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 2nd
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...
x
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