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Published: January 14th 2007
The Divers
Devlin and I under the sea. True Island Paradise. No cars, no scooters, just palm trees waving in the breeze, waves crashing on the shore and the occasional "BEEP BEEP!" as a troupe of Thai's hurry past pushing a cart full of luggage from the newly arrived passengers. Welcome to Phi Phi.
As I mentioned in the previous blog, we were kind to ourselves and opted to fly out of Singapore and back to Phuket. Singapore has one of the world’s best airports, so we figured it would be an injustice to not see it. Unfortunately since we flew Tiger Airways, Singapore’s discount carrier, we flew out of the “Budget” Terminal and didn’t actually get to see the other terminals (which I imagine contain the “worlds best” stuff, since our terminal was, as the name implies, rather budget).
We set a New Years Resolution for ourselves and that is to STAY ON BUDGET! This is our first major trip like this, so we’re bound to hit some bumps along the way, but we’ve been spending a little more than our plan dictated (not much, just enough to put us a little off course). In any case, we revised our plan and provided we stick with
Weightless!!
Floating around under the water you can begin to understand what an astronaut must feel like. Completely weightless you can twist and turn in any direction you please! the budget we will have enough to carry us through until the tentative end. Because of this we were newly motivated to seek out the most budget accommodations we could in pricey Patong Beach. An internet search brought us to Crown Hostel, and for 450baht a night ($15) I believe we found the cheapest room in all of Patong. Two single beds (although slightly wider than singles at home), our own private bath, a ceiling fan, and our own army of ants living in the bathroom. It was grubby but the owner was a really kind man and the location could not be beat. Bangla Road is the main entertainment strip with shops, bars, and the Bangla Boxing Stadium (Muay Thai boxing) and we were situated directly at the end of it. This also meant that at night until 4am we felt like we were sleeping in the back room of a nightclub, due to the pounding music below us. Nevermind, we’re young and were able to laugh about it. Actually it provided some nice tunes while taking a shower!
Anticipating our departure on a scuba diving liveaboard boat we thought we would only spend a few days in
Cleaner Shrimp
It's difficult sometimes to spot some of the tiny creatures when you have so much to look at. We were lucky and saw this hole full of little cleaner shrimps! Phuket making the necessary arrangements, but a wrench was thrown in our plans when we were unable to get on the boat on our desired date. A little rearranging was done and we booked onto a boat leaving on January 22, which left us ample time in the meantime to explore a few other islands. Itching to dive and somewhat disappointed that we weren’t leaving on our dream trip for another few weeks we did a day trip to nearby Racha Noi, were we had three dives and tried out our new underwater housing and camera. The time in the water was enormous fun, but the time on the boat was terrible. I usually take a seasick tablet before the boat leaves the pier, just as a precaution, and have never experienced any type of seasickness. On this particular morning I took the tablet as usual, and headed out to the dive deck to set up my gear. Once that was done I went back into the dining area to help myself to some breakfast. While selecting a croissant from the bag I felt the first few strange tingles that something wasn’t right. Immediately I broke out into a weird
Seal Faced Puffer Fish
I love seeing all the various types of fish, and being able to recognize some of them! These are one of my favorite, the resemblance to a seal is extrodinary! sweat and got the shakes, and had to sit down. Figuring it might be because I hadn’t eaten I forced myself to down the croissant and banana, unable to touch the hard boiled egg still sitting there. Devlin soon appeared in the dining area door and I waved him over to sit with my plate. I ran to the toilet and watched as my just eaten breakfast came right back up. I was seasick. For the entire rest of the day I had to keep running to the toilet and continued to throw up and feel green. It was really awful, and each time the boat would pitch and roll I would clutch my stomach and groan. The seas were choppy and rough, but I can’t explain why I was sick so early on, before the boat even really got out into the open water. Worried, I asked a divemaster if I would be ok to dive, and he said that it would be the best thing for it, and as soon as I was in the water it would go away. He couldn’t have been more right. I felt fine during the first dive and was optimistic that I
Nemo!
Another favorite of ours, and practically a guaranteed sight on every dive is the clownfish aka Nemo from the Disney movie! They seem so curious about us giant aliens, always poking their faces out of the anemones and almost "waving" at us. was cured when we surfaced and it was time for lunch. Wanting to still be cautious I only served myself a spring roll and some plain white rice, but 5 minutes after I was finished the seasickness reared its head once again. Before the second dive I had my gear on and was waiting for our turn to stride off the back into the water, and while putting on my fins I was positive I was going to be sick right there on the deck. I wasn’t even sure I would be able to keep the regulator in my mouth while entering the water, but I shakily stood up and took the big stride in. 2 more seconds on the deck of the boat and I for sure would have been sick everywhere. But as soon as I hit that water it was instantly gone. I even had a laugh with the divemaster before we descended. My stomach now completely empty I didn’t get sick between dives 2 and 3, and the seas were much calmer heading to the third site. We got the last dive of the day over with and as a treat to the divers the crew
Boo!
Some fish seem to really enjoy the camera, and stick their faces directly into the lens, like this bannerfish. makes pancakes to enjoy on the way back to the pier. I was feeling good, chipper even, and decided to help myself to a couple. Again, my stomach turned about 5 minutes after I was done and out they came. From that point I just prayed to get back to land quickly, it was almost 6pm and I hadn’t really eaten anything all day!
