Day 17/18 - Phi Phi Islands

Day 17 - Travel to Ko Phi Phi Island

This morning we ate breakfast and took an early morning cab to drive across Phuket Island to the marina in Phuket Town so we could sail to Ko Phi Phi Island. We decided to stay here two nights to experience the white sandy beach life. I never realized how big the island of Phuket actually is. Having stayed the past three nights on the west coast in Northern Phuket we were in a pretty secluded resort with big waves from the ocean. Phi Phi Islands are located southeast of Phuket somewhat protected in the bay.

The marina was a bit chaotic and sure enough so was the entire boat ride. We were a bit nervous as one of these island cruisers sank recently from being over crowded. We can see why. They crammed so many people on this boat. Luckily we found a row of three seats with one seat on a post so no one could sit there. We got lucky to have some space. Maybe lucky isn't that accurate as we were ready to board as soon as they allowed as we know that having the right seat vs the wrong seat can make a difference between a hot and sea sick cruise vs a pleasant one.

The view on the ship was beautiful. We cruised into a bigger version of yesterday's Phang Nga bay. We took turns sitting in the open part of the boat taking in the view and breeze. The breeze can trick you quick as the temperature is perfect with the breeze in your face. However, there are very dense sun rays beating on you.

We booked our stay at the Holiday Inn as it got great reviews and was on a private beach (Leam Tong Beach) on the north side of the island where only four hotels are located vs a buzzillion. This turned out to be awesome. 90% of the boat got off on the first stop which left the rest of us to be picked up via longboat in the open water. Our area did not have a pier. This was a chaotic way of coming in as I was ready to get off the crowded boat, but looking back was a cool way to come ashore.

We quickly put our bags in our room and headed down the beach to Jasmine's a local sea gypsy restaurant. I was a bit nervous to eat too much spice as I was finally feeling better. Pineapple rice and vegetables in oyster sauce did me well. We started out sitting outside about 30 feet from the water, but had to move in once it started to down pour.

 

We were tired from a day of traveling and headed to bed for a full day of beach tomorrow.

One of the "hard" things about traveling so much is not being afraid to go to bed at a decent hour. We usually like to take in the night life also when we travel, but doing that every night isn't possible. Luckily, we are at the isolated part of the island so there was not much pulling us to stay up.

Day 18 - Ko Phi Phi Island

Kristen got up early to take advantage of the fitness room (this was one of the big reasons for booking the Holiday Inn). I decided to get some more rest. She came back disappointed as every cardio machine was not working. All but one, see the video for the one working machine:

After breakfast, we decided to walk the beach since it was high tide. Still amazes me on how much variance there is between high and low tide. It makes the beach look completely different. We quickly noticed a swing hanging over the waves where we both had a blast swinging and crashing into the waves.

After strolling a few of the sea gypsy establishments and the other resorts, we found out that this part of the island did not have an ATM! Damn. This meant that we were eating at the Holiday Inn for dinner. We used up all of our Thai Baht. In hind sight, we probably could have gotten away paying in USD. Not sure why we didn't think of that at the time.

We spent the next few hours lounging at the pool until Kristen got bored. She started to walk down the other part of the beach before returning in a few minutes. There was a path that looked like it went to a private beach, so she came back for me. We took off to find the next resort about a mile later. No hidden beach. We did get some beautiful views though. We eventually found a supposed snorkeling spot, but we found it fairly benign that day. We didn't intend to walk this far so we had no water, bug spray, or money. We walked the mile back tired and wet.

Kristen got ate alive on the way back. And by a lot, I mean a dozen huge bits on her back. She is the perfect bug repellant for me. For some reason, they just love her. Often times before and on this trip, she will be getting bites and I won't even notice the bugs. She hasn't been using fragrant moisturizers either. Who knows why, guess her blood just tastes better.

We relaxed for a few minutes at the pool before taking in a beautiful sunset from on top of the hill. Our dinner was a service disaster as they delivered me the wrong pizza. I needed a break from Thai, not that it isn't good, but I just needed a break. However, we had a blast hanging out as we ended up drinking an extra beer while waiting for the second pizza. She again was getting bit, so we head indoors.

We had been meaning to watch a movie this entire trip, but had failed to do so since the plane to Beijing. The Beach was filmed in the Phi Phi Islands, so we figured they would have that movie to pick from. It was not available so we reverted back to our iPads.

Ever since I started keeping a list of thoughts and questions throughout the day, we are able to investigate more. We had been meaning to investigate the Tsunami of 2004. Kristen found an 8 part series on YouTube that shocked us of the devastation. It is different to watch this when you are located exactly where the tsunami too place. Needless to say, neither of us slept well that night as the stories from tourists and locals who lost loved ones was disturbing.

Pictures to come in the next post

 

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