Day 59 - Railay bay > Ko Phi Phi > Singapore

  Ko Phi Phi Don, Thailand
Wednesday, October 31, 2007

After yesterday's boat trip disaster we set our alarm clock (complete with new batteries!) for a ridiculously early time, just to make sure that it didn't happen again...

We had to collect our laundry from the hotel, pack to be ready to leave quickly, chain the bags up in the reception because they didn't have a storage room (?!), and then walk over to Railay West for the pick-up.

Chaining the bags up was a bit of a nightmare, with the hotel staff being as helpful as usual (erm...), but we eventually managed to tie everything up securely, and then headed off to the other side of the bay on foot, to catch the boat.

All went well, and we even had 15 minutes to enjoy the sun (it looked like we'd FINALLY have some decent weather!) and the low tide in Railay West, which obviously exposed more of the fine white sand and it looked MUCH better with blue skies and white sun above it!

This was officially "more like it"...



The boat was late, but for once we didn't care.

When it showed up, the boat actually looked surprisingly similar to the photo in the brochure (travelling does make you very cynical about the way things are sold to you!): it was definitely a speed-boat, it even had the 3 engines that we'd been promised.

Blimey, things were definitely looking up!



Admittedly it got a bit less enjoyable when about 532,438 people crammed into the boat (ok, there were 35 people), including with probably THE most annoying family the world has ever produced, except arguably the Mansons, the Adams, the Jacksons... or the Nevilles.

The family from hell turned out to be South Africans, which technically doesn't automatically make them irritating (technically!) but oh my God they were an absolute NIGHTMARE...

'Mum & Dad' seemed to be totally oblivious to the carnage that their two small sons were causing all over the boat, and the way that every single one of the other passengers wanted to throw the boys overboard after about 2 minutes of their screaming, yelling, and general misbehaviour.

To be fair the parents did have a baby to look after, but do me a favour, don't forget your other kids, especially when they behave like they're possessed by the devil...

Anyway, determined not to let these spawns of beezlebub ruin our lovely speedboat trip we did our best to focus on the amazing scenery as we sped out of Railay at top speed, throwing up big waves of surf in our wake!

The boat was AWESOME, the fastest boat I've ever been on, it just seemed to get faster and faster!



It seemed like a different world to have sun & blue skies after a week of rain & clouds, and you know how much better everything looks when the sun shines...

Well imagine being on a flat open sea which shimmers with shades of blue & green while passing tropical islands complete with palm trees and white sandy beaches... it was fantastic, we loved every second on the boat.

 

These islands were on the right side as we sped out into open water.



Our first stop after about 20 mins was called "bamboo island" which was - wait for it - an island with lots of bamboo on it.



We pulled up next to a couple of other speedboats, so there were probably only about 70 people on the island before we hopped off the boat and waded up onto the beach. 

The other visitors were pretty spread out so it didn't feel too crowded.

While Katie prepared for some scuba-action (unfortunately off limits to me with my perforated eardrum), I wandered off to get some snaps.

Katie really loved her snorkelling around the bay, the colours of the water were amazing, and it was really clear all the way down...



...the coral beneath her also meant that there were plenty of little fishies swimming around for her to scare half to death!

Any suggestions that the rather large crabs were scaring me half to death on the beach are completely unfounded. I'm sure it will look tiny on the thumbnail photo, but it was a big old boy, let me tell you!



40 mins of 'maxing & relaxing' later we were called back to the boat and off we set for Ko Phi Phi, the real beauty queen of the southern Thai islands. 

I think I'm right in saying that Ko Phi Phi actually consists of 2 islands, both vaguely crescent shaped. The north island is more commercial, containing most of the hotels, restaurants etc, and some decent beaches, but the south is the real ace in the pack, wilder and with much less development.

We headed straight to the south island, and to Maya Bay, where a very wise location manager decided to set the film "The Beach", where Leonardo DiCaprio plays a backpacker who hears about a mysterious beach while staying in a horendous backpacker hostel on the Kho San Road in Bangkok (sound familiar?!).

