Maya Bay & the Joys of Tourism...

For the last day on Koh Phi Phi Matt and I decided to do the Maya Bay tour.  The tour lasts 4/5 hours and includes stopping at various points around Koh Phi Phi Lay (sister island to Koh Koh Phi Phi) to snorkel and to feed wild monkeys and then finishing off in Maya bay which is the scenic location where ‘The Beach’ was filmed.

We met at the pier at 8.30 and travelling by longtail boat to the first stop.  Baring in mind the whole trip is mainly based around snorkeling and dive from the boat into crystal clear water; there were 2 young Korean couples who were completely kitted out in jeans, long sleeved t-shirts and rain jackets...  We stopped at the first spot for about half an hour, swam around for bit and climbed back into the boat to move on.  At this point one of the Korean guys got a bit restless of having to just sit in the boat whilst Matt and I were diving continuously off of the boat; so just taking off his t-shirt he jumped into the water in his jeans and had a swim for 10 minutes...

I came to Maya Bay on my first trip to Thailand 8 years ago and it was quite possibly the highlight of the entire trip.  At that point there was only 1 company that ran the trip to visit to bay; and the boat that we were on had only around 15 people.  There were also very strict guidelines for the area as the bay falls into a National Park and conservation area.  No boats were allowed into the bay at all and we had to stop around the bay, snorkel to the rocks and walk through the jungle to get access to the beach (the exact same route that was used in the film).  The water was the bluest that I’d ever seen, the beach was completely deserted, there was a small yellow shark swimming in the shallows and we all spent about 2 hours playing football, Frisbee etc... with nothing else around us.

It is now very evident that the authorities have discovered that there is money to be made.  Every person with a boat offers trips to the bay and people come from miles via speed boats to visit.  Boats are allowed into the bay and the entire stretch of the beach is covered in speed boats and longtail boats and hundreds of tourists.

The whole point of a place like this is to have tranquility.  To be able to take a picture on a completely deserted and picturesque beach; however there wasn’t a single place left where there wasn’t someone standing in the background.

The first picture below was taken 8 years ago, followed by what the beach looks like now.  The transformation is ridiculous and has completely taken away the sacred essence of the bay.

Over than this, the day was still very enjoyable and after visiting the bay we headed to Monkey beach; which was awesome!!

Koh Phi Phi...

After the fun of Songkran, it was back to the real world!! The real world being heading out in safety of not being completely drenched and off to the beach.  We’d arranged to meet Jess and Martha – who we’d met in Krabi Town – on Railay beach at 10 in the morning to make sure that we got a full day of sun before heading to the next beach destination.  The temperature was set on HOT and the beach was its usual quiet and desolate self.  The four of us spent the majority of the time piecing together the night of the Tsunami Party and letting Matt know what he missed by heading home early ad also swapping stories of Songkran.

During lunch we had all decided that we would travel to Koh Phi Phi the next morning; as Matt had never been before, the girls had only done a small day trip to the nearby islands and I hadn’t been there for 4 years.  We ate in Mama’s Kitchen on the West side of the beach and then went to book the tickets.

We made it another 3 or 4 hours of chilling in the sun, eating banana pancakes and diving in the sea when the heat became too much before the rain came!! And boy did it come!!  For the next 2 hours we were holed up in the reggae bar at the front of the beach, sinking a few Changs and waiting for a small break in the downpour so that we could get a boat back to the main land.  Jess and Martha were both staying at Railay, and were being picked up from another pier to us; so we parted to meet the next morning on the boat at 10ish.

We were awake bright and early the next morning, had a healthy breakfast of coffee and Pringles before being picked up at the hotel and driven to the main pier at Ao Nang to get aboard the boat to Koh Phi Phi.  We departed just after 9.30 and stopped within the bay at Railay to pick up the next group of people.  After sitting in the boat for about 20 minutes we were started to get a bit bored, so Jess and Myself went out onto the deck and around to the front of the boat to lay in the sun for the next hour or so until we eventually saw the island on the horizon.

Getting off of the boat at Koh Phi Phi is a stressful event to say the least.  The exit of the pier leads right into the tourist offices, with about 20 Thai people trying to grab the tourists and get them booked into a hotel.  They use the oldest trick in the book by telling everybody that the island is extremely full at the moment and that the prices are fixed and none of the guesthouses take private bookings; they only book through us.  We found a couple of places that we liked the look of; however the guy would not lower the price to what we were looking to pay; so we grabbed are bags and headed off in search ourselves.  We were looking to find a map of the island so that we could plan are way around when we met a Welsh guy working within one of the scuba diving places.  He gave us a small map and also told us some of the best places to try where we’d be able to get a good rate; although he did say that they were slightly out of the way from the main part of town (and seeing as though the island is extremely small anyway, that wasn’t too much of a problem).

