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Published: April 12th 2006
Koh Phi-Phi Leh
View from Longbeach (Koh Phi-Phi Don) to Koh Phi-Phi Leh.So....Wednesday morning (28th March)......another early start and on the road again (or water - or both!)
The weather is looking brighter!
Our 'truck' to pick us up from the guesthouse was a little late though so, can you all believe, us two were actually waiting for someone to pick us up (we are running remarkably on time so far on this trip!!!) We waited for half an hour and finally got picked up at 9.30am. Amusingly, we were then driven 2 minutes walk down the road to the pier. It wasn't amusing at the time! We then had to wait for the coach to pick us up to take us to the main pier the other side of town (to get our boat). It was organised chaos - which is becoming a familiar sight for us and the travel arrangements in Thailand! It always seems like you are never going to get anywhere and we have no clue as to whats going on. However, in the end, it somehow works out! The coach arrived and the mass of people waiting scramble in force! We are used to pushing now but, still somehow end up as last on the coach
and have to stand at the front. Still, last on means first off - and then first on the boat to Koh Phi-Phi!!! Hoorah!
The boat from Krabi took 2hrs to get to Phi-Phi. The day was really beautiful - there was a clear blue sky (finally!) We arrived at Tonsai village and got straight in a longtail boat and headed to Longbeach (the quieter and 'supposedly' cheaper beach on the island). It took about 10 minutes. We had to pay the top-end of our budget again for a room (500 baht). The room also wasn't worth the money which was a bit disappointing - the bathroom had stains up the walls and the water was a rusty brown colour! We also had a mozzie net with huge holes in and a fan that hardly moved, let alone kept you cool!!! Still, enough moaning - we spent as little time there as possible!
Koh Phi-Phi was really badly hit by the tsunami - it was one of the worst hit of the Thai Islands. There was only 1 or 2 other places that had more loss of lives and destruction than Phi-Phi. However, it has been built back
'The Beach'
Look closely - theres Leonardo Dicaprio!!! up so quickly we could barely see any traces (in the parts of the island that we visited anyway). The wave swept over one side of the island and then, as people ran the other way, it hit the other side too. The strange thing for us was that hardly any of the palm trees had any tops on them - the tops had been clearly snapped off and the trees were dramatically leaning to one side (quite eerie). Some buildings were being constructed still but, mostly, Tonsai village was all back up and running. Phi-Phi is very touristy and seems to be catering more towards the wealthy holidaymaker tourists - so, us with a tight budget couldn't stay too long!
We went to the beach and managed to sunbathe for about half an hour before having to go in the sea to cool off. In the evening we took a longtail boat back to Tonsai village and looked around (there are only a couple of resorts on Longbeach and nothing else). Had a great meal of barbequed Swordfish (umm!) and then went to the Rollin' Stoned Bar. They had a cool live band (thanks Jamie & Michele!)
'The Beach'
Look closely - theres Karen & Irene on the sand!!! It was weird trying to clamber in the longtail boat on the way back - in the water, in the dark, after a few beers (at 1am!) Those boat drivers must eat plenty of carrots to find their way across the bay!!!
From Koh Phi-Phi, you can see Koh Phi-Phi Leh which is where they filmed 'The Beach'. So, the next day we hired a longtail boat with a pleasant couple from Norway (who we had met the day before) and went on a 3 hour trip to (and around) the island. Koh Phi-Phi Leh is an island almost totally formed from giant limestone rock walls. We passed 'Viking Cave', went through an enclosed lagoon, and then jumped off the boat in another lagoon and went snorkelling. Snorkelling was amazing - there were so many varieties of colourful fish and coral. And, after a little hunting, we found Nemo!!! We got back on the boat and were taken round to Maya Bay - wow, a lagoon almost totally enclosed by limestone rocks and the Bay where they filmed 'The Beach'. It was absolutely stunning - clear, bright blue water and perfect powdery sand. It is now a National Park
so we had to pay to go onto it. The only thing to spoil it was the tourists like us and the longtail boats all moored! We stayed there for an hour or two - sunbathing and swimming in the crystal waters. It was a lot smaller than it looked in the film - they played cricket and football in the film and we couldn't imagine doing that on the beach! It was paradise though.
The last part of the trip took us around the other side of Phi-Phi Leh and then we got dropped at Tonsai, instead of Longbeach. Spent some time wandering around and Jamie brought some new flip flops (he broke his earlier that morning!) We headed back to Longbeach in the early evening and spent our last night on Phi-Phi at the 'posh' resort nextdoor to ours. Luckily for us, their prices for food weren't like their room prices!!!
Friday 31st March
The following morning we got (another) longtail back to Tonsai and caught the 11.30am ferry to the island below Phi-Phi - Koh Lanta. The ferry took a couple of hours but soon passed as we constantly had poeple coming up to
Palm Trees on Koh Phi-Phi (Don)
The trees on the beachfront at Koh Phi-Phi (no tops and leaning). us offering accommodation. Jamie amused himself by tickling peoples dangling feet (from the deck above!) Hehe!!!