The film (and the book on which it's based) charts his many adventures tracking down this amazing beach, ending in a very gruesome and frankly bizarre finale, but inspring probably millions of people to one day visit the special paradise beach that they saw on that big screen.

I was probably one of the few people on the boat who hadn't actually seen the film, but I have a very good imagination ;)



When we arrived there appeared to be hundreds of people there already... there were floatilas (less tasty than tortillas but more practical) of boats moored in the bay, all looking at this amazing beach in front of them. With the sun blazing down it was absolutely spectacular. 



We put down anchor with some other boats and everyone on the boat (except me, sob sniff) donned their scuba gear and dived in.



It really must have been something, talk about an amazing location to go snorkeling!

Even I could see the brightly coloured fish swimming around, from the boat, so it must have been amazing to get right up close to them under the waves.

By this point the South African kids had made friends with some German kids (Good God Almighty) and had decided to climb all over the boat, dive-bombing into the bay below, scaring the life out of the other divers, let alone the poor fish.

I must admit that it was very tempting to 'accidentally' nudge them when they squeezed past me on the side of the boat, but I was a good boy. I just hid their flip-flops instead ;)

Katie had by now perfected an interesting scuba technique which seemed to be based on an episode of Taggart I once saw, where a Glaswegian bouncer was found dead, floating face down a river with arms and legs akimbo, completely motionless.

It might have lacked style points, but she was clearly having a great time...



After another half our of snorkeling everyone was back in the boat, and we began a slow crawl into the bay itself.

We all jumped out when we reached the shore, and pretty much immediately sat down on the sand and admired the view out over the bay, towards the mountainous headland through which we'd arrived.

It was an absolute knock-out.

Naturally Katie was horizontal within seconds (see Exhibit A below), and who could blame her, it was something else...



Apparently they used a few special effects to enhance the beach in the movie, but I don't know why, it looked pretty special to me.

 

Again there were quite a few people on the beach with us, but they all spread out so it was pretty cool.

 

The beach did seem to be the victim of some extraordinary photo poses which were going on all over the place...

There were loads of asian girls flashing their 'peace signs' and cuddling teddies as if they were in Hamleys toy store, and I also spotted some not-unattractive eastern European girls vamping it up like porn stars in the surf. Yes, it was truly horrible as you can imagine ;)

There were also some very rude people just standing hogging the best spots while people like me patiently waited to try and get a photo of the bay without them in it!!! I was going nuts but managed to get a few nice shots...

 

It would have been interesting to explore inland a bit, but we didn't really have time, so I combed the beach while Katie sunbathed.



It was at this point that I noticed two of the aforementioned not-unattractive young European ladies seemingly reinacting a Baywatch episode?!

I thought that I'd better take a photo just so that you could see for yourselves (gentlemen), a picture speaking a thousand words and all that ;)



Katie had managed to break her sunglasses the other day and was gamely carrying on despite them only having one arm on which to balance.

I don't think anyone noticed her looking like a drunken granny?!



I must say that this tour really got the timings spot-on, which is very unusual over here, or anywhere come to think of it. Every time we stopped, it was probably for about the perfect length of time. We didn't ever feel rushed, or bored, they did a great job, it was very professional. 

I think we had 40 mins on the beach and then jumped back into the boat and sped off to see some other parts of this southern island, cruising around a nice lagoon and visiting a cave where they take birds' nests and sell them to China & Korea for crazy prices. 

Birds nests are essentially 90% dried bird's saliva, which is nice. I forget how much they said a kilo sells for but it was unbelievable... The Chinese believe that it is extremely healthy to eat the nests, usually in soup, so the cast majority of them are exported further east. Rather them than me! 



(I remember when Angela & I visited Macau on a day off we visited some birds nest shops and looked at the prices, they were absolutely extraordinary. I also remember that the RED ones were twice as expensive because these were caused by the bird BRINGING UP BLOOD in its saliva!!!! Mmmmmmmmm, niiiiice...)

