Day 31 - Phuket/Ko Phi Phi
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Wednesday 8th September
Wednesday morning I woke up sad as it was my last morning in Phuket. I gorged at the final buffet breakfast (pancakes, waffles, croissants!) and played a last game of squash before returning to pack up my room. I didn't check out until 11:59am, enjoying every last minute of my room!
I wasn't being picked up for the ferry to Ko Phi Phi until 1:15am, so I snapped a few photos around the resort and spent an hour lounging by the pool, reading. After several days of bad weather, today was absolutely beautiful with bright blue skies - needless to say the beach was packed!
In the mini-van on the way to the ferry pier I met Matthew and Ashley, a couple from England who were spending two months travelling across Asia. They were heading to the Full Moon Party in Koh Phangan - I'd kind of forgotten that I was in Thailand and every backpacker under the sun would be heading there! I relayed my story and warned them to be extremely careful - Matt came up with an idea of handcuffing the two of them together so they didn't get separated!
The ferry ride was amazing. It was nothing like being on a Sydney ferry, but rather an open top boat packed with sunbaking backpackers. I sat with my legs dangling over the side and finished reading 'The Beach', whilst we drifted past the places where 'The Beach' (the movie) was filmed. The ride only lasted one and a half hours and we soon alighted at Koh Phi Phi (I had a scare though as when the bags were all unloaded, mine was missing. Turned up further up on the pier though - maybe someone had taken it by mistake?)
Both Ashley and Matthew and myself hadn't booked a room in advance. We looked at the accommodation boards outside of the pier but decided to walk into town to find somewhere - that way we could barter with the guesthouses directly. We checked out one that was recommended in the Lonely Planet - the accommodation desk at the pier had been asking 1200 baht and the owner dropped the price to 800/900 for us, but we decided on a guesthouse down the road that was cheaper at 600 baht. Coming in the low season definitely pays off for prices! The rooms even had cable TV including the Aussie channel, so I knew I was set for the footy on Friday night.
I arranged to meet Matthew and Ashley at 7:30pm for dinner and went off exploring the island. Since I hadn't really eaten since breakfast that morning, I had a Thai pancake as a snack (they include condensed milk on it which really makes it!) My primary goal for the afternoon was to book a tour for the following day. I'd paid for 3 nights accommodation at the hotel as I wanted to do two day tours from the island - one to 'James Bond' island and the other to Maya Bay, where 'The Beach' was filmed. Unfortunately James Bond tours were only run from Phuket or Krabi, so I booked a 'sunset cruise' for the next day that took in Maya Bay and Monkey Island and including kayaking.
I returned to the room to freshen up before meeting up for dinner. Surprisingly for such a beautiful island, there are hardly any 'tourists' or older couples/families - it's completed dominated by backpackers, and a lot of them work at night for the pubs, standing on the corners handing out pamphlets. You can even work only for a few nights - they get paid 300 baht and free drinks, and it's an easy way to make friends. So many backpackers here had arrived intending to stay a day or two and ending up staying for weeks or months as it's so laid-back and easy to meet people. On the suggestion of one of the 'pub touts', we heading to an Italian restaurant for pizza - absolutely beautiful! I'm always astounded at the menus of restaurants in Thailand - there are always 100s of dishes listed on the menu, from Italian (pizza/pasta) to Thai, steaks to sandwiches. Generally this means that the quality is poor as they don't specialise in anything, but Ko Phi Phi restaurants seem to excel at everything!
The nightlife of the island ran to a schedule - dinner at 8-9; hit up the pubs until 12; head down to the beach at midnight; and when the beach bars shut at 2am you'd head down to 'Stones', the only bar open past 2am. On this night we headed out to a pub for a drink and then moved down to the beach bar, 'Slinky's'. All of the bars had numerous promotions like free shots or 2-1 'buckets'. We decided to order a 'shisha', which is a flavoured water-pipe used for smoking. I'd seen them in Turkey before but never tried it - it cost us $10 between us (mint flavoured) and the staff topped it up all night. As a non-smoker (although, they don't actually contain nicotine), my first few 'puffs' resulted in exhalations of air, but it was an interesting experience.
We watched the fire show on the beach and then retreated to the eaves of the bar when it started to spit, where we met another English couple, Sarah and Steph. The bar and beach was quite empty though - we'd been told that it was the Israeli New Year so all of the Israelis weren't out, and apparently they dominate the island (who knew? Every person I've met here seems to be English, so I thought they dominated the island!) We headed back at about 2am and Matthew took up the suggestion of Paul, one of the English 'pub touts' we'd met earlier in the night, of having a meal at a small restaurant called 'Papaya' - massive servings and great food apparently. I convinced Ashley to have a Thai pancake and after sampling it, Matthew returned for seconds after his curry - all this at 2:30am!!
