Ko Phi Phi

Ko Phi Phi Don was mostly destroyed when the tsunami hit. it is a strange shaped island from above it looks kind of like a dogs bone (!)- it is two hilly land masses connected by a wide flat sand bar that narrows in the middle. when the wave struck it hit the sandbar from both sides.



Its kind of strange arriving at the busy port, people are bustling all over the place with touts shouting for business- hotels, trips, bars and knowing that most of these people would have been there at the time and will undoubtedly know many people who were not so lucky.



This is a party island the main town is just a couple of narrow streets lined with bars, restaurants and 'tourist information' and the place to be at the end of the night is the noisy and hectic Irish Bar- all the best islands have one you know!



Our guest house this time is tucked away from the town and both the beaches. Behind it are the remains of a tiled floor whatever stood there before has gone. there are a couple of abandoned shacks dotted about the place, probably what was thrown together in the aftermath. there is still a lot of building work going on here though its all for tourists.



One of the hilltops has the most amazing view point and from here you can really see the island- it is really very small. There is an old chap who lives at the top with his cats. a pregnant queen and her last litter who were quite well grown. We had the ancestry of these kittens (down the mothers line of course who knows which Tom fathered them!!) It all started with one girl cat who had various litters most of whom eventually ran away to live in the jungle on the hillside. That cat is no longer with him but one of her descendants is always there! very sweet.



That night we ate a fantastic Mexican and settled down to watch.. of course 'The Beach' it was after all filmed on Ko Phi Phi Le and we were heading out there the next day!



So the first stop on the boat trip around the islands is Ko Phi Phi Lee and Maya Beach where it was all filmed. and the beach did look lovely, however we decided to spend our time snorkeling instead.



I am not one for getting in deep water normally but Ah wow that was totally fantastic there were loads of yellow and black stripey fish everywhere though the coral was OK it was not the best. Of course I had to get some use of the underwater feature on my camera! I am now a fan of snorkeling!!



We had another brief stop at a place called Shark Point. Once again with an uncommon display of bravery I entered the water- as far as I am concerned all sharks are dangerous and people eating and all sharks can get you in about a foot of water! I may have blown this out of proportion slightly but they do scare the crap out of me and even though i am now a fan of snorkeling i did have occasional concerns about them at the last stop. well anyway I didn't see any of the black tipped Sharks that are supposed to hang out here as i just snorkeled around the boat and got back on it. That was enough for me- i swam in shark infested waters and I was pleased with myself! Did see some more of those stripy fish though!



So my underwater camera has let me down- back on the boat after the shark trip it is not behaving i fear it must have leaked. I am now without a camera.



The last stop for snorkeling was Bamboo Island. Oh what a time to not have a camera! We snorkeled onto the beach there passing over some lovely coral much more exciting that by Maya Beach and there were so many more fish, along with the stripey ones we saw barracuda and angel fish, and loads of others o could not even begin to name!!



On Bamboo Island we found some fantastic shells and coral in some crazy colours, luminous orange- why would a shell be luminous orange on the bottom of the sea that's not very well hidden!! We also found some really big hermit crabs with fabulous shells. would have taken pics of those too but I have no camera!

the last stop was Monkey Beach - we have seen lots of monkeys now so they are not so exciting! I left Greg to get the kayak over and i stayed on the boat. Did get to see a Sea Eagle drifting around on the breeze above the cliffs- that was quite special.

Back at base we got some food, had a nap and spent the evening at a beach bar where there were more fire dancers- this time we were all encouraged to limbo under a flaming pole, cant limbo at the best of times so certainly can't when there is a chance i will set myself on fire so i gave that one a miss!!

So that was our two nights on the island. Back to the mainland tomorrow!