The morning after our tour in Krabi we got on the ferry to Ko Phi Phi (pronounced Ko Pee Pee -hee hee). This was probably the first stop on our island tour (since Ko Samui) where we hadn't made sleeping arrangements in advance. Its one of the advantages to having a travelling companion with a phone! With Ko Phi Phi we had looked in Lonely Planet and called a few places but the prices seemed steep. So when we got off the boat we were accosted with people trying to book guest houses for us. They had a wall set up where we could see all the different options, including pricing, which was really helpful. It was also ridiculous. Somehow in the time it took for us to get from the East side to the West side (remember that 16 hours on boats and buses) it went from low season to high season and prices sky-rocketed. Granted, we still weren't paying that much and since we were going to spend a little more anyway, the 3 of us decided that it would be nice to stay in a place we liked. So we chose a guest house that would give us a little bungalow (complete with a hammock!). After we booked our room the lady told us to wait and a taxi would come pick us up and take us to the guest house. As it turned out, "taxi" meant a guy with a platform wheelbarrow where we could put our backpacks and as he set quite a jaunty pace so we focused our efforts on following him instead of looking at all the people and merchandise we were passing.
It was one of the things I liked about Ko Phi Phi was there was no transportation. Your options were walking or walking. Obviously, some locals had motorbikes or bicycles (which was sometimes frightening when they were trying to pass you on the road), but the roads were too narrow and too filled with people to make room for anything bigger than a motorbike. All of the roads were also lined with shops selling clothing, souvenirs, jewelry, bathing suits, etc. As a whole it seemed like there were 3 things to do in Ko Phi Phi: shop, relax on the beach, and party on the beach. Of course, there were also diving opportunities and tour opportunities but since we had gone diving for much less in Ko Tao, and most of the tours were of the limestone cliffs that we had seen the day before, we opted out of doing either.
So on that first day, we settled into our bungalow and then promptly went to find food since we hadn't gotten breakfast before we left Krabi. After that we went down to the beach and spent most of the day relaxing, swimming, and reading. The weird thing about the beach in Ko Phi Phi was that the tide was very very low. The whole day we were sitting up by the restaurants and bars and the water started probably 10 meters out. In the evening the tide rose to be about 1 meter from where we were but by the time we were back at the beach dancing that night the water had gone out again! Shortest "high" tide ever!
So after relaxing at the beach all day we went back to our guest house to shower and change. We went out to an Indian restaurant for dinner (it was yummy!), walked around looking at the shops, and then bought a bucket mix from the street. Buckets are definitely the most popular drink in the south, however, the difference between buying one in a bar and buying one that you mix yourself (except not really, the woman we bought it from still mixed it for us) is about 200 baht. After we got our bucket we made our way over to one of the bars that had a hoppin dance party. We didn't want to have something slipped into our bucket so we enjoyed the drunken antics of this man while we sipped.
And then we danced.
The next day we did more of the same. We went shopping during the day only to discover that its better in the evening. But spent most of our day just hanging out.
Overall, I had a great time in Ko Phi Phi. I am SO GLAD that I was with Lieke and Kimsha though since its not really my style to go out dancing alone and that was easily the best part. I had so much fun.
The next morning I left Lieke and Kimsha in Ko Phi Phi while I moved on to Phuket. I believe I mentioned towards the beginning that Phuket was one of the places I really felt the need to go because it was probably the only city I knew of in the south before I moved to Thailand. I was sad to leave my new Dutch friends but my vacation time was ending!
I'm going to include Phuket here because I don't have much to say. I didn't like it. Phuket was dirty, overpriced, and there was a lot of sex tourism. I only had a day (I arrived in the late morning and left the next morning) so in all fairness I didn't really get to go to the city of Phuket since I was staying on the beach. However, driving through the city both on my way in and my way out I was not impressed. And the fact that the cheapest breakfast I could find was 300 baht (for the same meal that had cost 150 in other southern cities) was irritating. On one side of the street there was a bunch of bars which at night started advertising people in cages, topless ping pong, and other such entertainment. On the other side were fancy resorts where families stayed. It was odd and kind of uncomfortable. So that was my Phuket experience.