After that particularly appetising revelation, we headed for lunch on Phi Phi Don, which I think is the name of the northern of the two Ko Phi Phi islands.

We sped away from the south island in impressive style, feeling like an extra on Miami Vice or something...



When we got back to the north island, we parked up and headed to the lunch spot, for a buffet type affair, which I thought was ok but Katie despised with a passion. 

I'm rather ashamed to admit that I was out-eaten by some fat German kid next to me who looked like Augustus Gloop from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, although probably a bit more rude. It was like trying to eat lunch next to a waste disposal unit.

After lunch we had just enough time for a quick look around the island, and do some quick sarong-shopping for Katie! (I'm not sure a small enough measure of time has ever been invented where Katie could NOT buy anything!)

It seemed a nice island, with plenty of market stalls, some nice hotels, and 2 nice bays which were easy to walk between.





With full bellies, a colourful sarong and smiling faces we were soon back on the boat, and heading towards "monkey island".

You will NEVER guess what the main attraction of this beach was?!

Noooo.... yeeeeeeessssss.....

Monkeys!

As we slowly pulled up to the beach the South African kids went into what I would call "please-punch-me-in-the-face-overdrive", SCREAMING monkey noises at the top of their voices, or shouting "MON-KEEEEYS" for no apparent reason other than to annoy every single person within earshot, and ensure that every monkey (sensibly) ran away immediately, thereby completing ruining the whole point of this stop. Thank God for zoom lenses.





Naturally Mum & Dad of the Year were sat at the back of the boat chilling out while their A.D.D. offspring were annoying the hell out of their fellow passengers. (ever tried to get a photo of wildlife with an 8 yr old screaching next to you like he was being bathed in acid?!)

One of these 'Asbo' kids then thought it would be hilarious to push one of the guides into the water while he was throwing food to the monkeys, and thankfully the poor guy somehow avoided smashing his head on the side of the boat.

He climbed out with a very forced smile but I don't think any of us would have objected if he decided to tie the kid to one of the trees, smeared him with bananas, and left him for the monkeys.

Our last stop was some open water, and apparently the best scuba dive site in the south of Thailand.

It didn't look that great when we arrived (the sun was starting to hide in the clouds), but it soon became obvious why it was so well regarded.



With most of the people in the water, one of the guides chucked some bread into the water and it was suddenly like that James Bond film where they chuck a guy into a pool infested with piranhas!

There were suddenly hundreds if not thousands of fish going absolutely mental, jumping over each other and into each other in an insane attempt to get to the food.



Everytime he threw more bread into the water this scene of aquatic mass hysteria would be repeated, it was crazy.



The fish even seemed to anticipate where the bread was going to land and would take off in that direction, jumping out of the water to catch the bread before it hit the surface!

The only thing I can liken it to is when you're a kid and you get those 'science kits' with magnets & iron filings ?! Know what I mean? It was like watching what happens when you tipped all of the filings onto a piece of paper and put a magnet underneath the paper, so that all the filings shot to that point and group together, and can be pulled in any direction with the magnet. The fish were the filings to the magnetic bread, the greedy little swines...



Katie was initially unsure whether she wanted to get wet again but after I pointed out all the fish around us, she stripped down to her bikini and jumped in, and had an amazing time. She saw tons of different fish, really close to her, in very clear seas, and the sea was nice and warm. Perfect.

If only it wasn't for the little sh!ts diving in and scaring the fish every 2 minutes!



As the sun started to fall in the sky we all got back in the boat and sped off at top speed back to Railay bay.

It was excellent being at the front of the boat for the first time because when the boat hit a wave it literally took off into the air for a few seconds before coming back to earth.

The first time this happened it scared the hell out of the kids, which made me enjoy it even more. "You like that, you little &%$£s...?!"

We were back in Railay too soon, we'd had a fantastic time on the boat, with nearly perfect weather, just before the start of peak tourist season; all in all we were soooo lucky that our alarm clock failed yesterday!

