Koh Phi Phi

The Lonely Planet warns backpackers that Koh Phi Phi’s beauty will evoke tears. It’s also not shy to declare it the prettiest place on Earth, but we’re keeping our fingers crossed that it doesn’t go downhill from here. There were no literal teardrops, but the uninhabited island of Phi Phi Ley is exotic, jaw-dropping, and spectacular. On the other hand you can also tear up knowing the island community of Phi Phi Don was hit hard by the December 2004 tsunami. Still recovering from the tragic natural disaster but as beautiful as ever, the Phi Phi islands might not have made us cry, but they did beg the question—What did Thailand do right to have the epitome of paradise in its backyard?

Our bungalow was perched on a hill amongst a tropical garden. The peacefulness was somewhat deceiving since we woke up almost every morning around sunrise to roosters and construction. We tied our hammocks on the front porch and called this place home for 5 nights even though you could see the light coming through the cracks in our teak wood hut. The mattresses were on the floor, but it was cozy. Thankfully, we had mosquito nets to protect us from whatever wanted to slide in and out with out us noticing (Brady found a snake skin in the shower the day we left). Before going to sleep, we recall the following conversation. Brady: “Is the door locked?” Katie: “If you mean is the wood piece lodged across the two handles, then yes, it is.”

For our first full day in Phi Phi (pronounced pee-pee), there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. We claimed a spot on Ao Lo Dalam beach and bought an inner tube to float around the island’s shallow bay. The sun was incredibly hot but we enjoy the baking sensation since it as our first legitimate day of sunshine. We ran into two guys that we met diving in Vietnam over a month ago. Even though running into people we’ve met in other countries or cities happens frequently, it is still shocking to cross paths again—considering all of the other places to go or be at that exact moment. That night we hung out on the beach at Carpe Diem Bar and listened to the famous reggae band and Thailand’s own Bob Marley, Job 2 Do. All of southern Thailand seems to have absorbed the Rasta culture, which is quite easy to do considering the island lifestyle and continuous flow of backpackers.

The following day we went out for our final two dives of the trip. Thailand is known for its rich marine life, which turned out to be true. If you blinked on our first dive (situated in between tiny Bida Nok and Bida Nai islands) then you probably missed something really cool. On our decent, Brady spotted a sleeping hawksbill turtle right below us. Seconds later, moray eels were popping out of large hard corals and huge grouper were slowly making their way around our cluster of divers. We caught a triggerfish chewing up coral, spitting it out, and eating it again. Another moray eel thought he’d disgust us by displaying his snake-like body and swimming from one hole to another. This is where we invented the dive signal for puking. We’ve come to the realization that we must dive everywhere together or no one else will be able to comprehend what we’re saying underwater. We caught on quickly, though to the universal signal for shark, which we saw...again. This one, however, was special. Three meters in length and spotted like one of Africa’s wild cats, the leopard shark we came across was sleeping on the ocean floor. We were able to get a really good look at him before our dive master woke him up. We watched him swim away gracefully before moving onto Nemo, the western clownfish. We have been looking for the real Nemo since Zanzibar but dive masters’ empty promises only turned up with anemonefish relatives. He was everywhere. Masters at buoyancy, we floated closely over a couple anemones to admire the clownfish courageously charge our masks and dash back into the protection of the anemone. The two share a symbiotic relationship in order to protect and care for each other. Puffer and porcupine fish caught our eye several times, but the weirdest was the lionfish. The brown and white-striped scorpionfish has venomous spiked fins that make it appear to be a creature from outer space. We were eager to start our second dive since the first was so enjoyable. Enormous schools of snapper followed beside us creating an impenetrable wall of yellow and silver that made looking past them impossible. With one glance, we witnessed a total of thirteen lionfish floating fearlessly amongst other marine life. Half of a black and white sea snake’s carcass was the only new thing to add to our dive log. Nonetheless, our last two dives reminded us that it’s something we really enjoy and have every intention of keeping up. Furthermore (as Brady astutely pointed out), how can we adequately “do” the world if we don’t explore underwater as much as we do above its surface?

The next day we met up with our reunited friends, Patrick and Gilles, and went on a day-long, longtail boat trip around Koh Phi Phi’s six islands. Our first stop was at a beach full of monkeys. Unfortunately irresponsible tourists fed them fruit, gave them entire 2-liter bottle of cola, and provoked them to be rambunctious. One charged Katie (who did not hassle him), but she was too quick, leaving another girl on our boat victim to an attack and bite on her leg. We went snorkeling just offshore and had a picnic, fried rice lunch on Bamboo Island. We circled Phi Phi Don to observe the island’s remote, white-sand beaches and limestone cliffs before heading to the famous Maya Bay. There is a lot of hype for this secluded bay on Phi Phi Ley because it was the well-known scene from Leonardo DiCaprio’s movie The Beach. Swimming in its pool-like water and burying your feet in its super soft sand, you’re surrounded by rugged and overgrown cliffs that protect you from large waves and currents. Boats full of tourists commute here from the mainland so we were lucky to find it fairly empty and quiet in the afternoon. When you see the movie, you’ll be surprised that a place like this exists on Earth. And from our experience, there were probably little special effects and cinematography to make the location appear that unbelievable.

While we explored the ins and outs of the island’s landscape, we cannot admit the same thing for its restaurant scene. We got addicted to some mouthwatering and lip smacking-good food at three places, which we frequented daily. Cosmic had homemade pasta, cheap Italian food, and a heavenly kiwi fruit shake. Papaya appeared to be a hole-in-the-wall, but it was always packed and consistently cooked up the tastiest Thai food we’d ever had. In the morning, we had our Thai pancake stand where we got a fruit shake and our jam and peanut butter or banana and honey rotees. We rotated in between Papaya and Cosmic for lunch and dinner because the food was so incredibly appetizing, we didn’t want to risk regretting a mediocre meal at a different restaurant. As the Thais say, we were Happy Buddha which means big, full belly.

For our last two nights in Phi Phi, we attended the three-day music festival at the Sunflower beach bar. Everyone was lounging on triangle cushions in fisherman pants and listening to the lineup of Thai reggae and rock bands. Thai and western “hippies” sipped on Singha and jammed out together even though only half of them could understand the lyrics. We played favorites to a guitarist we called Concrete Man since his vocals resembled the sound of gargling cement. A man by the name of Tiger performed a very predictable, but quite entertaining magic show and fire twirlers from some of the island’s most popular bars battled it out in competition. The fire show contest narrowed it down to the best of the best that awed the audience with their speed, bravery, and flexibility. To top it all off, if you were drunk enough or just plain stupid; you could enter the tattoo competition that went on until sunrise. Despite the fact that guaranteed their best work and that everyone who comes to Thailand seems to leave with a tattoo, we could not be convinced in the slightest that this was a good idea. It’s actually turned into a small hobby of ours to spot the traveler or local without a tattoo, find the parlor without a customer, or—the most fun—find the worst, most ridiculous artwork. This is not at all to insult anyone who wants or has a tattoo; in Thailand it’s just a little sketchy and overkill.

Overall though, Phi Phi is pure and brilliant—a worthwhile trip from the mainland and a very deserving location to film a Hollywood blockbuster. They say the best way to contribute to tsunami victims here is to pay a visit so to anyone feeling overworked and charitable this place comes highly recommended.