Koh Phi Phi (Koh Phi Phi)

Member Name: clairedooyoo

Product:	Koh Phi Phi
Date:	07/10/09 (15 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Pure beauty

Disadvantages: You have to leave....

I was recently lucky enough to do a three month visit to South East Asia, the last week of which I spent on Phi Phi, and what a way to end my trip away.

Some guide books and travellers we met along the way described Phi Phi as ugly, which was a total contradiction of some other reviews so we decided to give it a go. And what a lovely surprise. We got a boat from Phuket which takes about 4 hours and as soon as we arrived we were blown away by the character and beauty of the island.

The island is pretty small, you can walk from one side to the other, there are no roads, just footpaths through the islands, the locals use bicycles to get around a bit quicker.

Prices on Phi Phi are a little more expensive than on mainland Thailand, but this is usual for any islands, they have a captive customer. We stayed in a guesthouse called 'Pirates' which was around 600 baht (12 pound) a night for a double room. It had clean, quirky rooms with very nice staff. During conversations with other travellers it is obvious that there is a wide variety of places to stay, both in quality and price.

For such a small island there is so much to do. All of the bars seem to encourage binge drinking, through the offers on buckets of alcohols, street vendors also open around 7pm to sell cheap alcohol. About 11pm everyone heads down to the beach where the bars there provide fire shows and even encourage you to get involved by skimping with a rope that's on fire, or jumping through a ring of fire! For a calmer evening you can go and watch the Thai boxing, a mix of professional Thai boxers and volunteers for the audience. Or for a perfectly chilled evening, take a walk up to the viewpoint. Be warned though, this is not an easy walk, you will have worked up a sweat by the time you get to the top. But the view is worth it, especially if you time it right for the sunset.

The main beach is very pretty, the views of the mountains around is beautiful. But for a change you can take a snorkelling trip out to visit the other surrounding islands, and see the beach where 'the beach' was filmed.

Beware, the boat trip to and from the island can be quite rocky, on our return journey back to Phuket the weather was bad, as we boarded the crew were given out sick bags which were used lots throughout the 4 hour journey!

A beautiful island that I hope I get chance to visit again.

Summary: A small island with a lot of character