We had just enough time to have a quick shower at the poolside (we'd checked out of our room this morning), change in the hotel toilets (I know, classy), put the backpacks back on, and walk down the east bay to the waiting water taxis.

We had the usual casual haggling over prices, with most drivers trying to sell us a "private boat", rather than waiting for other passengers and halving the cost.

Until now, everytime we'd walked past the water taxis there had been loads of tourists milling around, so we thought we should wait a few minutes and then buddy up with another couple.

After another 20 minutes we realised that no other tourists wanted to go back to the mainland, so we would need to hire a "private" boat after all. Brilliant strategy, Kasparov...

We employed the ever-successful tactic of finding the 'best price' before walking away, and then accepting their real final price as we wandered off to a competitor when they screamed after us. Works every time. 

This time it was 500 baht to take us back to Krabi, and we had to wade out to the boat with all our bags, which was fun because:

a) the water was up to our knees and went out a long way
b) we were walking over rock pools, which were slippery, difficult and painful,
and last but not least...
c) we were carrying 2 bloody heavy backpacks, plus smaller bags with cameras, iPods, video cameras etc, so one little slip would be absolutely disasterous.

About half way to the boat my middle toe was snipped by a crab, for which I received no sympathy whatsoever from my wife, despite it being bloody painful. Outrageous behaviour, I'm sure you'll agree. I still love her though ;)



We were VERY lucky on the boat-ride back because a few minutes after I took the shot above, the sun started to set behind us, so we had some amazing views back over Railay as we sped on the longtail boat back to Krabi...



It just got better...



...and better...



...and better.



When we arrived at the docks we were given a number of ridiculous prices for taxis to the airport, so we decided to put the taxi plans on ice and grab some dinner, which was cheap as chips but actually pretty good, including a GREAT mango lassi.

We eventually succumbed to the least ridiculous offer (I remember complaining that the price was very high for such a short journey, and the guy saying "take 45 minutes, is long way", before I eventually relented) and needless to say 15 minutes after getting in the cab (!!!!) we pulled into a very small Krabi airport.

This airport managed to achieve a first for me: the only airport that I've ever been to in my life with NOTHING after security! No shops, no food, no vending machines, nothing! We had a handful of bahts left to buy some water and snacks for the plane, but we were deeeenied...

This was our first and only flight with a low-cost Asian carrier called Tiger Airways, which is another very impressive little airline operating out of Singapore.

New planes, excellent service, interesting magazine, the only thing we could fault was the extremely small seat pitch (leg-room), which was uncomfortable for people of our height.

Luckily the trolly dollies (ahem, "flight crew") let us move to some empty 'exit row' seats that we'd spied before take-off, which was like getting an upgrade! As a result, we had a really good 2+ hr flight into Singapore.

As we made our approach, I started telling Katie what a fantastic airport Changi is, how it wins loads of awards every year 'in the industry', blah blah blah...

...only for us to land in a new "budget" terminal which was an absolute dump! Serves me right for trying to be clever really.

We grabbed a taxi, followed Kirsty's suggestion to try our best faux-Chinese accent to ensure maximum comprehension of the address, and were soon whizzing (this guy didn't hang around!) to a condo complex on Mount Faber Road, home to our friends Kirsty & Rich.

We arrived after midnight, at about 12:40am, so Kirsty & Rich were asleep but had kindly left the door unlocked and left full instructions, including a local mobile phone, guidebook and travelcards! Tremendous ;)

They have a fantastic apartment in a really nice area, it's a bit like staying at a boutique hotel owned by your friends! We could definitely get used to this, but better not with another 6 months of dingy hostels ahead of us!

It was the end of a very long, busy, but really enjoyable day, and we were looking forward to some western comforts in one of the cleanest and best-organised cities that I've ever visited, and the chance to catch up with some good friends who we hadn't see for ages.

lots of love,


Al & Katie xx