· Snorkel snorkel snorkelKo Phi Phi, Thailand · 17th Dec 2007 · Posted by Annie
Phi Phi is just like I imagined it... lots of narrow little streets with vendors on either side. Heaps of places to eat, others selling shirts, sarongs, bracelets, jandals, sunscreen, after sun cream, etc etc. But most of all what you see are tourists - a lot of burnt and some very very tanned Europeans aimlessly walking up and down these little alleyways.
We caught a 'cruiser' from Phuket to Phi Phi. At first we thought we'd play it safe (from the sun) and sit inside. But then we noticed most people were sitting outside so we followed. It was actually really pleasant sitting out on the front deck, with our legs dangling off the edge of the boat. It was windy so we had to hold onto our stuff tight, but other than that, we just stared out at the ocean and wondered what might be floating around under us.
When you get off the boat at Phi Phi, you are overcome with how many other tourists are also getting off as well as locals asking you if you need accommodation or a taxi boat. We took one of the taxi boat offers up coz we wanted to get to "Long Beach" which is just around the corner from the main Phi Phi beach and inaccessible by land (no public transport here). Taxi boats are interesting - and fun! You have to walk right up into the water then climb onto some crappy little ladder or rope on the side of the longtail boat, then throw yourself in. Not so easy when you have a 15kg bag on your back.
Anyway, our accommodation here is more expensive than in Kata Beach - and not as nice. The Phi Phi Paradise Pearl Resort was mentioned in the lonely planet but apart from the fact that they basically have their own stretch of beautiful white sand beach, the room here is 2000 baht and quite plain. Still, the place is beautiful and during high-season there's not actually much choice.
However - there are a couple of bonuses to staying here.
1) Massages. Mmmmmm. Right on the beach. Chris and I had a "Back, neck and shoulder" massage last night - a 60 minute one for about NZD$10. Awesome. So relaxing, I think Chris fell asleep. Here "back, neck and shoulder" actually means "feet, legs, bum (not in a dodgy way), back, shoulders, arms, hands, neck, head AND face" massage. I didn't complain. Oh and the complimentary camomile at the end of it was a lovely touch.
2) Live screening of the Liverpool vs Manchester United game last night on a communal TV while eating deep fried bananas and ice cream and a drink or two. Good game.
Today we went on a compulsary day tour of Phi Phi Ley - Phi Phi Don's sister island, together with what seemed an awful lot of other tourists - oh well. Phi Phi Ley is home to the famous "Maya Bay" which is where the beach scenes of "The Beach" were filmed. It is beeeeeeeeauutiful. We took heaps of photos, hope some of them came out nicely. Chris and I jumped into a canoe on the back of the boat we were on and canoed out to the beach itself, did some snorkelling, saw some awesome fish and canoed back. Very very cool.
Next was "Monkey Bay" - as the name implies, there are monkeys at this bay. And lots of tourists taking photos of them. You can feed them bits of food and they take nicely and eat. Very cute but Chris and I kept our distance (the travel doctor told us to).
Next was "Bamboo Island" - the sea here was very rough and the boat couldn't take us very close to the beach, but we were allowed to swim/snorkel out to the beach if we wanted to. So Chris and I and a bunch of others did too. It was super hard work getting to the beach - lots and lots of big waves and the snorkels didn't help. On the way back it was much much harder and Chris and I struggled heaps. But we got back safe and sound. ;)
Then we headed back to Phi Phi Don - saw some dolphins playing in the ocean, did a bit more snorkelling then headed back to shore.
All in all a very very cool trip but I might add two things: 1) The waves were rather big and the boat rocked a lot. Richard, I know what you mean about feeling sea-sick. I can still feel myself swaying around now. Luckily I didn't feel too bad and didn't throw up, but another girl did... yuuuuuuuucky. 2) Do people not realize that sitting in the sun for 8 hours will burn you? And I mean bright tomato red? Geez! Chris and I spent about 10 minutes in the sun, with sunscreen on, then sat in the shade for the rest of the trip and STILL got burnt! Others seem to lie out on the deck the entire time and get more and more burnt but not care. What are these people on??
