Chris' Travels

Day 27 Koh Phi Phi

Only four short days since the last Post, And yet another 4 crazy days.

Day 23. I got ready to leave Koh Tao. As I've totaly made clear in my previous posts
I had a cracking time. It was a home from Home. I'd made pretty good friends with the staff at Tropicanna where I was staying. They were amazing. I Loved them in a friend/family kind of way. I miss them even now. So I sat around in the restaurant. booked some tickets. Was glum. It rained. You get the picture. I sulked around a bit. Bought a big plastic poncho because felt sure this rain was going to follow me around. That was that.

Day 24.

I was off. Finally leaving Tao. I 'd booked a night ferry/bus combo to get me to Krabi. It wasn't in the plan (not that there is much of a plan) but seemed like the next step. Again hung around the hotel. it rained it stopped. it rained. and stopped. I went to sleep in afternoon because I was ready to go. Then....... A bang on the door and Welshy showed up! He was back from the full moon party (minus 2000 Baht, and his gold chain that got nicked and with 5 stiches in his finger where he sliced it nearly off on a sharp door!) So spent my last few hours laughing at him. Clumsy old fool. I said my final goodbyes to the Tropicana gang (a tear in my eye.....) and jumped on the back of a pick up to go to the ferry.

To be fair I had no idea what to expect..... This was what I got.

If you can't see it's about 2.5 foot by 6.5 foot of Bed space for 100 people with no seperation. So it was the first time in my life I shared a bed with about 120 people. Lovely. I was penned in by a self obsessed German (apparently) called AK on one side, and an even MORE self obsessed Australian on the other called Karen on the other. Ans I sat in the middle for 1 hr, listening to their, "conversation". It was more a personal information blast to each other. I sat quietly in the middle smiling (it was actually amazingly good fun to listen to) and drank my bed time beer. Hmmm. But it got worse. The lights went out and it turned out our german friend had even more going for him. Not only personality but BO and bad breath to suit. NICE! I didnt really sleep much. It was hot. it swayed a bit (though I guess boats are meant to) but mostly it STANK.

That hell ended at 5am after 8 Hrs. Its was an experience. Boat Hell behind me, Bus hell began.

Day 25 (The longest day EVER)

We where met from the boat by a mini bus. Excellent I thought. Off to Krabi no problems. It took us about 150 meters around a few corners and dropped us at a travel agency. Hmm. We sat on plastic chairs in the road for 1 hr. Wait over I thought. No. We got in a different Mini bus. we we're taken about 1 km out of town to some run down shelter and dropped off. We sat. baffled. Bored. for another 3 and a half hours, watching the sun come up over a factory. After being told the bus would be here "any minute" for most of 2 hrs it finally arrived. a taty old mini bus, no air conditioning. We climbed aboard. I dont remember much of that journey. I slept in little bursts 5 mins at a time. (smelly german and my austrailian friend had thankfully gone somewhere else....)
3 slow hrs later we arrive in Krabi. I've already decided at this point rather than prolong this madness I should go straight to one of the islands called Koh Phi Phi. So when we finally climed off the rubbish bus at another ramshakle bus depot, I bought another bus and ferry ticket. Rather than get us to the ferry port in plent of time. we sat there. For 4 hours, in what was little more than a cow shed full of (kind of) buses. (This is such a long story and not very exciting!) Anyway, they dropped us at the ferry with 5 minutes to spare, there was a problem with our tickets so almost were'nt allowed on, then we sprinted (with large backpacks) up a 200 meter pier to SQUEEZE onboard. no seats left so we sat with feet dangling over the edge. I got chatting to some israeli's and 2.5 hrs later we arrive. The israelis and i found a room, booked a boat trip and then off to bed. That was one long day. WAY too long. I collapsed into bed and slept like an absolute baby.

Day 26.

The three of us (Me, Karin, and Moran the israelis) Went out on a boat trip. It takes you all the way around Koh Phi Phi which does have some amazing sceneary. Sheer cliffs straight into the sea. I'm no geologist but I found it fasinating. Quite alot better than the white cliffs of dover I found. It Stooped at various beaches and reefs to snorkel/sun bathe. For the first time on the trip I got very sun burnt.

The Boat took us to the world reknown monkey beach where (the literature states) "there are troops of monkey just dying to have their photo taken with you" (or something like that. We turned up. Not a monkey in sight. Nothing. we walked up a very steep jungle path to get a glimpse. Nothing. we'd been there sitting around for about 45 minutes, and then, they arrived. About 15 monkeys just ambled onto to beach. Drinking from empty coke cans, taking crisps from people. They didn't really want to have photos taken but it was cool all the same. Especially when they emptied one guys bag and ran off with his sun cream. I don't know really what they needed that for exactly, but there we go.

At the end of the day We went to Phi Phi Leh, A smaller non developed island that was the set for "The Beach Movie". It was very impressive. Leonardo may have made this whole place too popular (the main island is packed with the normal tourist related agencys, laundry and rubbish) but this place is still beautiful. The lagoon is shallow and warm, we snorkelled there and swam in the middle of shoals of little fish. It was really good.
On the boat back We watched the sun set, I had 10 minutes recapping the trip sp far in my head, the places, the friends, the bus trips and smiled. It was a very happy moment.

I had some reservations about this place just because it's so popular, so busy, so touristy and yet I've enjoyed it alot. I wouldn't hang around here. Besides what I've done there's little else to do except the beach, diving and drinking buts it's nice.
So last night we sat at a beach bar, watching a fire show (they're CRAZY) just chatting. Oh and I had a brain wave about where to go next.....

Day 27. So here I am preparing to move... again tomorrow. So far on this trip I've stuck to a rough plan I had in my head as to what I'm doing. Tommorow I'm not. I'm really excited. It's a new adventure. I'll blog about it when I arrive. I've said bye to the girls who left this morning, I'm going to spend the day having another look round, book my tickets, AVOID the sun, and get some rest. I'm going to need it........

posted by Chris @ 2:11 pm