Koh Phi Phi, Thailand 11-16-09

Koh Phi Phi (or Ko Phi Phi Don), is an island that has everything- relaxing beaches, wild parties, and adventurous activities. After spending a week on a party island and a week on a beach, it was nice to have a little bit of both in the same place.

For months, Amanda, James, and I had been hearing from other backpackers how great Koh Phi Phi was and we were pretty excited to get to the promise land. The island itself is pretty small, there are scuba shops, bars, restaurants, spas, jewelry shops, tattoo shops, and hotels and bungalows everywhere; and after the sun goes down, the island transforms into party central. Flyers are forced in front of your face offering “the world” in terms of alcohol, there are free buckets, free drinks, free shots… you name it! Each bar has a different theme, whether it be Reggae, Irish, Italian, Greek, Indian… and best of all, the drink prices agree with a backpacker’s wallet.

When our boat docked, we stepped off and immediately were mobbed with Thai men and women yelling out their hotel’s or guesthouse’s name, trying to recruit us. We had heard of a good place to stay, so with our bags on our backs, we started walking. Apparently, everyone decided to come to Phi Phi at the same time as us because almost every single place was full! After an hour of searching we were finally able to find a large room with 3 beds side-by-side, with AC and a bathroom for 400 baht a person at a place called Kanaree Guesthouse. Not too bad.

Our first day in, James caught up on his sleep and Amanda and I explored the town, shopped a bit, got pedicures, and then went out at night to a couple bars before ending on the beach with our new group of Kiwi (New Zealanders) and British friends. The beach scene was a miniature version of Koh Phangnan… two DJ’s were playing music, everyone danced in front of them on the sand, and fire limbo was going on. I got in on the fire limbo again for a bit, but mostly we just danced all night.

The next day was one of the most relaxing days I’ve had yet. The three of us went to an infinity pool (where the water in the pool has no edge and looks like it exceeds into the ocean) and spent the day laying under an umbrella, cooling off in the water, reading our books, drinking out of coconuts, ordering fruit and pad thai… it was amazing. That night we found our group from the night before, as well as a couple girls from Sweden we met while on Railay Bay and the 14 of us went to the Reggae bar, a bar with a huge boxing ring in the middle. We hung out there as we watched drunks get up to fight one-another, for a prize of free buckets. Around 11:50pm we all left as a pack to make it to Tiger Bar in time for the free buckets they give out between 12:00am-12:10am. This night was a repeat of the last... dancing, partying… except it was Amanda’s last night here before she headed back home, so we made it an extra special (and long) night.

On the way home we ran into an Aussie, Elliot, who had just gotten another tattoo (tattoo shops are everywhere in Phi Phi, as well as on Koh Phangnan, and drunks are the main customers). Last night he got the word FLIP FLOP written on his foot in the place where his sandal straps normally go, except he was drunk and his tattoo artist didn’t speak English, so now his foot says FLOP FLIP. Well, tonight he got a small brown paper bag shape tattooed on his back with the words “Don’t feed fish” written inside. Smart decisions.

Koh Phi Phi became pretty famous because of the 2000 movie, “The Beach”. In the movie, backpackers hear a story of an island off the coast of Thailand that is completely abundant and overgrown with marijuana. In the movie, the island and beach look like paradise and have since become a huge tourist attraction. The only way to “The Beach” is to take a boat to Maya Beach (also known as Koh Phi Phi Leh (or Lai)), which during the day is completely mobbed with tourists and backpackers wishing to see the island for themselves. It’s not uncommon for there to be 10 or more boats anchored onshore which are entirely stuffed with people (30 on each boat). Luckily, I got a tip from another backpacker that if you camp out on the beach the night before, you will be the only ones on the island.

James and I set off on this adventure. We went with 15 other people to the island, on a boat which makes this trip pretty frequently. On the way to the island we stopped to snorkel in gorgeous blue water and saw tons of reef fish. We also kayaked around a bit before getting back on the boat to head to the island.

