Inside a diesel smelling ferry to Krabi
Ko Phi Phi Don,
Thailand
Friday, October 18, 2002
Yesterday the bus came to pick us up from Jinda Guesthouse. It was a truck set up much the same way as a songthaew except that it also had a bench running down the middle. We piled in and continued around past all the guesthouses and hotels picking up more Phi Phi bound passengers.
At the wharf, which was in the estuary of a river, we boarded the Ao Nang Princess, stowed our bags and proceeded to the top front deck where we sat with our feet dangling over the side of the boat. There wasn't a spare bit of railing as everyone was crowding for a spot over the side of the boat.
As we moved out of the wharf we passed more fantastic limestone islands and formations. The bay is littered with them. Off the beach at West Hat Rai Leh we stopped and more passengers came out to meet the boat in longtails and got on. During the two hour boat ride we passed some amazing scenery as we motored through indigo coloured water.
We arrived at Koh Phi Phi pier and got off, collecting our bags, and started to wander along the beach. We then found a longtail full of people headed for Hat Yao - or Long Beach. We were intending on staying at Paradise Pearl Guesthouse but ended up at Long Beach Guesthouse in a hut facing the sea only 15 metres away. The hut was quite basic, it had wooden slats on the floor and you could see the beach beneath through the gaps. The walls were made of bamboo and the roof of leaves. It had a little verandah and some interesting shells as decorations on the floor of the verandah.
We immediately put on our togs and went and lay on the beach to start the tan. I went in for a swim amongst the rocks to find that the water was quite warm and not as refreshing as I had hoped. I stood in the water and a school of fish swam around me, darting through my legs. I didn't realise they were there until I moved my foot and almost stepped on one! I only glanced the side of it but it was enough to give both me and the fish a fright!
We spent all day on the beach lying in the sun, swimming and reading. We didn't do any exploring - we were just content to relax. At one point I was quite bored and wanted to get the attention of some boys who were in the cabin behind ours, so I did a standing long jump in the sand: As I leapt into the air, a mangy red dog that had been hanging around rushed at me, and woofed, grazing his teeth against my legs. I was a bit frightened and thoughts like rabies and tetanus ran through my head. The old dog ended up hanging around all day and then decided to sleep under our bungalow that night.
We went to the restaurant for a lunchtime snack and there wasn't anything on the menu that really appealed to me and I thought it was all quite pricey so I settled for a lemon shake and cream of corn soup. We watched the longtail captains absolutely engrossed in a Steve Irwin episode that was dubbed in Thai, staring at him as though he was a god.
There was nothing to do after dark and our hut didn't have electricity, so we read by torchlight for a bit and went to bed. It was difficult getting to sleep as there were lots of frogs and longtails which made it quite noisy, although probably not as noisy as the previous night in Ao Nang with all the construction work.
This morning we got up at 7am again and packed our things ready to get the boat to Krabi at 9am. We got into a longtail again and this time for only 40B we were taken back to the pier. Nicole went to get some money from the ATM and we met our first Australian in the queue - a guy from Albury who was headed to Phuket.
We then boarded the ferry and went to sit below deck, where it is a bit fumey and rickety but airconditioned, in a comfy seat as opposed to on the deck. On hindsight now, I think we should have visited Phi Phi Leh where they filmed the Beach. But I suppose there is always another time and another trip to Thailand for that.
