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!!