Andre and Jill's Adventures: Koh Phi Phi and Phuket

Walkway to our little bungalow on Phi Phi

Phi Phi is only about 90 minutes by ferry and was made famous by the filming of the movie, The Beach. The island is very small, only accessible by boat, and has no motorized transportation on the island. There are only bicycles and push carts used to transport goods, but the island is so small that anything larger is unnecessary. Phi Phi is also known as the party island. I would describe it as a never ending Spring Break spot. We were finally among the majority population in age, and I think I only saw 3 children that were not Thai the entire time. Bars line the small bay with each one trying to outdo their neighbour with the volume of their music.

We were lucky to have one sunny day on Phi Phi before the rains and flooding began. We spent that one day crisping up on the beach followed by another 3 wading through calf deep water in the lanes. It really didn't seem too bad to us at the time, but we were lucky that we left when we did. There were a number of ferry cancellations due to the rough sea and many people we spoke to were unable to get to Koh Lanta. We were happy to be sailing to Phuket as they have one of the larger ferries that continued to operate through the rains.

Once we landed on Phuket we learned of the floods and slides happening on many of the other islands. Koh Samui and Phangan were hit very hard in the Gulf and happened to be next on our itinerary. Travel was not advisable to these islands, so we cancelled flights and planned to spend a few more days on Phuket.

Lo Dalam beach - the water is at max waist high

Lucky to have one sunny day in this beautiful bay

Streets through town, push carts and bicycles only

The village is nestled between the two bays


Lo Dalam on the West side


Ton Sai on the East side


The viewpoint atop one of the mountains


Ongoing re-building after the 2004 Tsunami

Phuket's west coast is lined with beach, split into a few main areas. We spent our first 3 days in Patong City. Patong has some westernized attractions that got us through the first few rainy days. We went to McDonald's the first evening, and no matter where you are in the world, McDonald's fries are the same! Oh, and fountain Coke…AMAZING! So we had our fix in the way of fast food, after nearly 4 months without. There was also a shopping centre at the end of our street with a movie theatre. I don't remember what the last movie we saw in the theatre was, but we went daily for around $4 each (including popcorn and pop)! We spent one evening checking out the red light district of Patong. We drank really expensive drinks listened to amusing Thai renditions of hits by Guns and Roses, Pink, and even Tina Turner, and took in some of the seedy entertainment the Thais are so well known for (I don't think I need to go into any further detail on that).

As the rains eased up and the forecast was for sun, we moved to Karon Beach where we planted ourselves on the beach for a few days. The beach was beautiful and much less crowded than Patong Beach. We spent 2 nights in a cliff-side bungalow with an amazing balcony view overlooking the sea. Our spirits were lifted in the few short days in the sun, but it went by quickly and before we knew it, we were off to Bangkok to regroup.