Southern Thailand and Koh Phi Phi
11th February 2007
We have now been in Thailand for 1 week, and wow, is this place ‘different’!
We traveled up from the Cameron Highlands, Malaysia, on the overnight bus last Sunday. The journey involved a brief stop in Ipoh, northern Malaysia, where we spent the couple of hours we had to kill trying not to be mugged! Ipoh was not a very nice place, there was a really intimidating atmosphere and lots of ‘ladies of the night’ walking the street…..after a quick coffee we headed back to the relative safety of the bus ticket office.
When the overnight bus pulled into the depot we boarded along with the other passengers. We quickly realised there was something not quite ‘right’ about the 2 glamorous ladies in the seats in front of us, yep you guessed it, we had our first confirmed ‘lady boy’ sighting! I have quickly come to realise that ‘lady boy’ is an inappropriate term, as it almost sounds sweet and innocent, but trust me, there was nothing sweet and innocent about these two stocky, six footers, doused in enough perfume to kill a heard of elephants! When they reclined their seats fully and their heads were just inches above our laps, I nearly jumped out of the window…..needless to say I didn’t sleep too well on the journey north to Hat Yai!
We got off the bus in Hat Yai, our first stop in Thailand, with plans to have a lazy day and get an onward connection to Krabi. However, before we had even reached the pavement, someone had grabbed our bags from the bus and was busy loading them into a Tuk Tuk! When we raced over to him he practically bundled us into the Tuk Tuk as well (it was at this stage I realised he wasn’t trying to steal or bags!) as he whisked us off to his ‘travel agency’ (i.e. small garage on the outskirts of town!) to sell us some onward tickets! When we realised we had no Thai currency, I was taken on a moped ride by some random guy, back to a cash-point. Within about 30 mins we found ourselves back on a bus heading north to Krabi, safe in the knowledge that we had probably paid about 10 times too much for the tickets! Welcome to Thailand, these boys can sell!
We were only in Krabi for one night, so wasted no time in grabbing a local bus out to Wat Tham Sua (aka the ‘tiger temple’). It was a pretty cool place, although the temples all seemed to be overrun by monkeys! We walked up the 1200 steps to the main temple on top of the hill where we had great views out across the surrounding countryside and the islands in the Andaman sea. On the way back down I got chased by a monkey which stole my bottle of water, we were gutted, it was about 40 degrees so the water would have come in handy, but I guess the monkey thought that also!
The next day we headed out by boat to our first island destination, Koh Phi Phi. Phi Phi was devastated by the Tsunami in 2004, but has been pretty much rebuilt now. The guidebook sold us Phi Phi as an idyllic paradise island, which it certainly was! The island raises vertically out of the ocean, with sheer limestone cliffs that stretch up over 100m. The beaches aren’t too shabby either, Maya beach being used as the location for the Hollywood film the beach! Phi Phi is definitely beautiful, but unfortunately everyone knows it, therefore it is very crowded, especially at this time of year which is peak season for Thailand’s tourist industry!
Whilst on the island we engaged in plenty of lazy sun bathing and snorkeling on the coral reefs. We also continued to fuel our new found obsession with diving, heading out by speed boat for a day at two submerged pinnacles in the Andaman sea, Hin Daeng and Hin Mouang. We were told the chances of sighting a whale shark (the biggest fish in the world), at these sites was good. Unfortunately the whale sharks didn’t show up but we did get to see a leopard shark which was pretty cool, and lots of Giant moray eels!
Whilst on the island we also took a day trip out by ‘long boat’ visiting bamboo island, and some more secluded beaches away from the crowds, including monkey beach, which as the name suggests is a beach with monkeys on it! On this trip we got to watch the sunset out on the ocean, which was a truly amazing sight! The sun was a perfect circle of glowing orange fire, without a cloud in the sky, and as it ducked under the horizon of the still ocean you could almost here it sizzle! Unfortunately the battery on our camera had given up by this stage so you will have to take my world for what a gorgeous site it was!
After 4 days relaxing in our beach bungalow on Koh Phi Phi, we reluctantly dragged ourselves down to the ferry terminal to sail north to Phuket. Phi Phi is a really beautiful place, although the crowds do detract somewhat from the islands appeal. It is easy to imagine that 20 years ago, before the crowds of tourists flocked here, (and the inevitable ‘Irish’ bars opened) that Phi Phi would have been absolute heaven!
Tags: Thailand
Chris and Charl
Hey, didn’t you read the sign!
http://public.fotki.com/bucho-ky/2006/thailand/krabirailay/dscn0517.html
🙂
Those monkeys ARE aggressive, I almost lost a camera!
I am enjoying reading about your travels, I miss Thailand! Keep up the good work,
Greg