Party Phi Phi

Koh Phi Phi is a small island on the Andaman coast of Thailand and is famed for it's beauty. The lonely Planet describes the scenery as 'jaw dropping' and the island was the location for the Hollywood film 'The Beach'; so with high expectations I was very excited to see it for myself.

I was immediately disappointed.
Not by the scenery, that truly is stunning, but by the tourism on the island. For some reason I had expected Phi Phi to be a hidden paradise, but Tonsai village is the place to party, and droves of people come to sunbathe in paradise and party in the beach front bars.

After a bad nights sleep I spent my first day sulking! I had been so excited to visit Phi Phi that I just couldn't shake the feeling of disappointment; I had wanted to meet people, but I hadn't expected it to be so busy! But after switching hostels, and an afternoon on the beach I was feeling a bit more positive about the island. That evening I bumped into two awesome Swiss girls (Jacqui and Vanessa) who I had briefly met on the ferry to Koh Lipe. We had a great time together, and decided to spend a day doing a long tail boat tour of the island to check out some of the more inaccessible beaches, and to do some snorkeling.

The trip was absolutely awesome! We had so much fun sunbathing, snorkeling and playing in the water. It was also great to see the surrounding scenery as the islands really are gorgeous with white sand beaches and turquoise sea. The trip culminated in a stop at the gorgeous 'Maya Bay' where 'The Beach' was filmed and we saw a BEAUTIFUL sunset on the ride home- perfect!




I also made friends with an English guy in my hostel (Pete) and we hung out for dinner and drinks most evenings. One of our nights out coincided with the King of Thailand's birthday and we happened upon a bar that was showing the event on TV. The Thais are very fond of their King and believe that he is God given so they like to make a big fuss of his birthday. We ended up participating in a candle lit ceremony to celebrate the occasion, singing the national anthem and cheering 'God Save the King'. The Thais are not supposed to serve alcohol on the King's birthday as a sign of respect, but in Party Phi Phi that was ignored and so Pete and I got through a couple of whisky buckets and joined in with the beach parties.





After a few stunning days sunbathing and socialising with my new found friends I was completely won over by Phi Phi, and was happy to share paradise with all the other sun-worshippers! I was genuinely sad to leave the island as I was having such a good time, but my ferry ticket was booked and I was taking a short hop across to Krabi, and the beach of Railay.