Phi Phi Island - The Beach
Trip Start
Aug 20, 2007
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61
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Trip End
Jul 04, 2008
Phi Phi (pronounced pee pee) Island is about half way up Thailand's penisular. It has steep limestone cliffs jutting out of the turqoise seas. I was looking for lodging along the narrow streets which only allow enough room for push carts, bikes, and pedestrians. Tons of little stalls selling pirated movies and cds for 100 Baht (about 3$US), tshirts, sourvenirs and tours to the surrounding paradise. I grabbed a room for ten bucks. It was the size of a closet with many unknown stains on the smudged blue wall. The meals are cheap and delicious. Thaifood is one of my favorites. I just point to a curry I don't recognize and order it for no more than 3 dollars. It's always delicious, always filling. The highlight of my three days on the island was the trip to Ma Ya Bay. It was made famous from the movie "The Beach" Its located on a neighboring island called Phi Phi Ley. On the way out in our longtail boat we stopped for some world class snorkeling. One spot was a bit offshore from Monkey Beach. True to its name its full of monkeys. They are by no means shy of humans and have been known to bite if you don't give them fruit peace offering. I didn't have any fruit but they liked me for some reason. Maybe it was my soothing melodic hacking up of water I swallowed on the way into the beach. Our next stop was Pileh Cove. Its a very shallow cove with crystal clear water and shear limestone cliffs of up to 200 meters were almost completely encircling it. Completely tranquil, until I started yelling "Tranquil moments!" to hear the echoes. A few more snorkeling spots were visited. I saw some trigger fish with long venomous spines, bright orange box fish, long needlefish, a black tipped reef shark, and a plethera of vividly colored and intricately patterned spicies. A few skin welting cliff jumps later I was standing on "The Beach" watching the sunset peak through its narrow opening curtained by the sheer cliffs. It was a great night camping on "The Beach" with a few late night swims in the phosphlorecent warm waters. It was magical. I attempted sleeping on the sand till some nightmares about violent french tsunami victims woke me revealing a pack of fighting rats a few meters from my face. I strolled back to the tent making sure I didn't step on banded krate seasnake that we saw a few hours earlier. Oh, what paradise!
