Ko Phi Phi Don Hotels
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Found the Thailand I was looking for
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I was eager to leave Phuket, so took a ferry east across the Andaman Sea to the island of Ko Phi Phi Don, an amazing strip of beach between two towering limestone cliff islands- it is so small there are no cars (heaven) but is also crowded with tourists. But it was still nice since for the most part these were the more adventurous, younger, and more sporty tourists and there was no sign of girlie bars or old men with young Thai women. The water was a gorgeous blue-green, and you could walk from one beach to the other in about 5 minutes. To get an idea of this natural wonder, zoom in on the map dot until just the island is in view- really cool.
As you can imagine this town was devastated by the tsunami, which just went across everything on the isthmus- after seeing the pictures I was amazed anyone survived. But it is once again built up, almost a bit too much, but has a cozy feel. I hopped off the ferry and found a pretty nice room, for about 50 dollars a night- absolutely unheard of at a similar place in the Caribbean or the States. And even met an entrepreneur from Dallas, Texas- he took a year off to see if his business would run on its own, and is making the most of it- on the ferry over, one of the few Americans I've met at all on this whole trip (with the exception of the sailing folk).
Spent the afternoon walking around, and met up with Greg for dinner and chilled at the beach bars. Saw a quick, kind of cheesy fire show, but it made for some cool pictures. Since I only had one day, and had explored the whole town in about 3 hours- which was all hotels, restaurants, diving, and climbing shops- I signed up for a rock climbing and snorkeling trip the next day.
Due to the astounding landscape, this area is one of the biggest areas in Thailand for climbing, and certainly one of the most scenic spots to climb probably in the world. The views were great in each spot, and it was good to be climbing again- I hadn't been since before my knee surgery last May, and the knee held up just fine with no problems. I did 6 climbs total, and was able to finish each one, although the layered rock didn't make the routes too difficult. We then hopped into a long-tail boat (so-called because the propellor sits at the end of a long pole out the back, and the boat is steered by moving the entire engine- ingenious really and very useful for driving the bow up on the sand and going over shallow areas.
The snorkeling was great and I saw my first lionfish, as well as these amazing fish that looked like drifting leaves. The kept their faces pointed straight down, were extremely thin, about 15 cm (6 in.) tall and about 3 cm (1 in.) wide, and swam with very small fins on the side, not moving their tail. Like nothing I had ever seen and still have no idea what they were. Encountered clownfish that would aggressively swim up to your face if you got close to their piece of coral (wish I had a camera). The boat pulled up to chill at the beach made famous by the movie 'The Beach' (how original), which is somewhat about traveling to Thailand.
All in all it was an awesome location, and I had a great time climbing, admiring the views, and snorkeling. I would have liked some more time to hike and snorkel off the beach, but my time in Thailand was running short.
Books: Read 'The Sparrow', really a story of morals and cultural misunderstandings with a plot based heavily in science fiction- very well written, imaginative, and thought-provoking. Am currently reading 'Private Dancer', a great story told from different perspectives of a travel writer who falls hard for a girlie bar dancer while in Bangkok. Scary and eye opening, I would definitely recommend it to anyone traveling here. Supposedly also highly recommended by the expat newspapers here.
Where I stayed:
PP's Guesthouse
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