We ended up strolling around for about 45 minutes trying to find a place.  Most of the guesthouses had availability; however the ones that had the right price were not really the most desirable...  We eventually had a team meeting and decided to pay that little bit more than we’d hoped and settled for a place called the ‘Harmony Inn’; which was only a 5 minute walk into the town and to the beach and literally on the steps leading up to the View Point across the island.  We still got a really good deal with two rooms for 800baht each; considering that Koh Phi Phi is one of the most expensive islands in the South of Thailand.

After the early morning and exhausting run-around trying to find somewhere to stay we were all starving and quickly dumped the bags into the rooms, stuck the air-con on full and went out in search of food.

After lunch, we had a wander around to get a scope of the island and where the main bars etc were and then decided to spend the rest of the afternoon on the beach, winding down the day and getting ready for the evening.  The beach was fairly quiet.  Our guesthouse was towards the end of the beach, so we stayed down that end so it would be easier to get back.  The bay has extremely shallow waters and you can wade out for nearly 300 metres before the water level reaches your chest; although it is fairly rocky after the first 50 metres and there were lots of small fish nibbling at your feet.

We stayed on the beach until the sun begun to set; however the night was really cloudy, so there wasn’t too much to see.  We ate in a great Thai place, although we all went for the pizza; mainly to line the stomach for the night ahead.  Martha was still feeling the effects of the post-tsunami hangover, so she went back to the room to watch a couple of movies leaving the three of us to hit the beach.  There are several bars within the town that were having parties, but when walking past they were not the liveliest; so after being given a couple of flyers we went to a beach bar called Slinkys.

The main beach at Koh Phi Phi can only be described as a mini Had-Rin.  There’s several bars along the front and – like Had-Rin – have stages brought out at night and Dj’s playing until the early hours.  We headed straight to Slinkys; which had the largest crowd, got some drinks started to party.  The fire show was just starting and a fire-limbo had been set up in the middle of the dancefloor.  Later on in the night I had the unfortunate pleasure of watching Spurs get thumped in the FA Cup Semi-Final... which put a downer on the rest of the evening; so leaving the others on the beach I headed back around 3am.

The one thing to point out is that Koh Phi Phi has the most amazing Pizza than anywhere else in Southeast Asia!! Especially at 3am!! The slices are huge New York style, with a nice layer of grease coating the top and the perfect way to end a night out!!  It is fair to say that they also make a great snack between meals...

Hangovers all round the next morning... We went for a late breakfast to soak up some the previous night’s buckets (Full English, extra bacon and black coffee) and attempted to plan the day.  The weather was good, but quite a few clouds in the sky.  So as it was not completely baking hot, we decided to venture up to the View Point to soak in one of the most amazing views in the whole of Southeast Asia.

The climb up to the View Point is exactly the easiest; and the struggle for some of us started after about 2 minutes with Jess flagging a long way behind.  There are 3 levels of the View Point; getting more spectacular the higher it goes.  It took us about 20 minutes to reach the 2^nd vantage point and the view made it all worthwhile.  The beaches looked golden and the sea as turquoise and it can get.  Although the island is fairly built up, there is still a lot of greenery in the hills and cliffs surrounding.

The final and highest point is a bit harder to get to; with much steeper pathways.  Although, as before, the view more than makes up for it.  At the top is a small bar with ice cold drinks to help the recovery process and enough shade to help cool down and get the breath back.  There are large boulders overhanging the cliffs which are perfect for relaxing on and taking in the view.  We stayed up there are about an hour; getting some photos and relaxing in the bar and getting prepared for the decent!

After the View Point we wandered back to the room for a small siesta and got ready to grab some food.  As Martha didn’t go out the previous night; we had planned for this to be a bigger and better one.  Over dinner we discussed what the best plan of action was.  We headed back to our room, got a couple of bottles of vodka and multi-coloured mixers on the way and decided to play f**k the bus until the drink ran dry.  Luckily we also had a few big bottles of Chang in the fridge, so managed to drag the session on for a good hour or so.  Matt and Martha ended up worse off; the cards we’re definitely not their friends that night, however we all had our fair share of riding the bus at some point.

