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Published: January 31st 2009
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Straight away after arriving into Phi Phi Don I knew that I would want to stay here for awhile. Its a place
that was devastaded by the tsunami. No one is even supposed to build technically because its nature park status but everyone does anyway. Rumor has it that officials won't even go on the island for fear of being beat up by the bungalow owners. When I went there I expected quiet peaceful paradise and not the crazy backpacker overrun place that it was. It seems so tranquil from the viewpoint overlooking the two bays and there are places you can go where its quiet if you want to take a long walk . It can never get back to the empty place I think its supposed to be so I will just enjoy it for what it is and be thankful that Phi Phi Lei (aka The Beach) is still protected to an extent. I compare this island to a really really big hostel. People walking around barefoot all the time, drinks in hand, ready to soak up the sun, meet the opposite sex and well...act like a backpacker. Its crazy being in a perfect paradise yet walking inland
200 feet and you have completely packed streets. No cars mind you..just people walking, carts being pushed and bicycles.
My first day here my Irish friend and I wandered all over the main part of the island looking for cheap
accommodation. Cheap to us right now is about 10 dollars a person. Anymore was pushing it. We finally
found an aircon room for the 3 of us. We each had our own bed and we were ready to start the partying..I met 4 Scottish girls and an American. We had some dinner and then started in on the buckets (bucket full of vodka and sprite and redbull) on the beach. Two big bars with fire limbo and fire dancers and all sorts of crazy stuff are the main night attraction here. I had fun. I finally found a place that plays Britney so I danced around like crazy and ended up meeting 5 more Irish guys that became my new buddies. Finally got to sleep around 4 am. A typical first night in Phi Phi I think.
Best night of my trip thus far was my camping trip to Maya Beach AKA “The Beach” beach. One of the
Irish from the party night went with me and my other Irish and English friend. Thirty people or so took a
boat in and snorkled around for 45 minutes or so. Looking over at the packed perfect beach across the
way knowing that it would clear out and be all ours within the hour was exhilirating. We started
exploring immediately. We went to the rocky other side and saw crabs scurrying about. We admired this
perfect place in the sunset with awe. The water is so blue its practically glowing. We ate good food, sat
around in a big circle singing songs to a Thai guy playing the acoustic guitar, and we all wandered around
and spent some time in solitude listening to the water. We all remembered the glowing plankton from the movie and wondered if maybe it was actually like that knowing it probably wasn't. An English girl and I finally worked up the balls to jump into the water and go for a midnite swim along with a Canadian guy
named Mike. It was so freaking cool. They were exactly the way it was in the movie. I have no way to
describe it other than saying
its a symphony of glowing little bits surrounding all the parts of your body
as you move around. We giggled with glee for a half hour straight with how perfect and amazing those
moments were that we spent under the stars with the glowing plankton. The rest of my night was spent
laying under a blanket staring up at the millions of stars and wishing on the shooting stars that happened every five minutes or so.
The next day Paddy (Irish guy) and I decided to abandon ship and stay on the beach for an extra few
hours and just take a longtail back (longtail being a small taxi boat). They were filming a Bollywood
film on the beach. Seeing all these famous Indian actors and a beautiful actress getting fanned and
massaged before they start ed filming was actually pretty interesting. Afterwards we literally just soaked
in paradise and got an even more fantastic tan.
The next few days I did some other activities. I knew I wanted to do a couple fun dives while I was here
and it was so nice to get on a boat and go under the sea. New things I saw
were: a leopard shark, blacktip reef shark, octopus, jellyfish, and loads of other fish. The visibilty was incredible and Im so glad I
decided to spend some more money on diving to do it.
I had been hanging out with loads of Irish and they were good for a laugh and partying but I finally found
a crew I feel comfortable with a couple days before I left. I had found a guy named Mike on a website
called Gapyear.com. Its for travelers and they have a forum for people looking for travelmates. We
decided to meet up in Koh Pha Ngan but it never happened but we just happened to run into each other
on the Maya Bay camping trip. He is a knowledge book of travel information about Thailand so I
automatically made plans to travel with him. I decided to break from the Irish and meet some new
people. I ended up in a room with two English guys and a couple aussie guys. One of the English
(Hamish) and I bonded pretty quick friendwise and thru that my new travel crew was formed. Hamish,
me, Mike and Mike's friend Dave.
We all went kayaking
the day before we left Phi Phi. We went over to Monkey Beach and fed some
adorable..well some adorable, some fat, monkeys. Then went to an almost deserted beach and soaked up some sun over there. After a night out on the town with these guys it was a solid alliance. We all looked after each other and no one gets too crazy. That last night out was perfect. Everyone got just the right amount of drunk. Bastian, a Chilean guy, and I ended up walking around the island together for a bit. Went to an ATM and just generally hung out. I got back to the room, where everyone else was all ready asleep, to Hamish saying “Where were you...I was worried about you” THAT is the making of a great travel buddy. Yesterday we all boarded a boat for Railay Beach where I am now hanging out typing this. Im staying in a gorgeous resort complete with pool surrounded by mountains and beach for the low low price of 15 dollars per night. I will write more about this portion of my trip next time. This blog is incredibly long I know. I kept putting it off and
saying I would do it tomorrow. Its funny how when I'm on a vacation like this even writing a blog out of what I've done seems like sooooo much work.
Certain things I want to remember: chasing the free buckets, the joking Thai boxers, the Irish Russian
impression, the Chilean picture, the diss by the monkey, Super Buddy, “I will milk myself to save the
children”, the squeaky horrible fan that reminds me how much I love a/c, the banana pancake, the ATM,
33rd in line to the thrown, the baby cat, the sweat after the hike to the viewpoint with the swede,
practicing my Spanish, Papaya,the steak at Breakers, politics convo at Hippie Bar and so many other
things combined to make a great week on Phi Phi.
Love you everyone.
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Abby
non-member comment
No shark attacks at "The Beach"- good good. Love you!