We flew into Phuket airport, 400baht ($13) and one hour we are at the pier to board a boat to Koh Phi Phi Island. Information on internet is misleading. It claims there are only two ferries at 8:30 and 13:30, but we appeared at about 11 am and caught a boat straight away. Advise – take a taxi to pier, buy a ticket, and go to the nearest mall if you have more than an hour to wait. Also don’t buy a return ticket. You never know how your plans change and most importantly, tickets from Koh Phi Phi are cheaper (450bht vs 600 we paid).
At Koh Phi Phi we immediately caught a long tail boat to Long Beach for 200 baht, no point to negotiate if you are two, prices are fixed. There are 7 hotels on Long Beach with the most reasonable (price/value) bungalow at 1500 baht/night ($50/night). Koh Phi Phi is no longer a backpacker destination. They have been priced out to Koh Lanta or Railey Beach. I would say go to Koh Phi Phi with a budget of no less than $120/night for accommodation only. Then stay at nice resorts, hire a long tail boat and enjoy the island. But is it mind-blowing?
Long-tail boats looked more romantic on a picture, beach felt better on Rawa Island. The only truly amazing thing to do on the island was to take a private long tail boat, leave early in the morning and tour the surrounding Phi Phi Leh and the island itself.
We were blown away by the beauty of lagoons and bays (Loh Samah Bay and Phi Phi Leh Lagoon), secluded wild beaches and stupidity of people who went on tours with 20 other people cramped on a speed boat. Private long tail boats cost only about 2000 baht a day.
The first day we went to Maya beach where Di Caprio’s movie Beach was filmed. Nice! Early in the morning we were the only ones there. Then snorkeling at Loh Samah Bay and swimming in Phi Phi Leh Lagoon.
The second day we went around Koh Phi Phi to Monkey Beach, Nui Bay, Bamboo Island and Mosquito island.
The afternoon we spent wandering around the village, sipping cheap fresh fruit juices. Eventually bored we changed tickets to go to Railey Beach, close to Krabi. That’s where the party is! Lonely Planet is outdated as Railway East has developed into backpacker enclave with quite a few nice modern villas. For 1250baht we got a cute looking bungalow. During the day we hiked to the northern Tonsai beach where herds of young people were climbing up the hills. Just to watch them is breathtaking.
Due to slow internet connections here in Indonesia where I am updating the blog, I am uploading pictures only to flickr. Please see turquoise lagoons here.
2 comments:
Hey are you alright? Just read about bombings at the US-based hotels. Hope you are not staying at one of those!
I am far away. Getting there on Friday to transfer only. Plus Ritz Carlton is beyond my budget :)
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