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Hello all,
well, first the negative stuff :
Kho Phi Phi was hit hard by the tsumani. In the middle part of the island there is still large piles of rubble and rubbish with personal items mixed in that presumably belonged to someone on that fateful day. There are also a small amount of locals who having lost their homes and businesses have been unable to rebuild and are currently living on what is left of them. I know one of the local ( western owned and run ) dive shops gives all money from the sale of t-shirts to help these people out which is a nice thing to do.
Positive stuff :
What an amazing island ! It is as scenic as the Lonely Planet said and the place is just one big mix of food, drink, music and adventure activities. There are no roads of cars on the island so you either walk or cycle. There are no streets either. Instead what you have is small maze of shop lined walkways only a couple of metres wide which at points opens out onto a beach or the open air bars. Half an hour
after arriving on the island I sat at bar watching the dive boats returning and the sun going down. They were playing UB40 which I've always claimed to despise but in this environment it sounded really good to listen to and puts you in that holiday mode ( not that I wasn't already ). The next day I spent a bit of time wandering around in the morning and discovered another plus for me. Unless you are going off on an early morning dive, nothing opens and no-one gets up until anout 10:00am - excellent, no more guilt trips for me then 😊 In the afternoon I took a boat trip around a couple of islands with about a dozen other people. We did usual snorkelling. Kyaking and jumping of the boat type things. We were then taken to the beach that was used in the film 'The Beach' starring Leonardo Dicaprio. We took the back way which involved paddling to some rocks, climbing through a small hole in the cliff and walking through a little bit of greenery before the path suddenly opens out onto the beach. It is very attractive and I made sure I watched the movie
that night in one of the bars to compare. As its one of the major attractions in this area, there seems to be at least one bar showing the movie each night. Once back on the boat we moved to a point where we could watch the sun go down whilst having dinner onboard. A great day and of course you end up meeting lots of people. That night I went to bar ( on the beach front of course ) and watched a 'lady boy' cabaret. Very entertaining, a bit amaterish but its free so you can't complain.
The next day I was up at the shocking time of 6:30am and went on a dive boat. I was meant to do 2 dives but actually only ended up doing one as I felt quite sick at the of it. I haven't dived for over 2 years and I was a bit patchy on my skills which didn't make me feel comfortable either. There were 3 others who didn't do the 2nd dive for various reasons so we snorkelled and relaxed on the boat instead. One of the girls onboard was celebrating her 20th birthday and we all arranged
to meet at a bar that night. At this bar there was fire dancing. It involved local guys spinning one or more flamming sticks around there bodies in time to 'rage against the machine' music. To anyone who knows their stuff, it gets really loud and fast in places and the spinning sticks of fire looked amazing. Had a late night in the end and have taken it nice and easy today. Im meant to be moving on tomorrow but I think I'll stay here a few more days. I do need to go to Bangkok to get my visa for Vietnam but I'll probably only stay a couple of nights instead of the week I was thinking of doing.
So that it again. Phi Phi is the new 'highlight of the trip' after the Cameron Highlands but of course its all great and comparing completly different countries and types of terrain probably isn't fair.
By the way my budget ended on Sunday. 4 and a bit more weeks to go - thanks for the help Mr Visa 😊 - what the hell, Im still only paying $2 for a beer and $4 for a decent meal.
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Phill
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Lucky Lucky
You lucky sod Hodgie, I'm really jealous now. What a fantastic time you seem to be having. I am going to have a closer look at Phi Phi for a hodilay. Take care mate and keep the news coming. Try to avoid too much luv you long time, deviant! I'm sure the dead thing aint legal there either!!!