I was in Krabi once before. I had a lot of fun. Near the beach there are a number of islands and I had taken a tour to visit some of them. It was a day of snorkelling and swimming in clear, warm waters. I decided to take another boat tour this time as well. The beach at Krabi is located on a wide bay with a peninsula at the other side. Phuket is located on the peninsula. About halfway in between is an island called Phi Phi Island. One of the tours from Krabi is a trip to Phi Phi Island and some of the little islands around it.
In the morning, I was picked up by a minivan and, after collecting all the relevant people, we were taken to the speed boat area of the beach. This was actually at the mouth of a river at the north end of the beach. Many tours go out on longtail boats, but Phi Phi is too far away for that to be practical, so these tours go on speedboats. The area was crowded with speedboats, and with people going on the Phi Phi tour. I was a bit surprised as this was, after all, the low season. We waded out to our assigned boat and got in, but not without first being made to dunk our footwear in the water to get all the sand off.
And we were off. Our first stop was Mai Pai Island, one of the islands of the group. It was a swimming stop, and we spent about an hour there. It wasn't particularly crowded, and the swimming was good. When we went by the island on the way back in the afternoon, the beach was overrun.
Next it was off to have a look at a limestone cave that seemed to have once been used by some kind of fishing tribe. But we only passed by as it wasn't possible to go inside.
The islands provided some nice scenery.
And the colours and clarity of the water was quite amazing.
The area around Krabi and Phuket has been host to a number of films. One of the famous movies that was filmed around Phi Phi Island was The Beach. I wish I knew how photographers get those amazing photos of whole bays that look like the places in movies. I just have flat-looking photos that could have been taken in British Columbia. I could have taken this anywhere and just be telling you, “Hey, this is the island where they filmed the movie, The Beach.” And you would never know. How do they do it? I guess it helps having access to a helicopter and a high vantage point and a good cameras and all that sort of thing, but still...
Then it was off to the other side of the same island to visit another beach and get the chance to wander around in island jungle, and even to go for a short hike to see something amazing. So we were told, at any rate. This beach had bazillions of people. If this was low season, what would high season be like. I was told this was a bit unusual because Thailand was having a holiday weekend, so more people were around. It still seemed like a LOT of people though. We had to squeeze our boat in between to other boats that were very close together. They were cheek to jowl.
The jungle foliage on the island was lush and many shades of green.
And behind there, after getting through that great line of people, was the amazing sight we were told of. I couldn't wait to see. I was all a-twitter.Hmmm...
But there was a hole in the rock wall we climbed (on a ladder and walkway) that did provide some entertainment and the surf splashed through and up at times.
After we finished at the beach (with all the people flailing around at this one, it didn't look like nearly as much fun to go swimming, so I didn't this time), we headed back out and stopped in at a cliff with monkeys. Our guide told us that the monkeys had had a day off the day before. We were lucky; they were on duty today! I did note with some disgust that people on another boat nearby were throwing some food at the monkeys.
Lunch time brought us to Phi Phi Island itself. We arrived and were taken to a restaurant with a buffet of Thai food. It was quite good. But while I was eating, this couple came up with a plate of food. Then they went and got another plate of food. From their tone (I couldn't understand what they were saying, as they were speaking what sounded like maybe Italian) they didn't seem to like the food that much. They picked at it for a couple of minutes and then left, having eaten almost nothing. In this day and age, with all the stories we hear of people starving, how can people waste food like that. I was really disgusted about that. I hope they somehow are cruising around the internet someday and put “wasted food” into some search engine and come upon this blog and this photo and realize that I have taken a photo of their food and am trying to shame them. For shaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaame!!!!!
Then it was off for a wander on the island. Phi Phi Island is shaped a bit like a bar-bell (with a lot of imagination). It has two bulbous ends and a narrow strip of sandy land connecting them in the middle. The town/tourist area is on that middle part. And it is bustling. And brimming. And somewhat insane. I had thought I would go from Krabi to Phi Phi Island, stay for a day or two, and then head on to Phuket. I opted for the tour instead and to stay in Krabi for another night. I was very glad I did. I would have hated staying on Phi Phi Island. It was just too many people, and too many of the type of tourist who is just sooo annoying. The hour there was quite enough. But there were some nice quiet-looking resort areas.
And the large beach there looked like a nice place.
If you go to a country that doesn't use your language, or money, and you make no effort to use one of the languages in use in that country and think you are going to use your own currency, then you deserve to get ripped off. (Under the hats it says they are 4000 Won each, or 100 Baht. Currently 1000 Won would get about 30 Baht, so they would cost about 120 Baht in conversion.)
They speak Canadian!!! Yeah!!!! And Kiwi, too. They are amazing in their linguistic prowess. What exactly is the language of Magyarul? (I'm informed it is the language of Hungary.) And Swiss seems to be an awful lot like French. I wonder if they do actually speak all those languages.
Then it was off for some more snorkelling. We hit two more spots where there were some reefs (that unfortunately had seen better days) with some fish.
Being water, they looked a lot alike, so there doesn't seem much point in showing both of them, but I figure you might not believe me, so here is the second one. See? It looks a lot the same.
Then it was back to the beach at Krabi.
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