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Part 80: Beach life...
For the first time since leaving the UK, I was on auto pilot mode at the airport. In normal circumstances, when travelling alone you don't have that luxury simply because you have to be so switched on at all times, and since my airport disasters are well documented in my blog, it was a welcome relief for a change.
Lindsay, being the awesomely organised person she is, took lead with everything, whilst me and Anna just followed along.
I trusted her 100% as she is organised, calm, never panics and has plenty of travel experience - we were in safe hands with her.
The flight to Krabi was so nice, that I even managed a rare nap on the plane, which is so unusual for me - also coming in to land was a beautiful site too. It was a good start to the day. Krabi was one of those small airports that doesn't involve too much walking and waiting, and in minutes we were on the transfer bus to Krabi town, then after booking our tickets, took another small bus to the ferry terminal. Although there was a slight panic as Lindsay sprinted off the bus to grab her iPhone that she accidentally left on a table, luckily for her just moments before we pulled away! Maybe she was so preoccupied with worrying about all the transportation, but anyway we were on our way to the port.
Krabi, on Thailand's western coastline wasn't hugely built up, which was a good thing in my view. You could easily make out the huge craggy limestone karst's formations that this place, and entire coastline are famous for.
Once at the port there was a large gathering of 'flashpackers' and tourists waiting for the ferries to shepherd them off to anyone of the nearby islands in the archipelago.
Flashpackers are becoming increasingly popular - easily distinguishable as I've explained before in my blog, but the most obvious traits are taking pics with their iPads, or carrying around a backpack stuffed with other 'indispensable' gadgets - there were plenty of them here. They often don't mind travelling on budget transport, but very rarely sacrifice their comforts of accommodation and end up staying in hotels or more expensive single bed dorms.
We slowly made our way onto the exposed deck of our ferry for the 2 hour journey to Koh Phi Phi. There was no seating whatsoever, so most people just sat down soaking up the sun as we gently cruised the calm sea leaving Krabi behind.
The cool breeze disguised the searing heat, but I could still feel my skin cooking and was thinking to my self that it wasn't a good idea to not have any sunblock on right now.
Anna and Lindsay where making conversation with some other travellers, and I sat with my feet over hanging the edge of the boat enjoying the journey, savouring the island views.
Two good hours later we approached the small port of the lush Koh Phi Phi island. The wooden pier was frantically busy with hundreds of tourists and pushy 'in your face' travel reps. This wasn't quite the reclusive paradise welcome that any of us were expecting at this stage, but the dozens of fishing boats neatly lined up on the crystal blue coast with the surrounding green karst's were no less picturesque.
Its hard to imagine that this beautiful island was devastated by the Indian Ocean Tsunami of December 2004, when nearly all of the island's infrastructure was completely destroyed, but thankfully it has since been fully restored. Also most people know that Koh Phi Phi came to world wide prominence for the famous film the 'Beach' although some would argue that film actually did more harm than good for the island since the relentless stream of visitors that have arrived.
We sensibly decided to wait whilst the the hoards of tourists died down a bit, but the heat was intense and we were getting a little agitated with the extremely pushy taxi boat drivers who were quoting us insane prices of up to 1500 baht each to get to our part of the island, which was a further hour away on the other side of Koh Phi Phi.
By boat, or on foot are the only ways you can get around since there are no roads at all on Ko Phi Phi which is why they rip off all the guests.
Anna was getting a little tense as the effects of the heat and tiring journey were beginning get to her.
We both bickered like typical brother and sister over what to do, whilst Lindsay, who is always good in a crisis, decided to call the hotel. And its a good job she did, otherwise we would have been stranded.
They sent a small boat round to get us, by which point we were almost the last people on the pier. Now at last we were on our way to the hotel.
It was such a relief to learn we were well away from the commercial side, especially when we had to take another tiny transport fishing boat closer to the shore, then an awesome looking tractor and trailer to the secluded private beach. Now this was much more like it! Me and the girls were absolutely beaming, as finally, we arrived on our tropical island paradise. It was a really long day, but well worth all the effort that it took to get here when we were shown to our bungalow, amongst the lush tropics, right on this heavenly beachfront of white powdery sand - this really was the stuff dreams were made of!
And if that wasn't enough, the hotel had its own outdoor swimming pool, jacuzzi, restaurant and cocktail bar. The smiling hotel staff took our bags to the room and handed us an ice cold wet flannel each which other than instantly cool us down, was a wonderful little attention to detail touch.
After a well over due shower, we strolled along the quite idyllic beach, watching the pink sky and the sun set over the Andaman sea.
Apart from the paradise hotel complex there was a handful of beach hut restaurants, and that was basically it - this really was the perfect getaway.
Later in the evening after we watched a quite brilliant fire juggling display, me and the girls ate at one of the beach huts, just as the heavens opened - the food was exceptional.
Luckily the rain stopped for the moon lit walk back to our hotel.
Private beach, luxury accommodation and everything we needed. What was that about 'flashpackers' again....?
We woke really early to catch the sunrise and the island was even more beautiful at this hour. The shallow sea was perfectly calm although we had to be a little mindful of the sand crabs scurrying across the shore. There was no one else on the beach either and for a brief moment I felt that we were the only people here.
Later the girls lapped up the sunshine to top up their tans, whilst I was content to stroll backwards and forwards along the sand, even getting roped into a beach soccer game against the hotel staff. Me and the few other guests were no match for them as they took the game so seriously; still it was a really good fun, even if I lost the skin from the ends of my toes!
In terms of beach life this was certainly up there and we thoroughly enjoyed every minute on Koh Phi Phi as time practically stood still here, which was fine by me.
But our 3 days here where at end and we left exactly the same way as we arrived after a musical send off by all the friendly hotel staff.
Our next stop was back to the mainland for even more beach life.
Ao Nang here we come....
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