Southern Adventures - Phi Phi island

After some intensive sightseeing in Cambodia, I was looking forward for some rest on Thailand's beaches.

My first stop was Phi Phi island (Koh Phi Phi). It is actually made out of two islands: Phi Phi Don, where the tourist circus is, and Phi Phi Lai, which is undeveloped (except for a snacks shop!) and visited by tour boats.

Reaching Bangkok on my own, I've decided to go to Phi Phi with a package deal. This was in contrary to the no no recommendation by the Lonely Planet guide. It states that you usually don't get what you've booked, for example, a bare bone bus instead of an A/C one, or some lags of the trip are missing. Still, the price was unbeatable and I needed that peace of mind you have when everything is being taken care of, supposedly. Luckily enough, the ride went smoothly, if not comfortably. We had a two hours stop at about 4am. During that journey I met Amaya from Mexico and Nathalie from Canada. Amaya was queuing in front of me when we had to confirm the rest of our voyage at our 4am stop. She was given a piece of paper instead of a ferry ticket and was told it was to be alright. The place where we stopped at 4am was the office of the same company as the one who gave her the "ticket". Nevertheless, it didn't matter much as she had no choice but buy a new ticket. Surprisingly, an hour later she got her money back. I guess something does work. Amaya has already met Nathalie on the bus, so when I sat next to Amaya at the ferry's dock, I was introduced to Nathalie.



Arriving on Phi Phi, Amaya and me ventured on looking for a roof and a bed for the night while Nathalie, which had a stomach problem, stayed to watch over our bags. Searching for a room was quite depressing, because the availability was close to none and the prices were sky high. Finally we found a place named Oasis, which was recently renovated and clean. So we could finally relax, completing the last part of our journey. Our guest house is owned by a couple of Thais and one German woman. I talked with her and she explained to me that the reason lodging (and actually everything) was expensive, other than high demand, is the fact that we are on an island (duh!). Therefore electricity is produced by generators and water are brought from Phuket. A lot of the locals just dig their own wells, because the water delivery is very expensive.

Phi Phi Don is quite a big place and you can walk or take a boat to find quiet spots. There are many beaches around, some quite small, separated by piles of rocks from one another. It is possible to walk around to the close ones, but there are only trails through the woods, otherwise walking through rocks. Another possibility is to take a long tail boat. One day we tried to get to Long beach, but stopped somewhere on the way. Later on I ventured there, to check what the fuss was all about.

On the following day we went up a steep walk to the view point, to see the sunset and the famous shape of Phi Phi, two big lands connected by a narrow stretch of land. I couldn't help it but imagine how it would look with a big wave passing over it. On the way there we visited the Tsunami memorial garden. The island, and other Tsunami stricken areas, have evacuation routes and evacuation sites. Still, it doesn't convey the feeling that much has been done since then. I hope I'm wrong.



We also took a sunset tour, the big boat-loads-of-people tour. The good thing about the big boat is that it carries kayaks and some tea and coffee. The tour circled around most Phi Phi Lai with stops for swimming, snorkeling and kayaking. I really liked kayaking this time. For some reason it was easy to control, compared to what I had in Halong Bay. I wanted to kayak alone one time, but one of the boat's stuff encouraged an Israeli woman to join me. At first she didn't realize I was Israeli too, resulting in some funny comments regarding me. When we went back we met the rest of her group, which were very nice and stuffed me, Amaya and Nathalie with snacks. After visiting (A)Maya bay, where the film “The beach” was filmed, we moved on to a couple of tiny rock formations to watch a magnificent sunset. Right after the sun was gone hundreds of birds filled the sky. It was a wonderful sight!




Wait wait, it's not over yet. If you survived this far you must know that the next day I went diving. I went for two dives, for a hefty 63USD. Cheaper than back home but an expensive activity compared to others. The visibility wasn't brilliant but I've seen, for the first time in my life, a leopard shark, a green turtle, a cuttle fish and a sea horse. The shark was lying around, but I still kept a safe distance. The turtle was quite big but I had to take a closer look this time. It was impressive!

On that evening I took a shower, rubbed behind my ears and prepared myself for the grand meeting! My dear friend Micha and his girlfriend Dana came all the way from Israel just to visit me! Actually they were on vacation and our paths crossed.



The next day Amaya had to go and Nathalie moved to another beach on Phi Phi and so we said our goodbyes. I stayed that day in order to meet with Micha again and to finally have some coveted rest, I haven't been able to find since I arrived on Phi Phi. I talked with my guest house owner, slept and met Micha and Dana again for dinner. A long "busy" day.

The next day I took the ferry back to Krabi, but that's a whole different story.