Koh Phi Phi

This is a view of the two main bays of Koh Phi Phi with the village inbetween.


This was taken from our breakfast table.


We spent our Hari Raya holiday in Koh Phi Phi, Thailand. What a spot!!! We flew from KL to Krabi on September 27th and then took an hour and half ferry boat to the island. Most of the island rises in steep limestone cliffs from the ocean. These are covered, of course, with lush tropical vegetation. Interspered between the cliffs are the most beautiful white sandy beaches. The village of Phi Phi is set inbetween 2 bays. The place was pretty well wiped out during the tsunami of 2004 but is beginning to come back to life. It is a mecca for backpacking youths from all over the world. (We met German, Israeli, English, Australian, New Zealanders, Swedish, American, Italian kids but no Canadians.) They go because it is beautiful, funky(no cars, curvy little paths for streets), accommodation can be cheap ($5 a night), there is lots of diving and snorkeling, no slease, and at night the place comes alive with parties. Moe and I enjoyed all of it except the party part. We were in bed by 10:30 most nights enjoying the fact we could unwind from the wild ride we've have since last February when we went to the job fair in Toronto. We kept ourselves pretty busy during the daytime also. The weather was off the first couple of days so we both managed to finish off a couple of novels while enjoying the view and wandering around a bit. We went out snorkeling on the first day it looked like the weather was about to turn. We loaded up with about 12 others(all under the age of 30) in a long tail boat and headed off to about 7 different places to snorkel. This is a street in Phi Phi. There are no cars. Goods are moved around in little push carts.

One of places we went to was called Bamboo Island. It was about a 25 minutes crossing from Phi Phi and a thunder storm came up about 5 minutes into the crossing. We got totally drenched from the rain and waves. Maureen was sure that was the end of us. The kids all thought it was the highlight of the day. The weather cleared up for the rest of the day but the seas stayed rough which made any crossing rather wet. I loved our visit to Maya Bay. This is the place where the movie, The Beach, was filmed. (Never saw the movie myself but bought it last night) It was spectacular. We had to crawl through a cave to get to it. Maureen loved that part.The beauty of Phi Phi inspired the latent artist in Maureen.


Other things we did in Koh Phi Phi:

• took a Thai cooking course
• walked to the view point everyday
• hiked to a couple other beaches on the island
• rented kayaks and snorkeled on some bays around the island
• read and relaxed
• watched the fire show warm-ups (they have these every night but we never did stay up late enough to catch any of the actual shows)
• got Thai massage(Al) and pedicure/manicure(Moe)
  

On Friday we took the ferry back to Krabi and spent the night at Ao Nang beach. This a more typical Thai resort area. It is a lot smaller and quieter than Phuket. This is still the low season so it was quiet enough to enjoy. Apparently it is the place where all the Swedish go to holiday in Thailand as in high season they make up 80% of the tourists. It was nice to stay in a little better hotel and there was more shopping for Maureen.

The sunsets from the viewpoint were incredible.


Some people have been asking for our address and phone number so here they are.

A1-29-2
Bukit Utama 1
#3 Changkat Bukit Utama, PJU6,
Bandar Utama, 47800
Petaling Jaya,
Malaysia

We actually live in Petaling Jaya and not the city of Kuala Lumpur although I have no idea where one begins and ends.
Our home phone is 037-713-5540. I believe the country code is 6. We are 15 hours a head of Pacific time.
Our cell #'s are Al- 017-360-7371
Moe-017-360-7372