When we first got to the bay of the beach it was 5:30pm, the sun was setting and the last of the tourist boats were setting off to head back to Koh Phi Phi. Our Thai tour guides transported us to the island by long-tail boat and we set our bags down to check out the island. It was a very quiet place, not much going on, and no marijuana plants in sight (sorry to disappoint). As night fell we ate some amazing Thai food (prepared for us by a few Thai women who live on the island) and we even got free buckets to drink as we played card games, listened to ipods, and listened to the Thai guys play songs on their guitars. It was pretty great.

As night fell, a small group of us headed into the water. In the movie, the ocean glowed when the island backpackers swam in it, and we all wanted to see if the legend of bioluminescent plankton was true. We cautiously creeped into the water, brushed our hands across the surface of the ripples… and saw lights! The deeper we swam, the more bioluminescent plankton we saw! And the longer we swam in the complete blackness, the braver we became; I started swimming breast-stroke in the water and was amazed at how the plankton lit up everywhere I touched, like white-glitter glowing all different colors in a black light. The lights lit the path everywhere I swam… it was incredible. For almost an hour we were amazed in the water, a guy ran to grab his mask and we all took turns watching underwater as another person would swirl their hands around and make a light show for us.

Eventually we made it out of the water and headed back to our campsite. After we dried off the whole group went on a trek deep into the island with only flashlights to light the way. Our Thai guides brought us to a place where the “chicken crabs” hide (called so, because these crabs are as big as chickens!). Toma, one of our guides, picked one up and was telling us how to hold them, I was the first to want to pick one up and he showed me how. The crab was massive, over a foot long, and really heavy! A few others took turns holding the crab too and then we made our way back to the beach. We brought mats out onto the sand near the water, unrolled our sleeping bags, laid on our pillows, and fell asleep around 4:00am.

Before we went to sleep, our guides told us to set our alarms for 5:30am if we wanted to wake up in time to see the sunrise. The best place to watch it was from a look-out point that was further inland past the chicken crab spot, but the guides wouldn’t be waking up to see it, so it was all on us.

I set my alarm, woke up an hour and a half later, and a few of us walked through the darkness to find the lookout point. I saw a ladder up ahead and we all climbed to the top of the cliffs and waited… within 20 minutes the sun rose above the water and drifted up into the sky, it was beautiful (as all sunrises and sunsets on the water usually are). We were all so tired though that soon after we headed back to camp. There we ate a light breakfast, packed up our bags, and headed back to the main land.

James and I spent the next day at the infinity pool and at night met up with the guys from England we had met on Koh Phangnan. They had been on Phi Phi, left to go to Ko Lanta (a quiet/relaxing island with not much to do on but rest), and now came back to Phi Phi to party for a couple nights before leaving for Australia (they are moving to Oz to work for a year). We stayed at the Reggae bar for most of the night playing pool, talking, and then a couple of the Brits decided to fight each other. Luke and Craig got into the ring with Ramsey and Jonathan as their corner men… the fight was pretty close, but Luke was declared the winner; and although they were wearing face masks and gloves, they both ended up with split lips (and free buckets).

In the morning I set off at 7am to scuba dive as I was getting my Advanced Diving Certification. My South African scuba instructor, Michael, took me and my diving buddy, Richard from England (a different Richard), diving. It was a gorgeous day out and first we headed to a dive site where we could work on our buoyancy. We had to practice our breathing underwater to stay a few inches off the floor. Every once in a while Michael would hand us weights or take away weights and we would have to compensate with our breathing to make sure our fins or bodies didn’t touch the sand bottom. We had a couple other tests to do and both passed with flying colors. Next up was a Navigation test, we had to use both natural navigation (remembering specific reef formations, rocks, and sand spots, to go out in one direction and come back) and compass navigation (using our compasses underwater to sort out our location).

We had a break from diving in the middle of the day, which I used to catch up on my sleep from the lack of sleep I had had the previous night, and then I headed back to the boat at 7pm to go on a night dive. It was my first time diving at night and I was pretty scared and excited at the same time. Obviously I didn’t want to be attacked by sharks, but also knew that it was extremely unlikely for that to happen and we would probably get to see some underwater life not visible during the day.