We got to the beach at around midnight and made straight for Slinkys again to grab a bucket of the magic stuff and start the party.  The music was as good as ever with Hangover, Dynamite and Jagger all blasting out.  We went along the beach to check out some of the other bars; however none were as good as Slinkys.  The Stoners bar was chilled out and fairly deserted and the next along was playing hardcore dubstep; which again was deserted.

Wandering back along the beach, finishing the last few drops of the bucket and not really paying attention to where I was going, I managed to find the only rope on the sand that was mooring a longtail boat in the shallows.  I managed to get my foot caught nicely underneath it, making me lose my other footing and completely face plant into the sand; grazing most of the top of my right foot... which looks pretty good now as the scarring really stands out against my tan.

The remainder of the night was somewhat blurry.  All I really remember is a couple of buckets later and sore legs from continuous dancing, I was heading back to the guesthouse with a slice of pepperoni pizza in each hand!!

For some strange strange reason I was awake really early – around 9am – the next day and couldn’t get back to sleep; so got myself showered and dressed and went out to grab some breakfast and change up on a few emails.  I got back to the room just as Martha was knocking and said that Jess was M.I.A...  Matt and Martha went out to get some food and I held the fort in case of her return.  She wandered back around midnight and went straight to bed, whilst the 3 of us just kicked back in the room playing cards and chatting.

We all went to the beach later in the afternoon and chilled out until Sunset.  Matt and myself went back up to the View Point to watch the sun dip down whilst the girls went to sleep for a couple of hours.  The walk up nearly killed me and seemed to be a lot harder than the previous; however the view of the huge orange ball dropping off of the horizon was amazing!!

On the night we decided to have a quiet one; so went to the Pirate’s bar for dinner (we opted for an Indian this time to mix things up a bit!), had a quick beer, then back to the room to relax.

The girls were heading off of the island to head to Ko Lanta, and we had booked one more day to do a small tour around the surrounding islands...

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Songkran...

After the last few hectic days with the tsunami evacuation, having my phone stolen etc... the need for some fun was very high on the agenda!  Luckily, two days after the evacuation was the Thai New Year festival of Songkran.  With the searing heat of over 35°C the Thai’s know the best way to celebrate this; with a huge water fight.  The water is symbolic as it represents washing away the old year and being cleansed for the year ahead.  Depending on where you are in the country the celebrations can last from 1 day in the South to 7 days in the Northern cities such as Chiang Mai.  Ours lasted only 1; which was in fact a blessing as I was aching enough after a few hours!

That morning I needed to go to the Police station to report my stolen phone, which was about a 20 minute walk through the town.  It was still really early; so on the way there we managed to get only slightly wet with a few sprays from kids running past.  The way back was completely different.  Half way back to the hotel I felt like I’d been thrown into a swimming pool.  In the space of 30 minutes hoards of people had taken to the street and the water fight had more than begun.  All of the shops that are usually spilling out onto the street were closed and boarded up, locals had brought massive water tanks onto the streets for people to re-fill their water guns as they went past and pick-up trucks were also circling the streets, filled with people with buckets throwing water over anybody that got in the way.

Walking back from the Police station we picked up a couple of big water guns to have some sort of defence against the hoards of people that were now lining the streets.  We made it back to the hotel, quickly changed into board shorts and ventured out once again; saturating anybody that got in the way.

The atmosphere was so different than anything that I’ve seen before in Thailand.  All of the locals had got together and didn’t seem to have a care in the world.  All of the kids were running around with buckets of water trying to soak the westerners that were walking through and the elderly were also well equipped with water guns whilst lounging back in their chairs.

We found that the trick to having the best water gun was to fill the tank first full of ice cubes before pouring the water in, which gave everyone that was squirted a little wake-up boost!  The guys in the Indian restaurants were the best at this and were throwing buckets of ice cold water over people going past in the open backed trucks or on motorcycles.

After a couple of hours fun, we took a break and grabbed some lunch in McDonalds – as this was one of the only places open – and then hit the streets again.  It was an extremely exhausting day which started to wind down at sunset; however when we eventually ventured out after dark in search of dinner; we had to still keeps our wits about us as there were children still hiding around every corner waiting to soak someone!

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The day the boat rocked – Tsunami Warning 2012...

Leaving Koh Phangan wasn’t easy; the island just takes you in its grip and one could easily find that they waste away the next month exploring all of the beautiful unspoiled beaches of the North and getting ready to loop back to Had-Rin for another week long Full Moon party.  The girl that works in the hostel that I was staying in came for a Full Moon party and ended up staying.  That was a year and half ago...  However the tickets were booked and we were being picked up at 9am to leave the memories behind.