Even poor Devlin was seasick from all the tossing, and I can say that in all 6.5 years of us being together I’ve seen him physically ill only a handful of times.
Back on land we both felt fine, and ate a delicious dinner which stayed down. The diving at Racha Noi was great, but I don’t think either of us are eager to head back there.
This ended our stay in Patong, and the following day we had an early start to catch a ferry to Phi Phi Island. A little nervous about getting back on a boat we were both relieved to see a large passenger ferry in the docks instead of a tiny ship. Going out on a limb we decided not to book any accommodation on Phi Phi and
Eerie...
Looking up at the surface sometimes feels rather ominous, knowing you are so deep under the water... instead walk around when we arrived to find the cheapest room. This was probably a mistake we realized, as we looked around at the mass of other passengers all sporting the same yellow “one-way” stickers as us. It was pure chaos trying to get our bags off the boat through the crush of other tourists. The first few touts offered us rooms that were way out of our price range and we started getting uneasy. A friendly British girl working in a dive shop on the main street asked us if we would like a map and she helped point us in the direction of the cheaper guesthouses. She also offered a spot for us to leave our bags if we didn’t want to walk around with them on our backs, and we could come back to collect them once we found a room. Thanking her profusely we dropped our bags and continued the search.
Guesthouse after guesthouse had “Full” signs out front and as the sun beat down and the hours passed we felt like we had made a mistake. The only rooms available were the expensive 3000baht a night air conditioned bungalows and that was 2 days
Octopus
Yet another favorite and an intriguing underwater species to observe, the octopus. Did you know octopii change color to help them camoflauge to their surroundings? It's surreal watching it happen right in front of you. of our budget! We sat down and contemplated our next move. Do we pay for the return fare to Phuket and forget about Phi Phi? Do we take a ferry to Krabi and spend a few days there instead? Do we sleep in a tent on the beach for 1000baht? Determined not to give up, we continued trekking in land and further up the island. Eventually the “Full” signs ended and we came across a long concrete staircase leading up to a number of guesthouses. They had a room! Elated we followed the boy to the room, took a look inside, and asked how much. 800baht. We offered him 700baht and he agreed. It’s certainly nothing special, there is only one bed and it’s a single, but it’s clean, the fan works, and there are no ants in the bathroom! We rested for a brief 5 minutes and then headed back to collect our bags. Naturally the girl inquired if we were interested in diving (I’m sure this is part of the sell, lure in weary travelers to leave their bags there and then hope they use your shop if they decide to dive) and we set up a day
Pink Anemone Fish
This is my favorite picture I've taken to date with our new underwater camera. The blue color of the anemone is so vivid and a nice contrast to the pink anemone fish. This anemone felt shy and that is why it's all closed up, leaving the poor fish without it's home to hide in! trip. Phi Phi seems synonymous with diving, as you can’t walk more than 10 meters without passing a scuba shop. This one looked reputable, had a 5 star PADI rating, and the girl’s enthusiasm was infectious.
From what we’ve seen after a few days in Phi Phi it is a backpacker haven. It’s not hard to imagine the destruction caused by the tsunami in 2004, as there is construction going on absolutely everywhere, and most of the buildings that are standing look newly erected. It appears to be back in full swing though, with guesthouses, dive shops, pancake and souvenir stands and bars lining the streets. At night you have your pick of various beach bars serving “whiskey buckets” which is somewhat of a backpacker icon in Thailand. Take one childrens sand bucket, fill with whiskey and coke and red bull, and commence drunkenness. We have yet to try a bucket for ourselves but we’ve heard the Thai Sang Som whiskey is something else. We’ve also become familiar with the Thai Pancakes, which are served absolutely everywhere. You pick your flavor, some of our favorites being banana and nutella and potato and cheese, and it’s whipped up in a
Prison Bathroom
Our bathroom in the hostel in Patong didn't have a window, just these holes cut out of the cement. I suspect this may be why we had geckos and an army of ants living in the bathroom... couple of minutes. On the whole eating seems more expensive here, but we’ve scouted out a few cheap hole in the wall restaurants, and those combined with the pancake supplement are keeping us within (just barely) our daily budget.
Life is easy on this beautiful tropical island, and for now the plan is to hang out here for a few more days soaking up the sun and taking in an afternoon dive excursion before we head to another island called Koh Lanta (Koh means island in Thai) for yet more diving. Two of the most famous sites in Thailand are located down South, Hin Dueng and Hin Muang, and we inquired about visiting them from Phi Phi but it makes better sense financially to do it from Lanta. Then we're back to Phuket to depart for the liveaboard. Diving is fast becoming our favorite pastime, and we’ve entertained thoughts of becoming divemasters and living the lifestyle out here. This whole traveling-the-world business really opens up your eyes to all the possibilities out there. Life can be so exciting, it’s only what we make of it, and we only live once…
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Linds in Hali
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fun times!
you're guys' stories are so inspiring...i love it..i love hearing about all your adventures...you're so lucky to be able to all this :) I hope we have a chance to chat soon Rin, I need your encouragement in some travel matters...my trip is drawing near and I'm getting a little scared!