Koh Phi Phi

Day 235 (February 18, 2019) – Koh Phi Phi, Thailand

I was determined to not go to Koh Phi Phi while we were in Thailand. I had read all about it and came to the conclusion that I’d rather spend my time elsewhere. However, as much as I tried to avoid it, it was on the way to all the other places we wanted to go. We would have had to sail right past it to go elsewhere, so we decided to stop on Koh Phi Phi anyway and see what all the fuss was about.

Koh Phi Phi looks like the perfect Thai island. Enormous walls of rock soar out of the ocean, forming mountains draped in green tropical forests. These mountains also create a couple bays that are carved so far inland that they almost touch one another in the center of the island. You can walk on land from one bay to the other in about five minutes. The only place to really live on the island is in this small, flattened area between the two bays. It’s too mountainous everywhere else.

The island itself is a natural wonder. You can look between the moutains out onto the ocean and see a handful of other similarly dramatic islands far off on the horizon. The drawback of the beauty is that everyone and all their friends want to see it. Boatloads of people (now including us) are dropped off onto this tiny island in the middle of the ocean.

We got off the pier with the hundred other people from our ferry and pushed our way through the crowds to find our hotel. There was no motorized transportation on the island, you simply walked everywhere down narrow streets packed with people. All the accommodations on the island were overpriced. We couldn’t remember the last time we paid so much for a hotel, but at least it turned out to be quite nice and had a pool.

I’m guessing that most people go on boat tours around the island or on snorkel and scuba diving trips, but we weren’t in the mood for quite so much activity. We spent our time along the beaches, walking around the few streets that made up town, and at the hotel pool. We were paying so much for the hotel we were going to make sure we got our money’s worth from their amenities.

We may have spent double our typical accommodation cost in Phi Phi, but at least the hotel was nice. Each room was its own little bungalow.

I will say that the food we had on the island was really good. Our favorite was place called Dow Restaurant, a vegetarian restaurant that had the most delicious Thai curries of our whole Thailand trip so far. It was packed with veggies and tofu and left us feeling extremely satisfied and very full. We only had two nights on the island, and we went there for dinner both nights. We found it on our first night and couldn’t resist returning for our last night.

Dow Restaurant (the vegan/vegetarian one) was where we had some of the best curries of our trip. This also shows the "streets" in Phi Phi. Pedestrians only. They are normally packed with people but this was when we were on our way out early in the morning to leave for Koh Lanta. Most shops weren't even open yet at this time.

We also learned what happens when you pack thousands of relatively young people onto a tiny island in the middle of nowhere. People like to drink and party all night. I’m not really into the whole party and clubbing scene. I usually find it either too over stimulating or, oddly, find myself quickly bored. However, I admit to greatly enjoying our nights on Phi Phi, much to my own surprise.

Purchasing our Thai bucket for the night.

You can pick up a drink from just about anywhere on the island and take it to the beach or back to your hotel or wherever else you want to be. The most famous of the available beverages are the Thai buckets. For $6 we got 325 mL of rum, a can of Coke, and a can of Red Bull. They were all opened and poured into one of those cheap plastic beach buckets everyone used to have when they were a kid to make sand castles out of. The bucket is topped with ice, a handful of straws are thrown in, and you’re good to go. Walking along the beach we saw lots of people who each had their own bucket, but Travis and I split one and that was more than enough for us for the evening. I don't know how you drink one on your own without passing out.

At one of the beach bars during the nightly fire show.

All the activity at night was concentrated on the beach. Most of the bars started the night off with a fire show, where performers twirled flaming batons and danced with fire poi. It was fun to watch, but it does get old after a while. After the show was over the bars would turn up their music even more and people would congregate on the sand to drink, dance, and talk the night away. It was fun and festive, and when you got bored of the music at one bar you could walk through the sand and up the beach to the next bar. When we needed a break from the loud music we picked out a quieter spot on the beach between the bars, sat on the sand, listened to the waves, and watched the stars.

Later on in the night at the beach, where everyone came to have a good time. Still working on that bucket. 

In the end we actually thought that our two nights in Koh Phi Phi was one day too short. I understand why people hate the place. Phi Phi is essentially a picture-perfect tropical island that is now stuffed to overcapacity with overindulging tourists (I admit this now includes us). It is not where you go if you want to experience quiet island life, but if you’re up for a big party on the beach in a beautiful setting then it can actually be quite fun.