We had already decided to stay at Kantieng Beach on the south west of Koh Lanta (as it had been recommended - and was supposed to be a lot quieter). We went with 'Johnny' - one of the guys 'flogging' accommodation on the boat to see his resort. It turned out to be a wise choice as the resort was great. The chalet was huge, really clean and soooo cheap (200 baht). It was just what we needed after Phi-Phi. We also wanted to stay here for 5 nights so we needed a cheaper place like that. Turns out, the room was far nicer than many of the previous rooms that we had been paying 400-500 Baht for! Bonus points!!!
The resort was set amongst the cliffs at the far end of Kantieng Beach so it looked down over the beach and had great views from above. There is little exciting or memorable events to write about Koh Lanta as such. We just loved the island and spent most of our time chilling out. It was definitely by far one of our
favourite islands and, the area we were staying was just what we had been looking for - it had enough going on but was really small. The staff at our resort were really friendly and very laid back. Sometimes they didn't make much sense though and looked at us a bit strange - all the 'stuff' they were constantly smoking we thinks!!!
The first shower in the room was amusing because a frog decided to poke his head through the drain hole. It scared Karen to death and just as I (Jamie) was trying to reassure her it was fine - it managed to squeeze through the hole and enter the, already small, bathroom fully! The next half an hour was spent with Jamie trying to 'nicely' catch and release the stubborn frog!!!
Our first evening on Lanta was spent going to the Thai Boxing. It turned out to be a great experience. The staff at our resort arranged a taxi to take us and pick us up. We went with a really nice Australian couple (who live in London!) - Ben & Jenny. We had met them earlier as they were in the truck from the boat
Kantieng Beach, Koh Lanta
Our resort is on the hillside shown. to the resort with us. We were a little scared at first and none of us knew what to expect when we arrived. The building was like a huge barn and it wasn't scary at all. The ring was in the middle and there were all plastic seats around the outside. You could buy food and drinks and there was a good atmosphere - people were so friendly. It was very interesting to watch the spectators at times, especially if they had placed bets. There were about ten fights in total. Each fighter has to perform a ritual of blessing the ring before they fight. The boughts took place whilst mesmerising 'snake-charming' style music played over a loud speaker. The ages of the boxers ranged from ten year old boys upto grown men. Even with the young boys fighting at first it seemed so wrong and quite brutal at times too. They were all 'as hard as nails'! The whole evening was a really enjoyable spectacle and we are glad that we went.
We hired a moped one day and drove to the town at the north of the island - it took us about 40 minutes to get
Thai Boxing
The young boxers blessing the ring before they fight. there and wasn't anything special - just shops and souveneirs! The rest of the time was spent on the beach. In the evening a tiny restaurant/cafe next to our resort played a film. So, we also watched a few new films which was good. (Watched Capote, Memoirs of a Geisha & Crash). A very relaxing time had by all!!!
We stayed a total of 5 nights. We spent our last evening watching the sunset from a bar at the cliff top of our resort. It was fab but we only discovered it on our last night! It had a viewing platform to see out across the sea and was a prime spot for the sunset. We went for a meal with Ben & Jenny (it was their last night too) and had a good night.
We also had a washing 'crisis'!!! Basically, the day before our last day, we had handed our laundry in to be washed at the resort. We picked it up on our last afternoon (ready to pack) and it was all wet! We were annoyed because we didn't want to pack it and then have it stinking (getting clean, fresh washing back is a
Thai Boxing
Action Shot!!! highlight for us!) So, we decided to be assertive and took it back to reception to complain. After about 10 minutes of little words and us all looking at each other (the resort staff looking vacantly - blatently 'stoned') - they finally told us they would dry it for us (or we strongly suggested they dry it). We left and agreed to pick it up that night. We spent the evening with Ben & Jenny and, when we got back to the resort bar, went to collect the washing. None of the staff knew about it and no-one could find it anywhere! Cue us - rather paranoid that the little clothes we did have with us had rapidly become 'a lot less'!!! They are all so chilled that they spent the rest of the evening in the bar telling us it will all be fine!!! We were being picked up at 7.30am and half our clothes - that usually takes us at least half an hour to intricately pack in our rucksacks - were missing!!! Needless to say, Ben & Jenny, and some others in the bar, were very amused at our 'missing washing' situation!!!
As everything in Thailand
seems to 'work out' in the end - our washing was returned to us at 7.25am! We had 5 minutes to cram it in our bags. As we were a 'little delayed' due to the washing fiasco - our driver seemed to think he had to compensate and drive us to meet the bus at an extremely unnatural, and bloody uncomfortable, speed!!! Then, with 5 minutes until our bus left, decided to stop and help a garage fix a motorbike they were working on! Thats the laid-back Thai's for you!!! We arrived at our minibus pale white, feeling sick, and VERY cross!!!.......................................................................
And then a long journey to calm us down............................................
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jamie kerr
non-member comment
beach life
hey guys. all sounds awesome. Glad to hear u made Koh Lanta. we loved Katiang bay. The atmosphere at night was awesome. we stayed at the other place though. just waiting for a bus to vietnam. 26hours of hell. got hangovers too. we are in Vientiane. Loved the tubing and all that. Keep up the good work.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx