13th – 16th January 2015
We caught a ferry from Koh Lanta to Koh Phi Phi Don, just one and a half hours away across calm seas. It wasn’t far away but it had a very different feel to Koh Lanta.
THE view! We climbed the steep steps and pathways to get to this iconic view….TWICE!!! Once at sunset and once in the morning to get the most out of the different lighting. I thought we could get there by motorbike so it was a bit of a shock when we arrived to find there weren’t any motorbikes or cars on the island. It was a tiring climb in the heat but we sometimes overtook youngsters which was satisfying (smile)
You can’t look at this view without thinking of the Tsunami. The view is very different from the one prior to December 26th 2004, seemingly more high rise buildings and less trees now.
The entrance to Maya Bay, THE beach entrance, is behind Glen’s head!
There were huge fat white and blue Star Fish everywhere, hundreds of them and we lost count of how many black and white Striated Cucumbers we saw too. I can remember how excited we were when we saw our very first one years ago, now they were everywhere.
The big Crown of Thorns star fish. There were large blue varieties too but like I said the flash didn’t work. They were amazing though.
We saw another Turtle close up and too many divers suddenly went towards it and it got stuck between the rocks for a minute poor thing. It managed to free itself though and continued eating the coral despite us gawping at it.
We think this a Blue Dragon Nudibranch
We spotted this little Nudibranch that we hadn’t seen before
The locals ride around on push bikes. There aren’t any roads just narrow pathways on the strip of land that joins the two jungle clad Karsts which make up Phi Phi Don and the beaches either side. However they mainly walk, pushing what they call a ‘wheel barrow’ infront on them with their belongings on. Some tourists are willing to pay for them to carry their backpacks even though nothing is too far away. They shout “beep beep” which sounds like bip bip as they go (chuckle)
Phi Phi is a magestic natural beauty whether it’s the main Island of Phi Phi Don or the smaller Phi Phi Leh and the little islands around them. However most people who come here are young and seem to spend their time looking at which ‘booze bucket’ to buy. Many of them having one too many buckets each night….like this cat that Glen spotted one morning seemingly hungover (chuckle)
We enjoyed Phi Phi with its clear water, wonderful scenery and excellent diving but we were also happy to move on.
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