The moon was almost black and our flashlights were the only eyes we had. We sank underwater and scanned the sea for wildlife. Nothing yet, but Michael had us turn off our lights and then he waved his hands in the water… MILLIONS of little bits of plankton were lighting up everywhere!! I was ecstatic and thrashing around in the water with my arms to see as many lights as I could, I loved it! The lights were everywhere and so bright being as we were 60 feet underwater… it was incredible. Way too soon, Mike turned his flashlight back on (I frowned inside my mask) and we set off to explore the reef we were above.

We saw 6 foot long barracudas, moray eels, reef fish, lion fish... but nothing too out of the ordinary. The visibility was pretty poor, since we only could see what our flashlights showed us, and everything was sort of a grayish color… but it was nice for a change. A few times during the dive I would turn out my light and stir my arms around to see the sea light up again. It made me smile.

The next day, I woke up at 6am and headed to the scuba shop for another full day of diving. First we went to wreck site called King Cruiser. The King Cruiser was a cargo ship that sank off the coast of Phi Phi in 1997. The ship is 255 feet long and 90 feet wide, and about 60 feet in height (with an extra 30 feet of water above the vessel). This was a perfect wreck to dive, as the boat was almost fully intact and completely inhabited by all different kinds of sea life. As soon as we descended we saw a couple leopard sharks, then tons of reef fish, parrot fish, lion fish, anemone, clown fish, eels, puffer fish, star fish, jelly fish… thousands of fish were around the site. We were able to swim all around the boat and even inside it to see the bathrooms and decks. The toilets were fully intact and little fish had made the bowls their new homes. This site proved to me why I love scuba diving so much.

Second up was a deep dive at Anemone Reef, named so because the reef is completely covered in anemone. Rumor has it that this reef is what sank the cruiser when the boat hit by mistake; but there is a lot of controversy over whether the sinking of the ship was intentional (for insurance money reasons) or not. This reef was a perfect place to see coral life, as the shallow site was buzzing with fish. We saw clown fish, parrot fish, lots of reef fish, and also 6 black tip sharks (which look like nurse sharks but have a little black triangle on the top of their dorsal fin).

Last up was an island dive at Bidah Nok and on this dive we circled around the small island underwater. We saw cuddle fish, eels, leopard sharks, a sea snake, reef fish, and lion fish. It was a perfect way to end the day and I was exhausted! We got back around 2:00pm and I went straight to the infinity pool to wind down. James was there and we ordered Thai food and fruit smoothies as we relaxed on our lounge chairs in the sun. I finished the book I was reading, Monday’s Child, and started my other one, Eat Pray Love.

When this morning came around, I packed up my NEW backpack and headed to the port to catch my boat to Phuket which from there I would catch a flight to Phnom Penh, Cambodia (with a layover in Bangkok). I say NEW backpack because I decided to switch from my trusted Gregory bag. My green Gregory backpack has been very durable and useful, except that it’s a bit small for all of my stuff and in order to fit everything inside I had to arrange everything inside like little puzzle pieces, and anytime I wanted to get one thing out of my bag I would have to take everything out (because it only loaded from the top of the pack). Additionally, I had to attach another backpack to the bottom of it to fit my toiletries (yes I know… I packed WAY too much!). Anyway, after seeing other travelers unzip their bags around the outside (like a conventional suitcase) I had backpack envy and decided to forgo my own bag and buy a new one. In Phi Phi I found a knockoff suitcase store and bought myself a North Face bag (for 50 bucks… when the original is about $400) that was huge, zipped open around the edges, and also had a day-pack attached. It was perfect!

As I boarded my boat and set my bag down, I felt very happy with my decision. I’m now two hours in and have been reading my book and dreaming about what Cambodia will be like. Now, just a quick stop in Phuket for a day and night and I’ll be off to another country.

Till then…