Finding a place for Phi Phi seamed like it was going to be a relatively easy task. Known as one of the most famous tourist destinations in Thailand, and a backpacker's haven, there would be no shortage of hotels and home stays to choose from. We were looking for a small, inexpensive (not cheap) room with a private bathroom and a view of the water. We found none of those things...just kidding we got it all and more.
The day prior we had returned to the tourism office who sold us the 4 Island package, a lovely Thai women with braces. "We would like 2 tickets to Koh Phi Phi please..."
On December 6, 2019, or the 8 Kislev, 5780, at approximately 12:20pm, over twenty minutes later again, the shuttle van showed up at the Holiday Inn. We hopped on the wagon, and so began our trip to Koh Phi Phi.
The Phi Phi Islands are an Island group between Phuket and the Straits of Malacca. Ko Phi Phi Don (the one we were traveling to) is the largest and most populated island in the group. It is mostly known for the devastating tsunami that hit the island in December 2004, nearly destroying all of the islands infrastructure and killing over 4,000 people, including the Thailand's King's grandson, of whom we wrote about in the Bangkok blog.
Ko Phi Phi Le, the island south of Don, is widely known for the filming of the movie "The Beach," starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Unfortunately due an increase popularity of the beach (Maya Bay) many tourists went and left it extremely dirty, therefore it has since been closed to the public. This was disappointing to us since we had seen the movie in India and we were anxiously anticipating paying it a visit.
We left Krabi from Klong Jirad Pier at 13:30 and arrived promptly at 15:30 to the Phi Phi Beach Front Resort located in the south west side of the island facing a bay on the Andaman Sea. The room itself was fine, the shower and toilet worked and most importantly, there was the most AMAZING view. At 1200 bhat ($40) per night, we had an unobstructed view of the Andaman Sea. Life was good.
That day we walked around the island, capturing the iconic Instagram photos of the swing with the boats and sea in the background. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Just a couple of millennials self-indulging on Instagram pictures until BAM! about 50 feet away from us a Muay Thai boxing match broke out between two very angry Thai men. Not knowing the situation or who was at fault, Ben rushed to intervene, but was beat to the spot by another tourist who grabbed one of the men and pulled him away. Two minutes later the man charged the guy again, this time throwing a chair and other objects. It was somewhat brutal, but nothing crazy. All of this happened next to a police station with two cops standing on the front steps watching the fight, relentlessly joining the fun after round 2 began.
the Instagram photos:
The day ended with Tom Kah at the hotels restaurant and an early night sleep...or so we thought. We knew Koh Phi Phi was a party island, but WOW the music coming from a number of different bars and clubs was bouncing off the water and reverberating around the entire bay. The base caused our room to shake and vibrate. Only around 1am did the noise subside.
The next morning we woke up pretty early and walked our fat butts to the nearest Mc Donald's and Burger King. Some days we just can't bother to make any food decisions, and this was one of those days. So Benji #takemewithyou took me (Nadine) to MC D's
Nadine had a double double "double" meal (big girl), with 4 patties. Four! Ben got the vegetarian burger at Burger King (poor choice Ben). This fueling meal would last us all the way until our next Tam Kah dinner.
After breakfast we moseyed our way back to the beach side, rented a kayak, and paddled off to Monkey Beach and Nui Beach for some monkey touching and snorkeling. Since we didn't have a gym on the island we rowed hard most of the time to get our heart rates up #workout.
It was a fun full day ending with the tasty Tom Kah Thailand Style.
That night was party party again...
The best part about the location of the hotel was the 6am sunrise. Due to the eastward view, we had the opportunity to watch the sun come up over the mountains. After sleeping about 4-5 hours a night, Nadine woke Ben up and we shared 2 very magical sunrises.
One morning we had two little curious guests pay us a visit. Nadine was making tea next to the door when Ben noticed a monkey was STANDING INSIDE THE DOOR inches away from Nadine's foot. Cool, calm, and collected, Ben said simply "Nadine, there is a monkey in the room." She shooed it away, but Thing 1 and Thing 2 would not relent, especially when they found out we had bananas. They refused to leave until they had all of our stash, either by gift or by force. After a second failed robbery in the room, Ben went outside and fed the monkey by hand, later recalling them as having "very soft hands" This was Ben's second time touching a monkey this week alone. Read Krabi Blog here.
We spent the day walking around the town sampling disgusting Thai hummus at a restaurant that caters to Israelis, and ended the day enjoyed 2 cold bears staring out into the blue sea.
In fact, everywhere you look on the island there is Hebrew lettering, including a kosher restaurant. We saw tons of Israeli tourists and workers who had moved there.
After sunset the following day, Nadine buried Ben from neck to toe in sand. This was something we have not done in years. No pictures to show but it was very fun.
We then had two big pancakes for breakfast and walked back to the pier for the 11:00am ferry to Phuket.
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