Setting sail from Phuket port to beautiful Koh Phi Phi! A very short daytrip to see the beaches, walk around and have lunch and then continue to Koh Lanta. Yes, that was the plan!
I started talking to the girl that took this shot. We sat next to each other for almost 3 hours, both suntanning a little bit, me taking a nap, she listening to her music, but no conversations. Until Koh Phi Phi facilitated our first words by giving us a glimp of its beauty, which we needed to capture, of course.
So she happened to be a Romanian solo traveler, who has lived in Italy for 10 years. That's how she became my new best friend for a day. So we had a few things to talk about: our travels, our country, how we moved out of it, where to, our mutual love for Italy and we also happened to be a little alike, by the way we look at life.
She invited me for lunch in an Italian bistro on the beach - try to say no to that - and we spoke about the big things in life. We opened up as if we knew each other for years and were updating each other on the recent past.
So, as I said, my intention was to leave in the afternoon to Lanta and not spend the night there. Because I've heard/read some stories about Phi Phi being a party island and that is none of my interest. But...meeting Mihaela changed my mind. It was nice to speak to someone about other stuff than introducing myself for the 20th time and talking about "where have you been/what's next?".
I was on a thighter budget than she was, so I told her that if I was going to stay, it would be in a hostel. She's a hostelvirgin! But not any more! We just walked towards the beach, not really knowing what we were doing or where we were heading, but asking around for 2 available beds. First one was full, second one had expensive dorm beds. But I guess that was normal price for this island.
The girl at the reception made us aware that the music wouldn't stop until 2am, so we wouldn't complain. All the people in that hostel came for partying. Ok, got it. Loud music 'till 2am. I can handle that.
I knew the famous Maya Bay, where the movie 'The Beach' was filmed, was somewhere near Phi Phi so I started asking around. We were lucky! In 1 hour, a boat tour was about to start, heading there, amongst a few other stops.
When I saw the program, my heart skipped a beat! The last activity was: swimming with plankton! ! ! The one thing I was so sorry about missing in Colombia! I just got a second chance!
•••our boat Boat Love, a traditional longtail boat•••
First stop: Monkey Beach
•••inhabitant of this beach•••
•••Monkey Business with Mihaela•••
We weren't allowed to feed the monkey's but some drunk stupid tourists were giving the monkeys beer...
Second stop: Viking Cave
In this cave there are Thai soldiers living, in order to protect the birds nests. I forgot the species, but one nest can make up to 1,000USD. Apparently it's a Chinese delicacy and there's a high demand for it. Only two times a year nests can be collected, but of course there's a bird maffia who controls this business...
Third stop: Pi-Leh Lagoon
We had to leave the lagoon very quickly because low tide was coming and if we got stuck, we had to wait for a few hours. The other boat got stuck and people had to jump out to make it lighter and they were pulling the boat out of the shallow part. Funny sight.
Forth stop: another lagoon where we dropped off the people that were going to walk to Maya Bay. They had one hour to explore it and come back. And they had to pay 200baht entree fee. The Thai government made it a 'national park', just to make you believe you're not paying because of the movie...
I didn't go. We were going to see it from the boat anyway and I refuse to pay for such a lame reason. I snorkeled a bit and did another headstand and talked to people...
Last stop, after sunset: just before the port we were going to see plankton in the water. I couldn't be any more excited!! I had my snorkel on and my FoPro camera ready to capture this phenomenon.
Unfortunately, you could hardly see the plankton while swimming. If you would shake your arms around, you woud see some fluorescent particles in the water. I had imagined something way more extraordinary...so I was a little disappointed. The camera couldn't capture it, so I can't show you any footage.
After this short adventure, a shower and a dinner, it was time to 'hit the sack'. On the streets - around 10.30pm - you would already see drunk people (some needed to be carried away unfortunately).
In the hostel the party was still going on and in our dorm we met our 'roomies', 4 guys. 4 disconsiderate very drunk guys, we found out later during the night. No respect for the ones that were 'trying' to sleep, being so drunk that one of them didn't remember which one his bed was - so I ended up having someone jumping on top of me - another one having a 'pijama party' in his top bunkbed and a third one who was sleeping naked and kicked the lockers to the floor, making noise as if a bomb was dropped into our room. The funny part is, that he ran out of the dorm undressed. Oh, and they broke the door lock so they were knocking the door for about 10mins.
My earplugs were not made for this level of partying...if I slept 2 full hours, it would be much.
We agreed to go see the sunrise at the viewpoint the next morning. Stan van Samang started singing 'Goeiemorgen Goeiendag' at 6.45am. It was worth it!
The morning cardio session to get there was also worth it!
At least Koh Phi Phi left a very positive impression in the end by revealing this to us.
The smiley coffee and jummy breakfast made up for a lot as well:
Next: Koh Lanta
Labels: Asia, beaches, nature, Thai Islands, Thailand, Travel
