Going down in Koh Phi Phi

(By Miller)

The express boat ride took two hours from Ao Nang to the island. It was amazing scenery as we stopped midway - in the middle of the ocean – to pick up a round of passengers. Annie and I were a bit miffed at first, when we bought our tickets. We kept looking for the thai price, you know, the bush taxi on water. As it happens, it doesn’t exist. Koh Phi Phi is pretty much locked up as a tourist destination.

When the tsunami hit in 2004, it wiped the island and surrounding area out. Thanks to the endless tourist dollars pouring in, Thailand is faring far better than many of the other areas implicated, like the Philippines. That said, there was still much construction going on and it is nowhere near fully recovered. Something we did enjoy, and aren’t sure whether it’s a result of crisis response or not, were the 5 Bhat water just refill stations. For about 10 cents we could refill the 1½-liter containers so we didn’t have to keep buying more plastic bottles.

Walking off the boat was madness. Wait; actually it was the best organization of the masses we’ve seen yet. Thailand – unlike India – has learned how to effectively wrangle its tourists. There were the usual touts but this time they were behind ropes, much like in an airport. At the end of the dock, there were boards and maps of every possible guesthouse and hostel on the island, complete with pictures and prices. We took this as a personal gesture of kindness from the government of Thailand. Slogging around in the 100-degree sun with packs on is just not a great way to spend an afternoon.

After we located (for $6/night) the H.C. Anderson Guesthouse (Hans Christian Anderson?), Annie was adamant I needed to actually use the SCUBA certification I’d picked up in Egypt. Not that I needed much convincing. I’d really planned on just slothing around on the beach for a few days but the streets and alleys are just lined with dive shops. A very convincing Aussie (who knew where the Appalachians were!) gave us a free map and I was sold. To seal the deal, they take credit cards!!!! I fear the plastic, especially after spending two years in countries where cash is king, but this allowed me to have more money on hand for places that don’t take VISA…like everywhere else. So, for $75 I went on a day trip, which included two dives, lunch and fabulous company. One of my dives ended up being an “adventure dive”, of which I need 5 of to get my advanced diver card. Yahoo! You can imagine how much fun Annie had with that achievement. This one involved going down to 30 meters (between 90-100ft) and seeing if the nitrogen in my blood made me nuts. People compare it to getting drunk but what actually happens is your brain just stops processing information, making gauge reading difficult. Happy to say, neither the Swede I was diving with nor I had much problem and our instructor Mika (also a Swede and did a wicked Muppet chef impression) said we were very comfortable in the water. The second dive after lunch was a fun one and we saw a hawk’s beak turtle after being down only 5 minutes. It was amazing and I’m so happy Annie persuaded me 

While I was down under, she was checking out the viewpoint and relaxing vacation style. There are no open container laws and 7-11s are everywhere so we bought beer for half the price of a bar and sat on the beach.

We stayed a total of two nights and left the next afternoon after a morning absolutely baking on the beach. The tide rises and falls by a good 8 feet or so and tide was half in so there was lovely swimming to be done. Boarded the speedboat (the Princess, how appropriate) to Phuket and got to sit in air conditioning for a few hours.

Other travelers we’ve run into have given us mixed reviews on what Koh Phi Phi is really all about. I say take it for what it is. A tourist-ridden isle, paradise for some and a hellhole for others. A bit of both I think for us, it was time to move on.