Krabi -Day 3

Day 3 -17/10/09
Phi Phi Island

We started earlier today at 8.30am The tour operator fetched us from the hotel with a jeepney. There were 8 other tourists with our group of 8, so there were 16 of us on the boat. The couple in front of me were from Germany. I think the ones in front of the boat were French.

Shane- 3rd from right

We had a lovely tour guide – Shane (I think that’s what I heard). Our first stop was Viking cave where the locals collect bird’s nest inside. We didn’t go down here, just a quick stop. First beach stop was at Bamboo Island. We stayed here for an hour. Not much marine life/fishes here, but the beach here really is sandy white!

Viking cave

Happy at Bamboo Island

Next stop was (I think it was Hin Klarng) for open sea snorkelling. Many fishes here, but too bad we didn’t bring bread to feed them. Many boats were anchored here, and many were also moving in and out, so the water was rather choppy here, I couldn’t really enjoy my snorkel. I did see a woman here who, on top of wearing a life jacket, was also wearing a (Pooh cartoon) float. Gives more security eh ;-)

We then went down to the second beach -Maya bay at Phi Phi Lay island (small Phi Phi) where The Beach was filmed. Stayed here for 45 minutes. Same here as Bamboo Island, not much sea life/fishes here, but sandy white beaches and emerald waters.



Azure / emerald waters of the Andaman sea

We were quite drained by now, so the mention of lunch perked us up. We stopped for lunch at Phi Phi Don (Big Phi Phi) island at Ton Sai Bay for 2 hours. Lunch was tom yam (just OK), fish fillet, spaghetti Bolognese, chap chai with rice. After lunch, we browsed around the shops.

Phi Phi shops

We wanted to go to the Tsunami memorial (Phi Phi was one of the affected places), but was told by Shane that it was a 2 hour walk away. She did tell us that Phi Phi had 2 bays, opposite to each other (see here) so it was swept from both sides during the Tsunami.

A banner on the 2004 tsunami

Excerpt form link: The thin, low-lying isthmus where most the development was, received waves from both directions, amplified by the two bays that sandwich it. Zairul bought a magazine on the Tsunami – it was really awful, people had nowhere else to run on the tiny island

A cute kitty in Phi Phi

From Phi Phi, we had a quick stop at Monkey Beach – to see – well, monkeys! We thought nothing much of it, but the farangs were really impressed though. They were really fascinated by the sight of monkeys.

Monkey beach

Last stop for our tour was XX (I didn't get the name – for our second open sea snorkel. I thoroughly enjoyed this one, as it has got an abundance of corals, sea urchins and fishes. The water was calm too. I snapped some photos here with Liza’s underwater camera. Glad that at least one site was satisfying enough. We were not long here though, only 45 minutes. We then head back to shore, dropping 2 of the other passengers at Railay Beach (an awesome place for rock climbing) before reaching back to Ao Nang.

Open sea snorkel

We promised to meet back at 6.30 pm (2 hour rest), but most of us were out and about soon after. Razeif & Izwan went to the North side of Ao Nang to catch the sunset there, and caught a Chinese ceremony by the beach in the process. Myself and Zu head towards the shopping stretch, but straight to the opposite lane (without stopping at the shops). Managed to reach until McD’s. Zairul & Amin also went browsing around the shops area.

After all of us met back together, we went for dinner at Aeshah’s, just beside our hotel. I had rice with cashew nut chicken. Something in the spice caused me allergic reactions in the wee hours of the morning. I woke up scratching of itchiness. I had mosquito bite-like spots under my eye and left leg. Luckily Clarinase (anti-histamine for flu) did the job to clear the allergies. Very useful!

Back to the night. After dinner, the girls had to decide what to do the next day. Razeif & Izwan wanted to do the 4-island hopping tour. The girls felt that it would be quite the same as Phi Phi island, so we decided to do something else. The caving kayak tour to Bor Thor was the most exciting, but there was no afternoon trip. (We had to wait for Zairul to send off Amin). So we settled on the half day kayak tour to Ao Thalane mangrove site for 350 Baht (RM35). After deciding what to do, we continued with more shopping. The guys & Zu retired earlier, while the rest continued until the end of the road (literally).

We turned back after that, searching for a more decent yet reasonably priced spa parlour. The one beside Best Western was already closed, so we decided to check out Sunset Spa beside it. It was much better than the seedy looking first spa center we went to. Relaxing ambient, soothing music and sweet aroma. Mas & Liza tried the 1 hour foot and shoulder massage while I opted for the snooze therapy, i.e. back to hotel and sleep ;-)