More astonishing island scenery abound all backed up with friendly Thai commentary. It was turning into a good little cruise. Then the boat stopped for snorkeling. I'd never been snorkeling for real before, mainly because of my lack of interest in wildlife, but it was pretty amazing stuff. Teams of multi coloured fish swam around us in the bath-warm water of the ocean. I really can't believe we're backpacking sometimes because I'm sure people pay loads of money for trips like this! The clear water was just mind blowing meaning you were able to see loads of stuff just from beneath the surface. I wasn't to happy about swimming into a flat fish but it's all par for the course out here!
We were then taken ashore, by speed boat of course, to an all you can eat buffet restaurant on the beach. Frickin brilliant. Covered food, with the addition of candles that put off the flies, that was just excellent. Our table was right on the quiet beach under palm trees on the tropical island. It doesn't get much better.
Turns out it does.
Back on the boat to be dropped off at our destination and next two nights stay, Phi Phi island. This place is small but fairly busy, but in an extremely laid back kind of way. No motorised vehicles exist here, other than 2 motorcycles we saw and even those could've been the same bike! This island has one hotel the is about 5 storeys high and everything else is no bigger than 2, but mainly everywhere is on the level. The people living here are almost horizontally laid back and the whole island has a family-type atmosphere and is really friendly. We're a long way from Bangkok! No dishonesty here, it's all straight down the line, which we found out immediately when a local showed us to our hotel. Hotel is probably the wrong word though. These are separate air conditioned cabins on stilts in a lagoon all within a tropical setting, with the mandatory gorgeous pool and free excellent breakfasts via the boardwalk to the restaurant. "What?! It's a 30 second walk to the pristine beach?! Damn this backpacker lifestyle!!" Needless to say the beach was truly beautiful. Moored up fishing boats and the double spoon shaped island meant mountain on either side while you swam in the glass-like warm water. You couldn't see a bad view no matter where you looked. I loved this place.
Considering we were just going to pass through Thailand I'm soo glad we went to Phi Phi as the whole perception of the place got turned right on it's head.
That night a huge thunderstorm struck the island. Massive lightening bolts and cracks from directly above, all watched from the comfort of our room - there were 2 cameras rigged up on the island running direct to the hotel's TV channels and we saw the whole show!
The next day we stuffed our faces on gorgeous food and relaxed in the water to then go out and stuff our faces again on amazing food. We got talking to a Welsh couple who were staying on a nearby island, which you had to get a water taxi to. We ended up going for cocktails on the beach with them whilst watching a Thai guy do some amazing fire-poi to the banging music. It was all uber cool and soo far from where we've been it's untrue. We could've have stayed weeks here just doing nothing. I've never seen scenery like it or stayed in a place like it.
But like all good things, the next day we were off again back to Phuket for a couple more nights.
Fishing boats at Phi Phi. The first photo higher up this post is our cabin on the island, cracking.
Above, the hectic streets of Phi Phi island.
No comments:
Post a Comment