Koh Phi Phi

IMGP6109

 164_6445-4.JPGSince my parents left, we’ve had a few disappointing days and destinations. But today we broke that streak. Today was one of those days that makes the bad ones worth it, one of those days that reminds us why we travel and why we’re doing what we’re doing. Today we ventured to Koh Phi Phi, which is actually two islands, the large and overly touristed Phi Phi Don and the smalled uninhabited Phi Phi Leh. Both are within a protected marine area, although you wouldn’t know it by Phi Phi Don’ mini Khao San. Our first stop was to Monkey Beach, a beautiful beach on Phi Phi Don which is inaccessible from land. It was an inexplicably beautiful beach: white sand sandwiched between clear green water and thick green jungle. We jumped off the boat and snorkeled for a while before swimming in to the beach. Looking out, I thought about Thailand is a land of green water, as the various islands and beaches we’ve visited have always had the most beautiful hues of green. Even in places where the water clarity wasn’t perfect like here, the colors of the ocean have always been superb. I think I read somewhere that Thailand’s green-tinted shores are the result of dissolved limestone, but I could be mistaken.

            Our second stop was at the mythical Maya Bay, which embodied the dual nature of Phi Phi: beautiful beyond belief and so crowded with tourists the place itself is barely visible. Made famous as the filming location of “The Beach,” hordes of people have since descended on it, kind of like in the book and film. It’s a pale green bay almost completely enclosed by limestone cliffs. Speedboats waited for daytrippers on the left end of the beach, with longtails at the right end, and all manner of pink and sun-burnt people covering the beach. Despite the crowds, I’d still say it was one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. Here’s some photos, you can judge for yourself.

            Following Maya Bay, we saw a couple other bays, stopped for some snorkeling at an offshore reef, and stopped for lunch at Phi Phi Don. There was nothing really to note about the overbuilt Phi Phi Don, except to remember the thousands of people that died there in the Boxing Day Tsunami. Geographically, it was one of the worst hit areas and the casualties were worsened by the fact that tons of Christmas partiers had slept on the beach the night before. The highlight of our afternoon though, was our final stop at Bamboo Island. It was another white sand beach, which curved around the perimeter of the small island. We contented ourselves at one of the far ends of the beach, near a black rocky outcrop of volcanic rock. Coral was more prominent than sand in some places, but the water was warm and clear. It was a peaceful and uncrowded beach, which was the perfect way to wind down our excellent day.

IMGP6030

Monkey Beach- not a bad way to start our day…clear water and white powdery sand

IMGP6055

Maya Bay, a surreal place

IMGP6036

Oh yea, all these people came to see Maya Bay too…

 

IMG_4598

this is what happens when you drop a banana in the ocean

 

IMG_4590

and this is what happens when you drop a piece of bread in the ocean…

IMGP6133

Bamboo Beach to end our day…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>