Day 2: 12/24/11
After the elephant trekking we enjoyed the last bit of our hotel stay, had a quick swim and hopped a ferry to Ko Phi Phi (pronounced pee, which is a different bodily fluid in English and Korean but presumably not in Thai). In any case we sat on the top of the ferry surrounded by all manner of dirty travelers and one large Thai family with the most adorable baby girl that I think stole everyone's heart. Rains came in and out and we were half under a tarp that got us more wet than the rain itself from water accumulation dripping down as the boat rocked from side to side. Overall it was an enjoyable and beautiful trip, though the smoking, drinking Brits next to us (one of which was talking about wandering Bangkok looking for a contraceptive shot, the other talking of a guy insisting on buying her this and that and paying for hotels, to their band of boys) were annoying Scott and I. Little did we know we were in for an island of that personality type times a million.
In short, Phi Phi is not what either of us had in mind. The shopping was great, little stalls with hippy dresses and fisherman pants galore, as well as amazing and dirt cheap food. Before we even found our hotel we settled in for some coconut soup and pad Thai. We eventually found our "resort" which was a bit off the beaten path but still very much a part of the chaos of Phi Phi that seemed like a never ending outdoor market. I'm sure there are parts of the island free of the tourism, but for most of our trip Scott and I just circled round and round the labryth never quite sure where we were going to turn up. And the stray cats were everywhere! Mostly kittens, and a fair amount missing large portions of the tails, most clean and absolutely adorable.
Our "resort" Maney Bay was passable though we probably wouldn't have booked if we'd read the reviews. As bare bones as it gets but not bugs and the staff was nice enough, we didn't spend much time there anyhow.
Actually we did end up off the beaten path. We took a wrong turn trying to find the north shore (the port was in the south) and ended up going up and down hills on a local road. We walked all the way, passing little homes, kids playing in their yards, a man showering under a hose in his side yard, and of course more stray cats until we hit a dead end at a retention pond, much like the one our room overlooked back at Ma Ney. On the way back a little girl shot at Scott with her toy gun and he feigned injury as the mom watched on smiling, washing something in a bucket. I kept worrying we were being invasive, leaving the confines of the tourist areas and walking among the local houses but the people didn't seem to pay any mind to us. I marveled that they all used a rather simple water catchment system and was really happy to see it. It boggles my mind why more people don't use water catchment to water their gardens and grass.
After that failed trip to the beach the sun was already setting so we went for dinner and got a little tipsy. Wandering around we randomly bought a long boat tour trip for 200 baht (about $7) for the next morning. It seemed so unimaginably cheap, that we thought we'd been had and went to bed wondering if we were drunken dummies...
The only photo from the day I'm bothering to edit. A boat I saw from the ferry:
Day 3: 12/25/11
We awoke early Christmas morning, not to Christmas celebrations of presents and decorated trees, but to go on our unbelievably cheap longboat tour. We went back to the travel agents desk to meet and then were lead to a long boat without a dock. The driver at first tried to have us just jump aboard. He only hopped on himself and attached the ladder after the first girl failed to get on, floundering helplessly on the ledge of the boat even with her boyfriend trying to push her up form her bottom. All aboard and I was immediately glad I preemptively put my camera in it's underwater case. It was a very wet ride.
Our first stop was monkey beach, where the brochure (more like print-out) said we'd have 30 minutes but we had barely enough time to swim ashore, chuck some fruit and them, and swim back. The boat driver called us back before I'd even gotten my camera situated. Perhaps because only 6 of us from the boat jumped out. I get the feeling that despite the trip being cheap as sin, people aboard were already getting pissy and weren't quite prepared for the more rustic experience we had found ourselves on. The photos are frightfully disappointing and I almost would have rather I just enjoyed the monkeys and not bothered had I known. There was a whole family out and with their adorable little baby monkeys as well. The one in the photos was one of the largest and most brazen. Another driver on the island had to scare off a monkey that was getting too aggressive. Luckily ours behaved themselves. :)
So after the much rushed Monkey Beach we headed to "The Beach" from the movie with Leonardo DiCaprio. Not a fan at all of the movie, and there was a controversy over the film company clearing out natural vegetation to make the shore larger. Bulldoze paradise? Oh sure, as long as it's for Leo's movie. Aside from being immensely over-crowded, we did have a great time and got the chance to lay around on the beach and eat our "lunch" provided by the tour (tiny box of fried rice). After that we took the boat just across the way to "snorkel". Yes, lots of quotes in this portion of my blog, but what did I expect for 200 baht? There were so many other boats and snorkelers that there were almost no fish, but I had fun regardless. For a time most of the boats had gone and I got a chance to see schools of fish swimming under me.
The trip there and back, there was not a dry body on the boat. Scott and I probably got the worst of it being in the front. For a while we couldn't see for the salt stinging our eyes and just had to buckle down, grab whatever we could hold onto, and enjoy the ocean spray. By the end I was shivering, cold, soaked, and full of goosebumps but absolutely elated. That tour saved Phi Phi for me, 100%. Very glad the woman at the tour booth recommended the morning trip. We could already see storm clouds rolling in, and I couldn't imagine handling the cold and the wind at sundown with clouds like that.
After that we got cleaned up at the hotel and went for a "fancy" Christmas dinner. I insisted on seafood, being nostalgic for family Christmas dinner, but we were pretty disappointed with the results. The mussels were pooping out sand and shell bits and Scott's crab dish was basically all shell laying in a few vegetables. After complaining (which I very rarely do) were were able to at least get our money back for the mussels, but she wouldn't budge on the crab because "I can see the meat right there. There is meat." If this was some back alley local spot, I never would have complained, but as her clientele was tourists, and it was one of the more expensive spots, I expected more. It was honestly the worst food of the hole trip and the most expensive. Christmas for us was an amazing cheap trip and a terrible expensive dinner.
After this I put the camera away and we went to try and enjoy the party scene for Christmas night. Drunkards with cheap buckets wandered the streets (us being 2 of them) and competing music blared from different bars. After many circles and losing our way we found a bar with bean bag chairs in the sand and settled in for some good people watching. The guys drinking from the beer can towers were getting quite a lot of attention from the skantily clad Mrs. Clauses in the crowd. Eventually we danced a bit and switched to another bar, were there was a pole shooting right of from the ground. Men would climb it and then stand on the platform on top to show their bravery. One guy though just stayed on his belly and danced with his arms and I thought... that's pretty lame.
Day 4: 12/26/11
It was time to leave for Ko Lanta and I had the feeling of, oh my, I didn't take enough photos. Most of these were shot in a literal drive by fashion as we walked to the docks.
Our room, M22.
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