Tag: phi phi

The following couple of days we decided to take trips to beaches further away from the village. Long Beach, Loh Ba Gao, Loh Moo Dee. They took about 20 maximum 45 minutes walk. We took a boat (70-80 baht) on the way back.

You can see the sinister sky – monsoon arrived 2 days later.

TIP about Bomaboo Island (Koh Phai): another uninhabited island that you can take day-trips to. Greg enjoyed the corals very much, but I didn’t like the fact they were everywhere around the shallow waters and you couldn’t swim or walk to the beach properly. I kept hurting my legs and feet kicking into them. Not to mention after 30 minutes a yellow fish bit me. Greg of course didn’t believe me, told me off to stop whining already. Until he got bitten too. Perfect.
Based on reviews, Bamboo island is lovely if you walk a 10-15 mins away from the crowds (especially families). I personally didn’t like it, but I’m sure it was because of the upcoming stormy weather.
We paid 1000 baht for the long tail boat or 3 hours. Do try to bargain as we started off with 2000, slowly going down. Next time we’ll go there with a tent, and staying the night. 

Unfortunately no photos, we didn’t take camera with us.

Our last night, and the bungalow we stayed in on Long Beach:

We were pretty much chased away from the island by the monsoon – decided to go to Koh Lanta next which was quite a few hours of ferry ride. Terrifying experience as we got into a huge storm, I was a 100% sure we won’t make it. The waves were enormous, the captain was sweating trying to navigate the boat. Greg – the calmest person in the world – slept through whole journey. Lucky him.

We didn’t get to climb up to the viewpoint, or hire a sea kayak to search for truly hidden beaches. Or ate lobster. Next time I’ll make sure to cross everything off my list.

After beautiful and empty Phuket, we were looking forward to Koh Phi Phi, as heard such mixed reviews from friends and family. Some swear it’s the ultimate paradise island, some find it commercialised, touristy, and would never go near it again. Honestly… You can always find hidden beaches, gems where you can be alone. Just gotta make an effort to find it.

We were very inexperienced travellers back then (I was 19!) and I admit, now I would do a lot of things differently. I might get the chance to correct silly mistakes – soon planning a big family trip with parents, nephew, siblings, all the family jazz. I’ll be a pro then.

I’d probably spend less time hopping around and stick to a place for longer, this would allow funds to be spent on accommodation AWAY from people. We were young and restless (I know I sound like a 60-year-old) and would rather save money on accommodation. 3-4 nights we spent in the village which meant 350 baht a night (£6.50). There was no problem, I am not too fussy as long as we are saving money, but I felt the village (Tonsai Bay & Village) had the atmosphere of a party island, rather than a romantic dream island. So if you wanna party stick to Tonsai Bay/Village. Restaurants are the cheapest there, they’ve got thai boxing shows, fire dancers, clubs and countless bars.

The 5th night we slept in a quiet resort, but more on that in the next post.

So what we did to resolve the ‘I don’t like the atmosphere’ issue: on day 1 we did the trip everyone does on Phi Phi, the Maya Bay Boat Trip. There are two small islands next to each other, Koh (means island) Phi Phi Don which is the populated one, and Koh Phi Phi Leh, which is where the movie The Beach was shot with Leonardo Dicaprio and is uninhabited. You can do a full day or half day trip I think, ours was about 6 hours, from 3pm to 8-9pm, until sunset basically.

We really wanted to hire a private long-tail boat, but one can dream of course… Was way too expensive, so had to join a group. It was 1200 baht this way, per person, water and fruit was provided. It is actually a lot if you think about it (£22).

First stop is Monkey Beach – I absolutely despise monkeys, they are irritating, mean, sly and sassy. They steal stuff and just get fed all the time – so what do we get back in return when they aren’t even cute and cuddly?! Anyway, we stayed clear of the crowd feeding them with watermelons. The beach was small, beautiful, bit crowded though. Just gotta chuck the monkeys out. I’m a cruel person.

Next came the Viking Caves and Pileh Bay where we stopped for quite a while to snorkel (must have been 1,5 hours):

The trip had 3 stops until Maya Bay, with plenty of time to enjoy snorkelling (Greg) and jumping (me). We spent the day together but I remember barely speaking to him, as in the boat I was mesmerised… all the fish, the colour of the water, the vegetation. Once we stopped, Greg put his head under the water and he was gone. I don’t think I have seen him be so occupied with something that much – other than when he’s gaming and has to save the world from a zombie apocalypse 🙂

A quick video to get an idea what it looked like (change the quality to 720p)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmfMyKWZzTM&w=560&h=315]

And then finally Maya Bay.

TIP: if your budget allows you, hire a private long-tail boat, and go either early morning or after 6pm when most people are gone already. This way, you avoid crowds which is the only thing that ruins this gem.

Had 3 hours to chill there, but we got bored after 20 minutes. So walked to the other side of the island through a tiny forest (and tsunami evacuation signs, scary) where I think we basically got back to Pileh Bay – the snorkelling bay.

There were no stairs or ladder, only rocks, a rope (seen on the photo) and big waves (at least for me they seemed big) so I was a bit hesitant at first to follow Greg in. I did hurt my hip as a wave threw me against a rock. Was well worth it though, we snorkelled and swam to a beach which was 100% secluded and there was no one else just us. If you descend into the water and the island is to your back – start swimming left for about 15-20 minutes (guessing) to reach it. No photos as couldn’t bring our phones.

Back to the beach for a bit of a rest and then head back to Phi Phi Don. For more Phi Phi, check following post.