Gotta go Phi Phi

After a few days on Samui and a few at Railay beach we thought we’d check out some more islands. Specifically Ko Phi Phi and Ko Lanta. We booked the one ferry off the island and when buying the ticket, the ladyboy selling it to me said, “It’s an open ticket, you can go whenever you want.” And I thought, “Oh that’s convenient”.

Then later I thought, “How can they keep track of how many people are on the boat?” - They can’t. Or at least they don’t. The boat came into sight from somewhere, and looked like this…

So I thought, well it’s really nice out. All these people came from somewhere cold, they’re on their holiday, they probably just want to sit outside. While that might be true, the inside of the boat, upstairs and downstairs, was also completely full. With no other choice except to get off the boat, we found a spot on the deck next to a life preserver, and with our ridiculously false sense of security, we settled in for the two hour journey. Luckily besides a little ocean spray now and then, the trip was completely uneventful.

Arriving in Phi Phi the first thing you notice is that this place is absolutely beautiful. The next thing you notice is that the place is absolutely packed with people. Once you get off the pier, and the crowds from the ferry disperse, there are still a lot of people, but it’s not that bad. The walking streets are pretty narrow, so you never see that many people at one time. We knew it was going to be busy, and with our bodies and wallets still recovering from our time on Ko Tao, we headed two kilometers east (which is like 1.2 miles) to a quieter part of the island called Long Beach. It was a little longer, hillier, and a lot sweatier of a walk than we thought, but eventually we found a place that was in our budget.

We kind of lucked out really. We happened to find a place that was having their “soft open” and we were able to get a nice little fan bungalow about 10 yards from the beach for 500 bhat. That's a good price. This was a much different place than we’re used to staying and was a lot more like an actual resort. Pool. Sunbeds. Umbrellas. Buffet. All amenities that were a little foreign to us as of lately.

I wish I had some coole stories for you, but really, we sat by the beach, we walked through town, stopped at some shops, sat on another beach, sat by the pool, ate some amazing Thai food...and that was Ko Phi Phi. Another slightly overcrowded ferry and we were off to Ko Lanta.

From Ko Phi Phi, with love.

-Will + Sara