Ko Phi Phi and 'The Beach

The following day we had organised to go to Ko Phi Phi island on a tour. We were picked up from the hotel about 8 and were taken by minibus to the Royal Phuket Marina. We were joined by a Dutch family of four (two older sons about our age), an old Dutch guy with his Thai boy and three Japanese girls in their 20s. At the marina we were joined by an elderly (OK in their 50s) couple from Las Vegas, an American lady with her five year old son and an Indian couple (hereafter referred to as the prince and princess for reasons you will discover later).

We had our photos taken ostensibly for insurance purposes but really so they could put it in a frame and charge you for it later. Although it would come in useful should you fall off the back of the boat.

The boat was a speedboat and got up to about 15 knots. It was about an hour to our first stop. The sea was a little choppy but the journey seemed to pass quickly.

Our first stop was Maya Bay made famous by the film 'The Beach'. It was immensely busy with at least ten boats anchored up and the (fairly small) beach was crowded. It was instantly recognisable though, particularly the entrance to the bay where Leo killed the shark.

Had a swim in the sea there - nice and warm although very salty. The water dropped off quickly too and the current was quite strong.

Also walked the length of the beach to both ends. On one end the cliffs overhung the beach just like round most of the island.

Our next stop was Loh Samah Bay where we went snorkelling. We dived off the back of the boat and snorkelled around for about half an hour. The fish all got pretty close especially when they fed them with bits of banana. All the usual suspects were there: parrotfish, angelfish, butterfly fish and some beautifully coloured rainbowfish as well as coral, anemones, sea cucumber and the odd sea urchin. Most impressive was a black and white sea snake. Bloody venomous of course!!

We then visited Pi Leh cove but didn't stop. The entrance to the cove is only 2m deep and then the bay itself is nearer 40m and so is commonly used by sharks to sleep at night as there isn't any current.

From there we went to the larger Phi Phi island called Phi Phi Don (the smaller is Phi Phi Leh) and visited Viking Cave. This has plenty of carvings in it but it is now used for harvesting birds nests for birds nest soup. Four men live there all year round and you could see there washing hanging up and their living quarters.

Monkey Beach was next although there wasn't a beach due to high tide. All the monkeys were in the trees. Brett (the little 5 year old) was chosen to throw the bananas to the monkeys and they were pretty adept at catching them'. Funniest of all was when the bananas fell in the water and they waded in with their arms above their heads to pick them up. Apparently they are good swimmers and often dive from the trees into the water.

Lunch was at Ton Sai Bay which is where the main accommodation on Phi Phi is. Lunch was on the beachfront and was pretty good - some fried chicken and sweet and sour fish with various accompaniments. We sat with all the Americans and chatted away over a few beers (apart from Brett).

We had half an hour or so for a wander round the little village. Nothing majorly special to report though. Plenty of hassle though just like Patong. Almost left the prince and princess behind as they were late getting back to the boat. Didn't seem bothered by keeping us all waiting though. A teary good-bye for our guide, Nancy, who has a little friend on the island - a five year old girl who has adopted Nancy as a friend. Apparently her parents are somewhat lacking and she hasn't any friends so spends every lunch time with Nancy and bawls her eyes out when Nancy leaves.

From there we went to Khai Island - about half way back to Phuket. It is just a beach island with lots of beach umbrellas and we spent the last few hours sunbathing on the beach. We were all supposed to sit down during the journey to keep boat steady except the prince and princess moved around as they liked. The driver even told the princess to sit down during one particularly bad bit of swell and she just turned to him and said "No" very bluntly and then continued to stand where she was.

Dave and I did go for a snorkel near some rocks with a banana to feed the fish. Dave spotted a jellyfish so headed back - I just kept a close eye out for them and managed to avoid getting stung. The fish were soon hovering around me like droves about 50cm away. All the same fish we saw earlier just a whole lot closer. I went back for a second banana and this time they were right around me and would even nibble at the banana pieces I was offering while I was holding them. A few bolder fish were even eating the banana before I was tearing pieces out of it. Thankfully none of them took a bite out of me.

Spend the rest of the time reading and trying to ignore one of the Dutch guys being sick.

We nearly left the prince and princess behind again as they were swimming over the other side of the island. We almost got away - Nancy had threatened to leave anyone behind (there would have been other boats so they wouldn't have been stranded) but just as we were pushing off they sauntered into view. Didn't rush either!!

We headed back to the mainland and only just beat the tide back and were soon back in Patong. Dave crashed at this point - worn out by all the sun. I went for a swim in the pool before doing some emailing/blogging, grabbed dinner and did some shopping for DVD's.