Ko Phi Phi, it actually gets more beautiful?
Trip Start
Aug 12, 2008
1
11
26
Trip End
Nov 21, 2008
Ko Phi Phi,
Thailand
Monday, September 15, 2008
Sun, 14/Sept:
We were tired from travelling from Ko Tao to Ko Phi Phi. This consisted of an overnight boat, which was an amazing night. This was the night of the legendary full-moon parties that occur on Ko Phangyan every full moon
the overnight boat jam
. Over 20,000 backpackers, expats, hippies, and locals infiltrate a particular patch of sand on this Thai island to guzzle down buckets of beer, dabble in their indulgences, and dance the night away to the endless row of Techno and House DJ's that line the shoreline. So, instead of participating (due to me being in the hospital the day before), we decided to catch a night boat that would take us from Ko Tao to Surat Thani (the port town that would continue us toward Krabi, and then Ko Phi Phi). I played guitar under the full moon, and rocked with the boat en route to the South. It was really peaceful and an amazingly clear sky. I originally really wanted to go to the Full Moon Party, but at this point was just thankful for feeling better, and on my way to full health.Mon, 15/Sept (Happy 60th Mom!!!):
Like anywhere when you travel in SouthEast Asia, what you get is not always what you thought you bought. In this case, a 10:30am boat to Ko Phi Phi turned into a 2:00pm boat to Ko Phi Phi, which meant 4 hours at a rest stop, waiting to be driven to the port and off on the 2pm boat. At first frustrated and tired, we managed to hike our way to a random gas station restaurant, and met Jules. He had to be one of the most interesting guys I'd met. He had lived in Krabi,Thailand for the last 15 years, and currently living off his sizable inheritance
Our 1st Ko Phi Phi sunset
. His stories of taking a car from Southern Thailand to New Zealand via overland routes and ferries, and originally from England driving to South East Asia were ridiculous. Stories of travelling through Thailand and Cambodia when every tourist had their own soldier to protect from Communist guerrillas. This entertained us for a few hours, and eventually we hitched a ride from him to the port. That's the key when travelling I think anywhere, turning any situation you encounter into something positive if possible. It may not always seem possible, but if you set your attitude on that mindset, it can be. We got into Ko Phi Phi around 6pm, and were so tired, we took the first hostel that had bargained us at the port, and just layed down. Not the nicest place, and in fact, pretty far from the center, but we didn't care, we were happy to be clean and finally settled somewhere. We had a nice candle-lit beachside dinner in the sand, and called it a night. We were excited to snorkel and swim the next day.Tue, 16/Sept:
Our plan to snorkel was set, we woke up and bargained for a boat, we are pros at this point, total pros. We headed out to Ko Phi Phi Ley, it's a tiny little island, uninhabited, completely wild, that's about half a mile off the coast of Ko Phi Phi, to the South. It's shaped in a weird way, as is Ko Phi Phi, a sort of amoebic, kind of X shape with an extended right arm, anyway, it has a ton of bays and coves to explore
view at the lagoon
.The water in this part of Thailand, this is Indian Ocean now, is ridiculous. I've never seen water like this. And even in Bali now, writing this e-mail, I still haven't. It was sublime. The first cove we stopped at was The Lagoon. It was probably my favorite. A little entrance into a HUGE cove. After entering, you came around the corner and the cove dropped back, while the water colors brightened from deep blue to light green gradually. There was only 1 other boat there, and parked on the side, so it was a very peaceful entrance. There is almost no current in here, but it was weird because that usually means it's either dirty water, or full of jellyfish (as in Ha Long Bay), it was neither. Totally clear water ready for you to relax in. We did. We snorkelled all over the place, seeing big baracuda/swordfish looking things, tons of colorful fish, neon and yellow, striped and dotted. When you jumped off the boat, they would swarm you wanting food (adapted from tourism for sure), and so you'd be in a tornado of fish right off the bat. At first it's claustrophobic, but eventually you got used to it. This was seriously amazing, I'll stop writing, cause it just won't do justice. To this day, the most beautiful place I've EVER seen...
After the Lagoon, we circled the island to stop at another little sort of river that carved out another island from the main island
snorkelling Ko Phi Phi Ley
. We snorkelled some more, this was a little choppier water, but still a ton of fish. The reef was also much deeper, so there were bigger fish and more people, we stayed for about a half hour. The last stop on the boat trip (our personal longtail by the way, 15 dollars) was the beach/bay where they filmed "The Beach". This was the claim to fame for Ko Phi Phi, and very beautiful, although we caught it kind of choppy, so decided to eat a quick lunch and get back before it got ridiculously windy. In all honesty, I think the Lagoon blew The Beach away, but it was smaller and for sure would've been way more of a mission to film.
In the evening time, we had some GREAT Mexican Food. Ahhhh, we miss our Cali mexican grinds. We took a walk to the other side of the island. Ko Phi Phi is similar to Nang-Nyuan, in that it's connected by a sandbar between to huge islands. It's basically like that but 50 times the scale. So the other bay is a whole new beach to explore. I played some soccer into sunset with the locals, Lauren explored. We ended the day playing guitar at the beach under the full moon, and endless stars. I guess you could say it was romantic. It was.
Wed 17/Sept:
We woke up and I was amped to see "Long Beach" a part of the island that's uninhabited, and next to their biggest reef and therefore best snorkelling
"The Beach"
. It was cool, the inhabited parts on the way there were total hideaways, I think you can only take boat to get there, otherwise hike a long way, and a few of these spots were good-sized houses. Mostly gypsies though, that don't have electricity and sustain their own way of life. Amazing places with their own beaches/coves and a bunch of reef to explore. Had there been good surf along the island, it'd be my favorite place in the world. That cool. This snorkelling was really fun, we had endless time to look around, just swam till we were tired. I thought it was the best snorkelling, the water's so warm, and everywhere you turn, the reef goes on forever. No breaks in it, barely anyone around. Although, it looked to us like a lot of it was dying off unfortunately, not sure from what: climate, tourism, season... but there were still tons of fish.We went straight from snorkelling to catch our boat to Phuket, wet trunks and all. It was a nice and easy ride. From Phuket, we flew out to Kuala Lumpur, scored some McDonald's on the way (much needed, we were starving), and just like that our trip in mainland Southeast Asia was over, plenty more ahead, but it was definitely bitter-sweet to leave. Definitely. I think I'll go back sometime, visit the islands, eat some cheep Pad Thai. Well, we'll see if Lauren lets me, or us...
