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Blog Day 98 Fri 12th August 2011
So today we are going on a boat trip, it's a half day snorkeling & sunset trip to Maya Bay (Phi Phi Leh) which is where the film 'The Beach' with Leonardo Di Caprio was filmed. Phi Phi Leh is an uninhabited island, they kept it this way mainly because they realized that it was fast becoming a tourist destination & really it's a form of income that helps support the locals. The area was almost wiped out in the boxing-day tsunami but the crowds keep coming.
The trip itself is on a Longtail boat & on ours there are 12 of us in total, not too cramped but not much space either. We start our trip with a visit to Monkey Island, named so because well….there are Monkeys on it. We have already been the victims of a thieving monkey back in Kanchanaburi, so we leave what we don't need on the boat. Dan takes the camera but is holding onto it for dear life!! People are running about & screaming simply because they get too close too the monkeys. These are the typical bloody European tourist that just don't have a clue and think the world turns around them. We don't know whether the monkeys get annoyed with people disturbing them all the time (I'm sure I would) or whether they are just after food. Some people take fruit with them but this is a bad idea if you don't fancy being chased across the beach by a hungry monkey. We take a few pictures & spot a mummy monkey with a baby clinging to her underside, a few more pictures then we escape back to the boat before we get chased after too. If you look at the pictures you will see just how brave we were, not very is the answer, however this is because monkeys do have teeth and our boat driver said they are not shy when it comes to using them. After this we do a sweep round the island to Viking caves, now our tour guide is far from English & this is not a stop just a cave in passing so we don't quite know much about this, we head on after a few random pictures anyway to a little cove, this is where we are to jump off the boat & do a spot of snorkeling.
Time for Trish to strap on her life jacket, as Dan sorts out the snorkels. Dan jumps in first and has a quick scout about for sharks etc. With the all clear Trish descends into the sea via the ladder, which we both think even now still has her hand print on it. In all fairness she probably didn't really need a life jacket, what with the natural buoyancy aid that she already has. When she did finally let go of the ladder she bobbed about (head, arse head, arse) for a good 30 seconds before deciding that this wasn't her idea of fun. Once her breathing returns to normal she takes a couple of pics of Dan, snorkeling like a pro, looking at all the pretty fish. After 30mins or so to Trish's relief the guide calls everyone back onto the boat & finally head to Maya bay.
Our boat docks in another little cove with a hundred other similar boats. Apparently the tide is too low to take us round to the bay so from here on we are on our own. After scrambling through a rather tight cave, climbing a flight of rather suspect looking wooden stairs, and walking through the middle of somebodies camp sight we finally fall through the bushes and out onto Maya Beach…….. with a thousand other people. First thoughts are wow! Second thoughts are if the tide was too low then why does the bay have longtail boats parked in it? The location is pretty amazing and would be a lot more stunning if it was a deserted beach, like it was in the movie. A small bay surrounded by limestone cliffs jutting out, beautiful sunshine (somehow just on this bay) & if you turn back you look into the forested area that you've just come through.
We have about an hour one the beach and use this time to soak up some sun and get some cool pictures. We also write a big THAILAND 2011 sign in the sand and get a lovely young lady to take a picture of us standing by it. The beach sign picture is something that we are going to try and do in all the main destinations that we travel to.
Once the hour is almost up it's a trek back the way we came to the boat. Here Trish gets the chance to sample some snorkeling with her feet on the floor. Even here though the fish we are seeing are amazing, brightly colored, big & small.
After a while we head off back towards Phi Phi Don. On the way the sun is setting and our driver asks if we would like to watch it. We sit out in the middle of the ocean watching the sunset for about an hour, before the poxy Italians on our boat decide that they can't go any longer without food and want to back. Once back on solid ground we have some dinner & then it's into our room to watch…..'The Beach'. We picked it up for about 50p from one of the stalls. After having spent the day on the island itself it's a good time to watch it. We notice a few differences & are soon on Google looking them up. Turns out they actually superimposed the cliffs to close it in & make it look like a private bay. They also did some groundwork to make it look like a paradise beach, which included shooting any tourist that came near it. In all honesty the beach looks very different in real life than what it did in the movie, this is mostly to do with the tsunami we think. However it's a classic movie and we can see why the tourists flock here when visiting Phi Phi. The Island is stunning and after an exciting & amazing day it doesn't take long before we drift off!
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