alright with the Russians – we share a common fondness for vodka (I’ve tilted shot glasses with more than one Russian), and nothing brings people closer together (or further apart, for that matter) than drink. Also, I enjoy the melody of their language. The one thing I can’t seem to get a handle on, apart from their unwavering nationalism in the face of a disguised dictatorship, is why the Russians pose for pictures the way they do, especially the females. I am convinced that every Russian girl believes that she is a model intimately familiar with the catwalks of Paris and regularly poses for "Vanity Fair", or whatever magazines for which models pose…let it be "Playboy", since I know that one, or perhaps “Buy a Russian Wife” website. They stand on the beach lifting one arm, placing it on the back of their head, slightly bending one leg or the other, with only the tips of the toes touching the ground, arching their backs, with the other hand placed on their hip. Then they smile widely. And, posing in this absurd position, the boyfriend will snap well over 100 pictures; the girl with hold this position for the duration. Can’t you just take a picture and move on? Laughing about this with some Thais on the beach, I learned that the only people more annoyed with this ridiculous behavior than I are the Thais.



We then headed to Railey Beach, which is connected to Pra Nang by a path and which is divided into an eastern and western side, with the west providing more luxurious accommodation. The eastern side wasn’t nearly as stunning, especially at low tide, and lacked the usual breathtaking rock formations. We walked both sides though and finally settled on a place to sit down on the western side while waiting for our longtail boat to arrive at the agreed upon time. It’s a beautiful place.



We headed to Koh Pha Ngan the following day. The island is located in the Gulf of Thailand, near Koh Tao and Koh Samui. Although we did not attend the event, the island is famous for its Full Moon Party. Instead, we spent a couple days on the island driving around it on a motorbike visiting the various beaches scattered throughout. The road was smooth and curvy, with plenty of uphill displaying wonderful views in the distance. Unfortunately, most of the beaches had low tide, which opened up the coral to our feet, but the island is pretty, surrounded by water as warm as a nice bath. We were able to procure a room at a guesthouse right on the beach that, with open shades, provided a fantastic view of the sea.

---

Photos

beach bar on Koh Phi Phi
I think the Thais have an interesting preoccupation with phalluses