Wow, Ko Phi Phi. Great place. Definitely better than Phuket. Perfect combination of lovely not crowded beach, a beach section with cool clubs, bars and restaurants right on it, and a town with funky shops, restaurants, bars, pubs.
When I arrived I was trying to find my booked accommodation and a man, giving me directions, said ‘oh, that’s closed!’ Knowing this is a scam, I said thanks anyway and went to find it.
Sure enough, it had a sign on it saying ‘closed, not taking reservations from (today’s date)’. The two guys sitting outside on a tour desk had no idea how I could have had a reservation. Anyway, they told me of another ‘dorm room’ right around the corner, which I just walked into and got a bed. It was a funny system were there was no key, you just walked in and the person sitting out the front presumably made sure you were meant to be there. But a lot of the time there was no one! It didn’t matter though because we had lockers for valuables.
So I arrived, had delicious Pad Thai, checked out the beautiful beach at dusk and bobbed in the warm water, walked around the streets, had more food, bought a ticket to a six hour cruise for the next day, then went back to the dorm where everyone was socialising and joined four girls (who didn’t know each other before Ko Phi Phi) for their dinner and heading out to a cheesy Irish pub. We then eventually went to Slinky’s, an amazing club right on the beach which was full of people dancing and had a random mechanical bull. Tiredness overtook me at 2am (jet lag nearly beaten).
Next day I rose at 11 when everyone was rising, got some food next door, then met everyone for the cruise at the Sports Bar. Finally we boarded the cruise boat for six hours of cruising around the Andaman in a beautiful cool breeze, but warm enough that you didn’t need a towel. It wasn’t sunny but apparently that made it more comfortable. We fed monkeys on Monkey Beach, some people cliff jumped, floated in tubes around the back of Maya Bay, then walked through to the amazing Maya Beach. We then just cruised around and drank and ate fried rice until 6:30pm. Our boat had pumping music and unlimited drinks and snacks, and all the other boats stared at us (I presume jealously).
Some of us met up at the Sports Bar again at 8pm and then went onto a beach restaurant for dinner. At the official after party at Dojo Bar where we could see the day’s photos, only the tour guide and I were there for ages, until another Australian man and lady – who turned out not to be a couple as I had thought – turned up and the four of us chatted about life and partied til late at Relax Bar and then Slinkys and some other adjoining beach clubs.
The next day I chilled on the beach before my ferry back to Phuket.