Back to our hotel now with tickets to Ao Nang tomorrow. Not looking forward to putting my 15kg backpack of pain on my shoulders tomorrow... grr. Oh well, I tried to keep out of the sun I promise!
P.S. - People keep their cats in the fridge here ... check out the photo below! ;)
We caught a 'cruiser' from Phuket to Phi Phi. At first we thought we'd play it safe (from the sun) and sit inside. But then we noticed most people were sitting outside so we followed. It was actually really pleasant sitting out on the front deck, with our legs dangling off the edge of the boat. It was windy so we had to hold onto our stuff tight, but other than that, we just stared out at the ocean and wondered what might be floating around under us.
When you get off the boat at Phi Phi, you are overcome with how many other tourists are also getting off as well as locals asking you if you need accommodation or a taxi boat. We took one of the taxi boat offers up coz we wanted to get to "Long Beach" which is just around the corner from the main Phi Phi beach and inaccessible by land (no public transport here). Taxi boats are interesting - and fun! You have to walk right up into the water then climb onto some crappy little ladder or rope on the side of the longtail boat, then throw yourself in. Not so easy when you have a 15kg bag on your back.
Anyway, our accommodation here is more expensive than in Kata Beach - and not as nice. The Phi Phi Paradise Pearl Resort was mentioned in the lonely planet but apart from the fact that they basically have their own stretch of beautiful white sand beach, the room here is 2000 baht and quite plain. Still, the place is beautiful and during high-season there's not actually much choice.
However - there are a couple of bonuses to staying here.
1) Massages. Mmmmmm. Right on the beach. Chris and I had a "Back, neck and shoulder" massage last night - a 60 minute one for about NZD$10. Awesome. So relaxing, I think Chris fell asleep. Here "back, neck and shoulder" actually means "feet, legs, bum (not in a dodgy way), back, shoulders, arms, hands, neck, head AND face" massage. I didn't complain. Oh and the complimentary camomile at the end of it was a lovely touch.
2) Live screening of the Liverpool vs Manchester United game last night on a communal TV while eating deep fried bananas and ice cream and a drink or two. Good game.
Today we went on a compulsary day tour of Phi Phi Ley - Phi Phi Don's sister island, together with what seemed an awful lot of other tourists - oh well. Phi Phi Ley is home to the famous "Maya Bay" which is where the beach scenes of "The Beach" were filmed. It is beeeeeeeeauutiful. We took heaps of photos, hope some of them came out nicely. Chris and I jumped into a canoe on the back of the boat we were on and canoed out to the beach itself, did some snorkelling, saw some awesome fish and canoed back. Very very cool.
Next was "Monkey Bay" - as the name implies, there are monkeys at this bay. And lots of tourists taking photos of them. You can feed them bits of food and they take nicely and eat. Very cute but Chris and I kept our distance (the travel doctor told us to).
Next was "Bamboo Island" - the sea here was very rough and the boat couldn't take us very close to the beach, but we were allowed to swim/snorkel out to the beach if we wanted to. So Chris and I and a bunch of others did too. It was super hard work getting to the beach - lots and lots of big waves and the snorkels didn't help. On the way back it was much much harder and Chris and I struggled heaps. But we got back safe and sound. ;)
Then we headed back to Phi Phi Don - saw some dolphins playing in the ocean, did a bit more snorkelling then headed back to shore.
All in all a very very cool trip but I might add two things: 1) The waves were rather big and the boat rocked a lot. Richard, I know what you mean about feeling sea-sick. I can still feel myself swaying around now. Luckily I didn't feel too bad and didn't throw up, but another girl did... yuuuuuuuucky. 2) Do people not realize that sitting in the sun for 8 hours will burn you? And I mean bright tomato red? Geez! Chris and I spent about 10 minutes in the sun, with sunscreen on, then sat in the shade for the rest of the trip and STILL got burnt! Others seem to lie out on the deck the entire time and get more and more burnt but not care. What are these people on??
Back to our hotel now with tickets to Ao Nang tomorrow. Not looking forward to putting my 15kg backpack of pain on my shoulders tomorrow... grr. Oh well, I tried to keep out of the sun I promise!
P.S. - People keep their cats in the fridge here ... check out the photo below! ;)
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