I'm sure many have been to Thailand and know this obvious fact but I'll go ahead anyway. Koh Phi Phi is two Phi Phis. KPP Don is the island everyone stays on that is plopping up a new bungalow everytime you blink and KKP Leh is a protected national park, and most well known for the set of The Beach starring Leonardo Di-Cap. The film is terrible and you wonder where the point of Alex Garlands novel wandered off to as hollywood tried to turn the American character into a hero for the film.
The boat left at 2pm towards the KPP-Leh but had one stop on KPP-Don and that was monkey beach. Now the evening before I was emailing work colleagues who asked if I'd been attacked by animals yet, I said no. Anyway arriving on the beach with many about 3 other boats of 8 or 9 tourists we jumped onto the island. This monkeys are not tame to state the obvious. A young one passed in front of me and I had the urge to stroke it, only to have an enraged mother monkey come to me and scratch my arm. A very small scratch but the attack was scary. Added to that what may have been the dad or overprotective uncle, came hurtling towards me and frankly chased me back into the sea. In the safety of the sea I wondered what the monkey village would make of what they thought was cross-species kiddy-fiddling. As the boat pulled away, I could swear I saw monkeys trying to swim.
We then crossed a very choppy sea the KPP-Leh and the first stop on the island was a lagoon where we jumped off and had a swim surrounded by those well postcarded cliffs of the Andaman Coast, then followed by some snorkelling surrounded by hordes of yellow and black fishys. I enjoy snorkelling a fair bit, but I admittedly struggle when water enters the mask or down the tube. I've had a wealth of advice on what to do here, but my habits are hard to break and never compliment snorkelling. Thats said when it flows well and you are floating with your head down, and occassionally take a bit of a dive the undersea world is enchanting and then I get the whole scuba thing, although I will never do it.
Next stop was Maya Bay, or better known as The Beach. However it wasn't to be as easy as just pulling up. For some reason I think they restricted boats coming into Maya Bay. Anyway the boat parked in Peleh Bay where we had to swim to a rope and to a ladder then walk 3 minutes to The Beach. The sea was very scary and we didn't have to put much effort into swimming as the waves were pulling us in. It was getting near the cliffs and the ladder out that things became nerve wracking. I grabbed onto the rope when I could only for a wave to crash me in and bash my foot against an underwater rock. With 4 other boats of similar tourists the scramble to get a rope and climb out was frantic and reminiscent of a boating accident. As I grabbed the slippery wooden ladder I hugged it for my life I promised myself I would not slip. I took my time to see where Sarah was, and thankfully she was very close behind. Once on the island the short walk to The Beach was good. We passed tents as they allow very limited camping on the island. Then as the film you walk this path of soft sand and come out on Maya Bay. I was told that The Beach was superimposed for the film, but I couldn't immediately see where, as it looked every bit as stunning as the scene when Leo DiCap sees it for the first time. Being a natural harbour and the water being choppy the waves were large so gentle swimming wasn't an option here. Still the water was blue and so refreshing. I would say The Beach is not overhyped and maybe the best beach I've visited in my life. Also maybe there is a restriction on boats allowed to arrive at once, as there is with camping, so the crowds on The Beach were very comfortable.
After our alloted hour we had to get back and there was disagreement amongst the group as to whether the boat would come round to the bay to collect us or we had to return the same hazardous way we arrived by Peleh Bay. While Sunil from Bangalore seemed to think the boat was definitely coming round, the majority of the group agreed he was talking out his arse and decided to walk back to Peleh Bay. The masses were unfortunately correct. For some reason the approach to go down the same ladder we arrived an hour ago filled me with the worse fear I'd felt in a long time, not since a skydive 8 years ago in New Zealand. Your fear is somewhat abated by seeing all the others manage it. So myself, closely followed by Sarah then the rest of the group carefully watched every step down the ladder as we approached the waves crashing the shore. Grabbing hold of a rope which took as towards the boat the task was easier than it looked. The swim back took much more effort than the swim in as you were now against the waves. But we all made it, we returned to the boat with fresh pineapple waiting for us.
journey back gave Sarah and I both sea sickness. Another opportunity to snorkel was offered which only half the group did. My sickness looked like it would produce vomit, so I moved to the boat where I could evacuate said vomit into the sea and more importantly not on top of those of the group who were snorkelling. It didnt happen but the 30 minute ride back wasn't pleasant. It was on the journey back that I was looking out to sea and seeing waves the size of sand dunes toss the boat back and forth that I was reminded how insignificant the ocean makes us feel. Earth is a watery planet, and land is more or less the exception, yet its the ocean that is so alien to most our lives. Also it makes us insignificant in time. The Earth is really a frozen icey planet, which occassionally has warm periods, and the era of humanity and life as we know it, is just a brief warm period which we will soon (in Earth terms) revert to ice. That mass ocean which tossed us around like a rag doll is a melted ice age. This thought isn't belittling, but makes us realise how small we all are in time and space. Thats my deep thought, and that was largely our day.
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