The bus/boat/bus/taxi ride wasn’t the most enjoyable; however after 10 hours Matt and I were in Ao Nang and searching for a place to stay.  This took the best part of 5 minutes as the first place we looked at was pretty decent, had air-con and we’d managed to haggle for a bargain price of only 600baht a night.  As we’d gotten to Ao Nang fairly late we just went out to get some food, stopped in the Irish Rover for a beer and to watch the football and hit the sack ready for another day in Paradise tomorrow.

We left Ao Nang at 10am to make sure we had as much time as possible in the sun and took the short boat ride round the Railay.  I won’t go into a lot of detail as it was pretty much the same as the previous post about the beach.  We chilled out for most of the day and at around 4pm dark clouds quickly crept over and the heavens opened.  We took refuge in one of the posh bars on the front; had an overly priced Pad Thai and as soon the rain began to stop, headed to the boats to go back to Ao Nang.  The night was much like the last.  On a semi-detox after Koh Phangan, so just went to a small Thai place and again saw an early night watching movies in the room.

The following day started off like any other; however by the end of it my mind’s perspective had changed a lot...  We again arrived at the beach at 10ish to get the boat around to Railay.  The weather was much better than the previous day and there was not a single cloud in the sky.  We chilled on the beach for a few hours with large bottles of water and banana pancakes, had lunch on the west side of the island and back to the sun; not expecting at all what was to follow...

At around 4.30 Matt was flat out asleep and I was just sitting up looking out into the horizon.  A Thai guy came along the beach and started talking to me, saying ‘Phuket, Phuket; you go now’.  Not having a clue what he was really saying I replied; no, I don’t want to go to Phuket.  The conversation for the next 2 minutes followed suit and I was trying to tell him that I couldn’t understand and for him to go away.  He then said; ‘You know before, Phuket, Big wave’, to which I said yes, I remembered it and him saying again; ‘Yes, you go now’.  He then walked off along the beach and started talking to a few over people that also didn’t have any idea what he was saying.  Matt woke up during this and also two English guys sitting in front of us turned around to ask what he was saying...  I said that he’d mentioned a big wave, before saying that if there was a big wave coming, then tide usually goes out.  This seemed to be the kiss of death; as we all looked up to the sea and saw that it had dropped back about 15 metres from where it was about 20 minutes ago.  Looking along the beach, it was also getting a lot emptier, which at first I thought was just to do with the time of the day.  We also talked about feeling the ground move in a wave motion beneath us whilst lying on the beach about half an hour previously; however I had passed it off at the time to be a vibration from a passing boat.

We decided to pack up and head back to Ao Nang; however as we were half way along the beach, the warning sirens for a tsunami burst into life.  This was the moment that everything changed.  I have never seen so much terror on somebody’s face as I saw in the boat drivers.  They were all standing on the edges of their boats screaming at people to get on board.  Many of the boats left without anybody on them and the rest only half full.  There were 7 people in total on our boat which can normally fit 16.  The rest of the people on the beach were being ushered further into the island towards the high points and to hotels that had 3 or more stories.  Still not really knowing what was happening we were racing towards the main pier at Ao Nang where we to be dropped off and to head to the evacuation zones.  We had an old German couple on the boat with us know were trying to get the driver to take to boat to a small beach where their beach bungalow was and were not really grasping the fact that if a tsunami were to hit, the place that they should be least of all is on the beach!

All of the boats from the neighbouring beaches were heading towards the pier and it looked like a fleet of longtail boats driving as fast as the motors can take them and each person had the same worried and not-knowing look on their faces.

We got off of the boat about 25 minutes later and ran along the beach up to the main road.  There were no taxis or buses; however there was a pick-up truck with canoes and surf boards in the back that was just about to leave.  We flagged it down and they left us jump in the back.  They kindly rove us further in land, and we picked up a few more stragglers on the way.  The driver first took us to a school; however it only had 2 stories and we were told that it may not be safe enough; so they dropped us where a taxi bus had just pulled up and we asked to be taken into Krabi Town; which is 20km inland and with the safe zone.  Half way to Krabi Town it started raining; which wasn’t great as we were in an open-sided taxi.

