Ko Phi Phi or Paradise Beach Town Style

K house - Ko Phi Phi Don

Phi Phi is incredibly beautiful. Here is the story. We finally line up an agreement with Bum and Bob, we have the opportunity to barter some work for some stay in Bum's new Boutique Hotel. Sounds good right? Well, we have decided that we want to leave Bangkok. We have wanted a change, and I have been feeling on edge, so we want to move on. We say goodbye to Bum and Bob and tell them that we may come back to Bangkok before this Visa expires.

So we decide to meet with Illias and his girlfriend Satyia for some drinks before we leave. Illias re-confirms that Phi Phi is paradise and feels very safe and pleasent. He shows us an article in the Bangkok post in which the journalist is speculating about another attempt at a military cout d’etat, or an attempt to overthrow the monarchy. The people in Thailand have serious love for their king, and it could be messy if that happened. We decide that Phi Phi is also very close to the other international airport in Thailand, and its a nice choice. I have been trying not to be worried, but it doesn't hurt to be catious either.

Mikae and Derrick, the owner of D's Books here on Phi Phi have been talking on the phone and Derrick says that the island is a zoo, because we have just passed the full moon party, and most kids bounce from Ko Pha Ngan to Phi Phi to finish up their vacation. Derrick says that he can find us a room somewhere, close to the main area of town, and we can come in on Tuesday. His brother and office manager are coming in as well from Bangkok. We get a loose visual description of the two, just in case. So we leave for the airport at 7am, hoping to catch a flight around 10. We have now learned that you have to book flights 24 hours in advance, or suffer more expense at the airport in terms of administration costs etc. The first class sleeper train was full and we decided it would just be easier to fly. The flight was only $119 in total for the two of us, so it was a resonable choice.

Flight was very short, and pleasant. I fell asleep before take off, woke up, we cruised for a bit and then landed. It took maybe an hour. So we get to the airport, and are waiting for our baggage when we see an unusual pair. A smiling Thai girl in pink shirt with a red haired caucasian guy. Turns out, as we will find out later, that this is Kevin, Derrick's brother and their office manager from Bangkok named Bang. We get our baggage and go to purchase a bus ticket to get to the main area of town. Bus is 80baht or so, and not coming for another 30min. Airconditioned mini bus is 100 baht and available now. So, we, along with several other tourists, opt for the minibus. The mini bus drops us at a travel agency (we don't know where we are, we think it is the main pier) to purchase our tickets for the ferry. Then, he returns to shuttle us to the ferry docks. Anyways, I am certain we got taken for some baht there as well. I think we paid an extra 400baht or so (about $12) then if we had purchased directly from the dock. Still, however, the 100 baht mini bus was a reasonable price, a taxi would have been double that probably. I am just a little tired of people taking advantage of the fact that we don't know any better every single time we turn around. On a lighter note, the travel agency had some incredible birds. One, that I played with for quite some time could speak several languages, including kitten. We have some video on our YouTube channel of this bird.

So it turns out, we took the express ferry (which might have been worth the extra cost in itself) and got here in about an hour. We officially meet Kevin and Bang, and then Derrick and his business partner Sam. Derricks sister Christine and husband Sai are also here visiting, and his mother Mary. We get to KHouse, and Derrick has paid for our room for the night. K house has a very friendly owner, who is very accommodating, and the price is 1500 baht a night. (Around $50) However, I found that the place could be cleaner, and the entire room smelled very moldy. I would not recommend. It is quiet, however.

So this morning, we have our breakfast at D's books. They have incredible lattes. We also got to use their wifi connection, which is a bonus. Internet is 60baht an hour here, in Thonglo it was 25. We then met with the entire crew and Derrick chartered some long tail boats for us to all go out on. We went snorkeling in the Andaman Sea. The fish here are brightly coloured and huge, and there are tonnes of them. Unbelievable. At one point I held a piece of pineapple, and they ate out of my hand. We also visited Ko Phi Phi Leh, the sister island which is mostly uninhabited. We snorkelled off of both Bays. After a couple hours we came back into mainland, had a fabulous thai dinner at Cosmos, and now we rest. What a beautiful place and hospitable family.

Watch the videos for clips of our Longtail boat ride.