Wednesday morning I woke up sad as it was my last morning in Phuket. I gorged at the final buffet breakfast (pancakes, waffles, croissants!) and played a last game of squash before returning to pack up my room. I didn't check out until 11:59am, enjoying every last minute of my room!
I wasn't being picked up for the ferry to Ko Phi Phi until 1:15am, so I snapped a few photos around the resort and spent an hour lounging by the pool, reading. After several days of bad weather, today was absolutely beautiful with bright blue skies - needless to say the beach was packed!
In the mini-van on the way to the ferry pier I met Matthew and Ashley, a couple from England who were spending two months travelling across Asia. They were heading to the Full Moon Party in Koh Phangan - I'd kind of forgotten that I was in Thailand and every backpacker under the sun would be heading there! I relayed my story and warned them to be extremely careful - Matt came up with an idea of handcuffing the two of them together so they didn't get separated!
The ferry ride was amazing. It was nothing like being on a Sydney ferry, but rather an open top boat packed with sunbaking backpackers. I sat with my legs dangling over the side and finished reading 'The Beach', whilst we drifted past the places where 'The Beach' (the movie) was filmed. The ride only lasted one and a half hours and we soon alighted at Koh Phi Phi (I had a scare though as when the bags were all unloaded, mine was missing. Turned up further up on the pier though - maybe someone had taken it by mistake?)
Both Ashley and Matthew and myself hadn't booked a room in advance. We looked at the accommodation boards outside of the pier but decided to walk into town to find somewhere - that way we could barter with the guesthouses directly. We checked out one that was recommended in the Lonely Planet - the accommodation desk at the pier had been asking 1200 baht and the owner dropped the price to 800/900 for us, but we decided on a guesthouse down the road that was cheaper at 600 baht. Coming in the low season definitely pays off for prices! The rooms even had cable TV including the Aussie channel, so I knew I was set for the footy on Friday night.
I arranged to meet Matthew and Ashley at 7:30pm for dinner and went off exploring the island. Since I hadn't really eaten since breakfast that morning, I had a Thai pancake as a snack (they include condensed milk on it which really makes it!) My primary goal for the afternoon was to book a tour for the following day. I'd paid for 3 nights accommodation at the hotel as I wanted to do two day tours from the island - one to 'James Bond' island and the other to Maya Bay, where 'The Beach' was filmed. Unfortunately James Bond tours were only run from Phuket or Krabi, so I booked a 'sunset cruise' for the next day that took in Maya Bay and Monkey Island and including kayaking.
I returned to the room to freshen up before meeting up for dinner. Surprisingly for such a beautiful island, there are hardly any 'tourists' or older couples/families - it's completed dominated by backpackers, and a lot of them work at night for the pubs, standing on the corners handing out pamphlets. You can even work only for a few nights - they get paid 300 baht and free drinks, and it's an easy way to make friends. So many backpackers here had arrived intending to stay a day or two and ending up staying for weeks or months as it's so laid-back and easy to meet people. On the suggestion of one of the 'pub touts', we heading to an Italian restaurant for pizza - absolutely beautiful! I'm always astounded at the menus of restaurants in Thailand - there are always 100s of dishes listed on the menu, from Italian (pizza/pasta) to Thai, steaks to sandwiches. Generally this means that the quality is poor as they don't specialise in anything, but Ko Phi Phi restaurants seem to excel at everything!
The nightlife of the island ran to a schedule - dinner at 8-9; hit up the pubs until 12; head down to the beach at midnight; and when the beach bars shut at 2am you'd head down to 'Stones', the only bar open past 2am. On this night we headed out to a pub for a drink and then moved down to the beach bar, 'Slinky's'. All of the bars had numerous promotions like free shots or 2-1 'buckets'. We decided to order a 'shisha', which is a flavoured water-pipe used for smoking. I'd seen them in Turkey before but never tried it - it cost us $10 between us (mint flavoured) and the staff topped it up all night. As a non-smoker (although, they don't actually contain nicotine), my first few 'puffs' resulted in exhalations of air, but it was an interesting experience.
We watched the fire show on the beach and then retreated to the eaves of the bar when it started to spit, where we met another English couple, Sarah and Steph. The bar and beach was quite empty though - we'd been told that it was the Israeli New Year so all of the Israelis weren't out, and apparently they dominate the island (who knew? Every person I've met here seems to be English, so I thought they dominated the island!) We headed back at about 2am and Matthew took up the suggestion of Paul, one of the English 'pub touts' we'd met earlier in the night, of having a meal at a small restaurant called 'Papaya' - massive servings and great food apparently. I convinced Ashley to have a Thai pancake and after sampling it, Matthew returned for seconds after his curry - all this at 2:30am!!
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