Whilst in the taxi Matt turned his roaming on and managed to get some information on what was happened.  We’d learned that an 8.9 magnitude hit the coast on North West coast of Sumatra; approx. 500km from Phuket.  A 24 hour tsunami warning had been given for all South Western Thai islands, Indonesia and Malaysia.

We arrived in the centre of town around 6pm and headed with two German people that we’d met to a bar to plan what to do next.  We still had very little information and the first place that we went to did not have Wi-Fi.  Matt’s phone and my iPod had run out of battery and both of our laptops and my phone were back in the room at Ao Nang.  The rain had eased off a bit so we went in search of somewhere that had Wi-Fi and also to get something to eat.  The majority of the town was deserted and most bars and restaurants were closed.  We found one place just in time as another storm began to pass over and rain the rain started up again.  The place we found was a little livelier than the last.  We met in there a few more Germans, a Swiss guy and 2 English girls – Jess and Martha.  We hung out in the bar for a couple of hours; swapping stories and still trying piece together what was happening.  We managed to get online; however with the storm, the connection was very poor.  I couldn’t get into my emails, so put a distress call out on Facebook for someone to call the Old Man and let him know I was safe.

We thought that as the warning was for 24 hours, there would be no point trying to get back to Ao Nang tonight so Jess and I headed out in the pouring rain in search of a cheap place to crash for the night.  Probably wasn’t the best idea as it was absolutely torrential; however we were now 3 big bottles of Chang down and thought that it would be a good idea.  Flip Flops were useless as they were far too slippery and would cause more harm than good.  So a minute later we were running down the middle of the road, completely soaked to the bone; not exactly 100% where we were going.  The first couple that we found were fully booked; but after another 10 minutes of running around in the rain be found one; spent another 5 minutes bargaining with the reception and managed to get a couple of rooms for 400baht each.  We got back to the bar – absolutely drenched –, dried out for a bit and when the rain finally ceased, checked into the hotel and got ready to head out for the Unofficial Tsunami Party 2012.

We found a bar around the corner that had a rooftop terrace and got going.  It was fairy busy as was one of the only places open in that area of the town.  They also had a really good singer playing acoustically.  We met up with the German guys from the place before and spent the next hour relaxing and listening to the music.  As the hour approached we decided to spice the night up a bit and opted for a couple of Sambucca shot and Sambucca chaser.  Matt left and headed back to the hotel shortly after and the 3 of us remaining went across the road to a small club that wasn’t at all busy, but was playing half decent music...  We danced and partied for another few hours and as 3am rolled round it was time to call it a night.  Whilst walking back, the German guys that we’d met earlier had lost the key to the main gate of their hotel and were trying to figure out how to get onto their balcony 2 floors up.  They chose not to go for the Spiderman approach of scaling the wall and through enough persuasion managed to get into the hotel next door and climb across 3 balconies until they reached theirs; with a lot of encouragement and cheering from below.

The next morning was not a pretty sight...  We wanted to get up early and get back to Ao Nang as soon as possible; so at 9am the alarm went off and as I sat up it felt like someone had smashed my head in with a hammer.  After a wobbly 10 minutes we were ready to leave; and then realising that my iPod was in Jess’ handbag, spent the another 5 minutes trying to wake them up.  They were planning to go to Ao Nang in a day or so; so we arranged to meet up and then Matt and I went in search of a taxi to take us back.

So, what would be one of the worst things to happen when you are more hungover than imaginably possible?  We arrived back the room at around 11am and the first thing that I noticed was that my BlackBerry – which was plugged into the charger and sitting on top of the TV – was no longer there.  At first I thought that it may have just fallen; but after 5 minutes of searching it was definitely missing.  We checked all of our other belongings and they were all there; including two laptops which were right next to the phone.

I knew it would be one of the maids when they cleaned the room, so went straight to the reception.  You never can quite believe how ignorant some people are until a situation like this.  To say they were unhelpful would be the biggest understatement of them all.  Every single person working there had somehow lost their ability to speak the perfect English that usually came out of their mouths and all they could do was shrug their shoulders and say sorry and ‘I don’t know, I don’t know’.  I went absolutely ballistic at them.  I thought if they want to play the ignorant foreigner, then I’ll do the same.

The Police were equally as helpful and the only thing I got from them was a statement written completely in Thai to pass onto the insurance company.

The phone I didn’t have a problem with; that can be replaced easily enough.  It is the hundreds of messages/pictures/videos that I won’t get back.

The remainder of that day was a wash-out.  After the ordeal with the phone, the hangover started to crept back; so I shut my eyes for 30minutes and woke up 5 hours later...

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