October 31 – Phi Phi Island, Thailand

Most of us have heard of Phi Phi Island and Phi Phi Lay, those of us for sure anyway who have seen the movie The Beach. Ron visited there on his last Asian tour…20 odd years ago and needless to say, it has changed a bit. He remembers he felt disappointed because even back then (ahem) it seemed already well discovered (we all dream of being the first in an untouched land I think) and wished he had been there a few years earlier. Well, you can imagine what it is like now. Phi Phi Don, the island you actually stay on (Phi Phi Lay is a marine park and has no accommodation) is a jungle of resorts, shops, restaurants, tourists and partying backpackers. That being said, it is an excellent stop if you sleep in the right spot and get off the island in kayaks to explore the beaches. We never did make it to Phi Phi Lay because apparently it is combing with people by first thing and the illusion of a pristine deserted beach is inaccessible.

The interesting (or tragic) thing about Phi Phi is that it (and Phuket) lies in the eye of where the Tsunami hit on the Adman Coast in 2004. Landing at the Pier, you would never know the resort and beach had been absolutely devastated only 5 years ago. Yet there are photos and stories to prove it. We ate a number of times at a casual little spot called Samee’s. We never met Samee himself, but his delightful nephew Chilli was holding the fort providing amazing local fare and friendly conversation (and a few Thai cooking tips for Janet). Samee is incredibly thankful to be given a 2nd chance after being buried under a building in the Tsunami. He was rescued and an English friend has since helped him rebuild his life and start his restaurant. The walls are covered with graffiti from travelers who obviously love Samee and his food. He has huge sings up thanking the Tsunami, Buddha and his friends for helping him with his 2nd chance at life. We spent hours poring over his photo albums with images and stories from the Tsunami and we left our own signatures on his wall. As always, strength and positive things tend to eventually emerge from disaster. As for the bricks and mortar, they say there are more restrictions for building on Phi Phi since the Tsunami in the hopes to better control rapid tourist development but, it still seems incredibly crowded.

We were lucky to find reasonable accommodation right on the beach at a place called PP Sand Seaview Resort. It was so awesome to have a little bungalow right on the beach with a porch, sun chairs and umbrella right out front. The best part about this place was the 4 kittens hanging about to entertain us. The water off Phi Phi is really shallow so low tide is a bit of a bust for swimming. It’s best to catch a swim first thing in the morning then head off the island to other beaches for the rest of the day. Our only complaint about our bungalow was the 10 minute walk in the unbelievable heat to get anywhere and we could hear the thump of music well into the night from across the water. However, the 10 minute walk also meant we were out of the thick of things and had some space. Like I mentioned, Phi Phi is a party town and so perhaps we were the only people on the island going to bed by 10pm!!!

Our best decision on Phi Phi was to rent kayaks for a day. For about $15, we rented 2 double kayaks, masks and snorkels and headed out the northwest side of the island towards Monkey Beach. True to its name, the beach hosts were short, furry and liked to steal food. We headed from Monkey Beach across the bay to another beach with a quick stop at a shallow cave where we saw a reef shark swimming about under our kayaks. I don’t think Anna was too pleased to be hanging around above a shark, even a reef shark! And none of us took the opportunity to jump in and swim with our mask. Both Sadie and Anna I swear were born with gills, so the whole snorkeling thing was a great thing for both of them. And when the snorkeling was not great, we’d find fish with bits of fruit and entertain ourselves with the underwater camera.

We finally ended up on a beach on the west side of the northern long section of the island. It was horrible. We slowly paddled in looking at a deserted beach village on the right. We later found out this village is sometimes home to a group of sea gypsies who have since moved on to a new location. And the beach itself was ankle deep in ocean garbage, right up to the highest of high tide lines. Yuck, it was like standing in a Green Peace commercial. At first we were confused, was this garbage left over from the Tsunami but had never been cleaned up? We later found out, no…this is an annual deposit from winter seas and prevailing winds hitting the beach. Apparently, they clean it up by the time busy season starts – there is a 3 star resort only a 10 min. walk across the island to the other side. But honestly, I can’t imagine a clean-up that large and busy season was just days away. It was deserted except for a few long tail boats. The site of this garbage would make anyone stop the next time they even considered throwing a piece of garbage into the ocean or using plastic unnecessarily. We got out of our kayaks though because we needed a stretch and had heard there were cold drinks and food across the island. Our stomachs always win. We did find refreshment and a much nicer beach on the other side but didn’t stay long as we were afraid of arriving back to find our kayaks gone had we stayed away too long.

Us Gosneys were certainly enjoying our beach time. We managed to avoid getting burnt, got some math done, did lots of reading but were starting to melt a little from the heat and humidity. Janet was battling a terrible cold/flu and we were tired of cowering away from the heat. But the weather, as promised on or around November 1st was starting to change. The prevailing winds had swung around, the skies were becoming clearer, and there were no afternoon showers on our last 2 days there.