The next morning I was on a bus out of there and on my way back to Bangkok. The only notable story about the bus ride was that there were 4 buses - a minibus that picked me up, a bus that took us to another bus station, then there was some confusion about our recipts/bus tickets so we had to go to a different bus station, and finally we got on our overnight bus to Bangkok. It was so much better than the train though. The only problem was that the bus driver did not take us to a bus station in Bangkok, he just kind of stopped, unloaded all our bags, and told us to get off. So for about 10 minutes there were 20 farangs standing on the side of an empty road in Bangkok at 5 in the morning. Most of them seemed to be heading to the same place but since I needed to get to the bus station I went towards an intersection hoping to get a taxi. I think this made some of them thing that I knew where I was going (which I didn't - I had no idea where we were)... Anyway, I got to my bus station OK, got on the bus back to Chaiyaphum, and whew! Vacation over.
It was one of the things I liked about Ko Phi Phi was there was no transportation. Your options were walking or walking. Obviously, some locals had motorbikes or bicycles (which was sometimes frightening when they were trying to pass you on the road), but the roads were too narrow and too filled with people to make room for anything bigger than a motorbike. All of the roads were also lined with shops selling clothing, souvenirs, jewelry, bathing suits, etc. As a whole it seemed like there were 3 things to do in Ko Phi Phi: shop, relax on the beach, and party on the beach. Of course, there were also diving opportunities and tour opportunities but since we had gone diving for much less in Ko Tao, and most of the tours were of the limestone cliffs that we had seen the day before, we opted out of doing either.
So on that first day, we settled into our bungalow and then promptly went to find food since we hadn't gotten breakfast before we left Krabi. After that we went down to the beach and spent most of the day relaxing, swimming, and reading. The weird thing about the beach in Ko Phi Phi was that the tide was very very low. The whole day we were sitting up by the restaurants and bars and the water started probably 10 meters out. In the evening the tide rose to be about 1 meter from where we were but by the time we were back at the beach dancing that night the water had gone out again! Shortest "high" tide ever!
So after relaxing at the beach all day we went back to our guest house to shower and change. We went out to an Indian restaurant for dinner (it was yummy!), walked around looking at the shops, and then bought a bucket mix from the street. Buckets are definitely the most popular drink in the south, however, the difference between buying one in a bar and buying one that you mix yourself (except not really, the woman we bought it from still mixed it for us) is about 200 baht. After we got our bucket we made our way over to one of the bars that had a hoppin dance party. We didn't want to have something slipped into our bucket so we enjoyed the drunken antics of this man while we sipped.
 |
| It started with 2 guys |
 |
| And turned into a one-man show! |
And then we danced.
 |
| yeah... that's all sweat :) |
 |
| Fire show! |
The next day we did more of the same. We went shopping during the day only to discover that its better in the evening. But spent most of our day just hanging out.
Overall, I had a great time in Ko Phi Phi. I am SO GLAD that I was with Lieke and Kimsha though since its not really my style to go out dancing alone and that was easily the best part. I had so much fun.
The next morning I left Lieke and Kimsha in Ko Phi Phi while I moved on to Phuket. I believe I mentioned towards the beginning that Phuket was one of the places I really felt the need to go because it was probably the only city I knew of in the south before I moved to Thailand. I was sad to leave my new Dutch friends but my vacation time was ending!
I'm going to include Phuket here because I don't have much to say. I didn't like it. Phuket was dirty, overpriced, and there was a lot of sex tourism. I only had a day (I arrived in the late morning and left the next morning) so in all fairness I didn't really get to go to the city of Phuket since I was staying on the beach. However, driving through the city both on my way in and my way out I was not impressed. And the fact that the cheapest breakfast I could find was 300 baht (for the same meal that had cost 150 in other southern cities) was irritating. On one side of the street there was a bunch of bars which at night started advertising people in cages, topless ping pong, and other such entertainment. On the other side were fancy resorts where families stayed. It was odd and kind of uncomfortable. So that was my Phuket experience.
The next morning I was on a bus out of there and on my way back to Bangkok. The only notable story about the bus ride was that there were 4 buses - a minibus that picked me up, a bus that took us to another bus station, then there was some confusion about our recipts/bus tickets so we had to go to a different bus station, and finally we got on our overnight bus to Bangkok. It was so much better than the train though. The only problem was that the bus driver did not take us to a bus station in Bangkok, he just kind of stopped, unloaded all our bags, and told us to get off. So for about 10 minutes there were 20 farangs standing on the side of an empty road in Bangkok at 5 in the morning. Most of them seemed to be heading to the same place but since I needed to get to the bus station I went towards an intersection hoping to get a taxi. I think this made some of them thing that I knew where I was going (which I didn't - I had no idea where we were)... Anyway, I got to my bus station OK, got on the bus back to Chaiyaphum, and whew! Vacation over.
Great story.... I'm wondering if most (business) people speak English or have you learned enough Thai to get around and information you need.
ReplyDelete