Ko Phi Phi
In Phi Phi we stayed at what was called Phi Phi Hill Resort. We had a bugalow way up on the cliff, over looking the ocean. The restaurant was high, overlooking the water and two great islands. The sun set between them every night. This was on Long Beach, about a 35 minute walk along the way back to the village. The path along the coast was huge bounders broken up by small stretches of beach as you headed back into town. After navigating the rocks a few a few times you got to learn the terrain & this made it alot quicker, plus we could do it by night and save a few dollars that we would have been given to taxi boat drivers to take us into town.
The town itself (locals referred to it as ‘the village’) was fairly small in relation to anything else. There were only 3 main pathways, which were lined with dive shops, bars, pharmacies, restuarants, eateries, tattoo shops (thai bamboo tattooing, they use the bamboo pole to tattoo you), clothing stores, and travel shops. There were no cars or motorbikes on the island at all, so the air was really clean and the only noise was from the boats or music from the bars.
You must keep in mind that this is the same island that got hammered by the tsunami to a huge loss of life. People here are rebuilding their lives, and many of the locals say, with little help from the government.
We met a handful of people living on the island who survived the tsunami. All of those who survived lost people close to them. We me a girl who climbed a tree when the wave came and lived. While she was up on the tree her leg was impaled by a branch, probably propelled by the wind or tumult of water. 5 minutes into talking to her she showed us photos of her leg when she was in the hospital. There was basically a hole straight through her thigh about 3 inches wide.
Anther guy, Choy, owned a business that was worth a couple million baht. He got 20,000 baht (U.S. $5,000) in compensation. After the tsunami he started writing songs about the island and the feelings that were inside him after the tragedy. He said we was tossed around the streets by the water ‘like he was in a washing machine.’ Miraculously he came out with only a few cuts, although his girlfriend was lost, along with many friends. He’d been through all this and still remained positive. “All I can do is look forward to the future”, he said.
He had recieved much kindness from strangers. His instruments, including a djembe drum were destroyed – a Swiss guy ordered the skin for the drum from Africa and remade the djembe for him as well as giving him a Swiss army knife – An Austrian man brought down a portable studio on computer, took him into the jungle on op of the mountain here, and there they recorded and album of all Choy’s songs. The album is on DVD and also plays footage of Phi Phi Island. Its called ‘Andaman – A Lesson of Loss.’ [Ko Phi Phi is in the Andaman Sea] We were blessed to meet Choy for breakfast at a cafe in town. He played and sang a few of his songs for us using my guitar.
There is evidence of the Tsuname still, but really you dont even notice it, being overwhelmed by the natural beauty of the island.
Every day I would walk out of the bungalow in the morning and walk down the path towards the restaurant, stop and stare out at the water shimmering with bright sunlight with the 2 minor islands in the background. From the edge of the hill was a beautiful view of the water changing from crystal clear to a light blue-green to a darker blue.
The blue-green area had amazing coral, great for snorkling. You could rent a mask and fins at our bungalow and step right out into the water to snorkel. Huge coral formations froma few feet down to the deeper water, which looked to be about 30 ft. down. Some of the coral formations were really giant, 6 feet hight maybe and just as long around, bunches of these on the sea floor and schools of yellow & black fish were swimming around you. Some of the fish were neon colored vibrant green, blue, and purple.
If you swim out a couple minutes you come to a rock formation known as Shark Point. Alot of the dive shops took tour groups out there to swim with the sharks. We met a guy, Christopher, from Switzerland who told us about it and we were lucky enough to live right there so we just rented snorkels and swam out with him. Christopher happened to be a Dive Master who worked in one of the dive shops, so he took us out at the right time of day and told us how to behave around the sharks.
We were to swim together in a group, slowly and not make any sharp movements with our hands. This way we dont scare off the sharks and its a bit safer to be in a group. They’re never had an attack, but sharks are sharks. One guy was out snorkling by himself and he was circled by about 15 sharks. He got scared and wam in. We didn’t see 15, but I did see 2, one of which was pretty big, maybe a 5 footer.
The food on the island was pretty amazing. Fresh fruit all day. Papayas, pinenapples, coconuts, mangos, bananas, all so fresh. We ate alot of fruit and fresh fish. They brought in fresh fish every night and had them on display, usually snapper or tuna. You could check them out and pick the one you wanted and how to cook it – steamed with different sauces – the Thai spicy sauce was good, or fried, Chinese style or Thai style , or a few other ways.
We’d usually meet people during the day since Andrew was constantly chatting people up on the beach, so , at night we usually had a group of people with us for dinner. During the day we’d hang out on the beach, drink some coconut shakes, sit under this huge beach tree for shade, or go for a swim, or sit in the sun. The water was crystal clear all the way down and really warm with white powdery sand and shells. If you picked up a handful of sand and ddrapped it in the water, it would just kind of disperse to the bottom, wouldn’t even make the water cloudy. I think the sand is the reason the water was so clear.
People on the beach were really easy to talk to, probably they were enjoying the place as much as I was. Theres no stress. No one walking around bothering you or trying to sell you stuff. Everyone is just friendly and laid back. If you wanted to talk up and talk to someone you could just walk up and say ‘wow, this is beautiful, isn’t it?’, knowing they are pretty much on the exact same page you are.
J
July 18th, 2006 at 3:58 am
Free Phone Conversation Interlude Ringtone…
Hear the ringtone of the popular song: Free Phone Conversation Interlude …