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Possibly one of the most touristy parts of Thailand in peak season was probably a bad idea for the Christmas period! It was a big shock to come back to these areas and see them riddled with holiday makers.
Christmas in Ao nang: We booked three nights of luxury during Christmas. We had a nice pool and a posh air conditioned bungalow. As we've been to Ao Nang before we were looking forward to some good street food and Christmas Day dessert at Swensens. Sadly both were none existent so we were forced to pay the holidaying Russian's prices for mediocre food- Indian, thai and Italian. My family had a parcel sent to the hotel containing many little presents and we opened them on christmas morning along with the cards that Oli's parents had given us. It was really nice having something from home to open! I especially appreciated the stocking stuffed with dairy milk buttons and maoams! We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day on the beach singing Christmas carols in Santa hats, pretending we were at the St Swithuns carol service and drinking Changs on the beach. We headed to the most eastern part of the beach where we knew the monkeys were and then got cheap massages from the bamboo shacks. My Christmas Day massage was bone breaking and left me with bruises for the best part of the following week thanks to the largest burping thai lady I have ever seen! Luckily Boxing Day was better as we booked ourselves on a snorkelling trip to 4 different islands. It was a great trip, very beautiful however the beaches were rather crowded with other tourists, longtails and speedboats.
Ton Sai: A 10 minute longtail boat around the karsts and across from Railey was Ton Sai beach, the hippy world famous rock climbing area which only has electricity in the night time hours. We stayed up in the jungle and spent our time relaxing on the beach, watching the intermediate climbers go up the rocks. This part of Thailand was great at this time of year compared to when we came before- when nothing was open! So we were glad to be back. We ate from the shacks and had drinks at the hippy bars. We tried yoga up in the jungle and Oli loved it so much he went back for the evening session. I hurt for the next three days which didn't contribute well to my previous massage bruises! On the last day a base jumper jumped off the top of the cliff, opened his parachute, and the wind slammed him into the side of the rock and his parachute got stuck on a tree. Lucky for him he landed on a small ledge about 80 metres from the ground. We watched the rescue effort unfold which involved someone climbing up a new route and having to put new pins in the rocks. Once he got up to the base jumper, he clipped him on and they started to make their way down the mountain. Once at the bottom, everyone cheered and the guy walked away hobbling with a graze on his elbow. He had been extremely lucky!!
Phi Phi: We took a sinking longtail boat which met the main ferry in the middle of the sea, in order to get to phi phi. We arrived and it was already clear how much it had changed in 4 years. It was now very built up and the floating Muslim village had been removed to make way for posh hotels and their gala dinners. Our accommodation was a welcomed quiet haven amongst the madness of the main town. Flashpacker pikeys on holiday were everywhere with their tattoos, piercings and bandages from either their failed moped attempts or the nightly fire ropes probably laced with the same fuel as the alcoholic buckets. We headed to the beach in search of a patch of sand with no sewage or beer bottles. We found a nice spot on the pier side with white sand and turquoise clear water and we finally remembered why we came back here. The first night we embraced the party by eating at papaya, signing up for diving and heading to the beach bars. That night we got sick so diving was a no no the next day. This turned out to be the case for the next three days so sadly we didn't end up diving here, despite buying the PADI adventure diving book and completing all the necessary knowledge reviews. On new years eve we walked along the 'jungle path' to long beach which was a beautiful beach looking over to Phi Phi Leh (maya bay- where the beach was filmed) and was surprisingly unspoilt. That night we partyed with our new Canadian friends we met at dinner. The beach was incredibly crowded with people dancing, fire jumping and setting off fireworks. I can only describe it as crazy! The poor locals, their island is ruined.
The morning we left, we walked up to the viewpoint to assess the damage further. From up here the island looked so peaceful, and beautiful. The water on the party side of the beach looked so blue and inviting, although it contains all the islands' sewage and party trash. I know I will never come back here again. Phi phi was ruined by tourists and it is terribly sad.
Off to Ko Lanta... I hope it's not the same story.
- comments
Mum Great blog as always! It's so sad places get ruined but hopefully it's not like that all year round! I've had a look at Dave and Doris, they're so sweet. You're right Doris does look like Pip! We worked out its about £400 to adopt, tempting but not really a good idea!! Don't think Pip would like a Thai girlfriend!! (Or maybe he would! Lol! Xxxx) enjoy Libongxxx
Debbie Hi,good to speak to you Boxing Day, such a shame that the island has changed. Love your pics , the pups look beautiful, must have been awful to leave them. Glad you still found some quiet places among the lovely Tourists ....