Advertisement
Published: January 3rd 2007
Edit Blog Post
Runtee Bay from the shower
This lovely bathroom let you shower under the starts and gave you a good view of the clear water and passerbys a good view of you... Well after my brief vacation in Vancouver I had to get back to work travelling around various tropical countries enjoying cheap cocktails, cheap food, excellent beaches and various amazing world heritage sites and such. After saying goodbye for one final time to my fellow journeyer Jordan who heads off to China and Russia, I began my first job of travelling south to the island of Koh Phi Phi in order to meet up with the Lush family for New Years Eve. Having already been on this tropical island I thought I knew what to expect and while I was looking forward to it (it may be my favourite place in Thailand) I was disappointed to learn that we were not in the main part of the island and thus some ways away from the party. All doubts or apprehensions however were quickly alleviated when the long boat that Jas and Jody had arranged pulled up in secluded, beautiful Runtee Bay where our bungalow was situated.
The bay is on the east coast of Koh Phi Phi and is about a 20 minute boat ride from the main landing or an hour walk over the hill that separates the east coast
24 hours later...
the approach to Koh Phi Phi and the last of the clouds... from the main settlement. The bay itself is probably less than a kilometer long with a beach that is only 15 meters deep before the palm tree covered hill begins to climb. There are only 3 fairly small family run restaurants/bungalow operators with probably no more than 30 bungalows. The food was plenty and good (except for breakfast) and we overcame the expensive beer aspect by loading a good number of changs onto the long boat that brought me over. In our little bay, not even 10 meters off shore when the tide is out, was a huge shelf drop off home to large amounts of beautiful coral and huge schools of fish that was good enough to make one of the snorkel stops for most tours of the island. It should be no surprise then that not even 10 minutes after getting on shore, and only 36 hours after getting back to Thailand I had borrowed a snorkel and mask and enjoyed the warm waters with the coral and the fish just half hour before enjoying an amazing sunset. Most of the days involved much of the same: enjoying some amazing snorkelling, getting over my jet lag, having too
Snorkelling...
Some of the amazing coral in the area... much to eat, and playing games of hearts.
The only change to this schedule would be our adventure into town for New Year's eve. Not wanting to pay them their overcharged prices for a boat Jas and I decided to walk in the dark without head lamps over the hill on a tiny path through the jungle. It sounds bad but with the almost full moon we pretty much made it unscathed, the only loss being my precious sandals about 10 mintues into the hike which I will forever love and adore. Unfortunately they have been replaced by a cheap 100 Bht pair, the only pair I could find, that have wreaked havoc on my sensitive feet. During the rest of the night we were re-introduced to the joys and pains of buckets, watched some amazing fireworks and while we lost each other at some point we both apparently had some good times trying to get home; Jas braving the open seas and myself attempting the climb back over the hill. Despite our hangovers and our late, or early entry back at the bungalow, we were up in time to enjoy a fine day of boating and snorkelling around
Snorkelling...
Yes those people are standing in the middle of the ocean. Of course it would be better if they weren't killing the coral they're standing on. bamboo island. Both Jas and I decided that we could easily spend a week or two here and I've decided, depending on how the rest of the trip goes, to come back here for at least a week, maybe two before I head to Australia.
The only other eventful event of my brief time back would be perhaps the weirdest purchase of a bus ticket thus far on the trip. With no apparent buses to Bangkok from Phuket public bus stations we resorted to tourist agencies to try and help us out. At the third place the lady decided to go to the bus station for us to see if she could get us tickets. Ten minutes later she had acquired bus tickets from a company that had told us they were full only 10 minutes prior. After a good dinner our agent escorted us to the bus station, where upon seeing us, the ladies at the check out counter whom we had seen earlier burst out into laughter. We thought this was weird and we also thought it weird that none of the signs had a 20:30 bus to Bangkok advertised. When 20:30 finally did come around and
Back to work...
Well my brief time home was pleasant I was forced back into the world of hammocks, beaches and reading. I asked where the bus was they just laughed once again. We're still not entirely sure what happened, or where this bus came from or how she got tickets and how it was that there were still 8 - 10 seats empty even though they were still telling people they had no tickets but we're back in Bangkok now at our home away from home the Green House Guest house and are quite excited to get to some of the other amazing countries and sites in the region. Perhaps the next few months may even see our livers get back to normal and see Fryan be vanquished.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.164s; Tpl: 0.03s; cc: 14; qc: 72; dbt: 0.09s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
anonymous
non-member comment
tough choice
Ryan, hard to image that you would pass on new years in Vancouver(wind, rain, cold weather), for life in paradise ..glad to see you arrived safe and sound in Thailand and without your "friend"...dad