We arrived in Patong mid-afternoon and checked into Bodega Phuket guesthouse. At the advice of a local we went for lunch at “No. 6” restaurant on the main drag and enjoyed some fabulously cheap thai food. We then planned on having a short nap to recover from the previous nights’ bus journey, but the alarm clock died in its sleep and we woke up around 9:30pm. We hauled ourselves out of bed, when to get some Indian food for dinner (not quite as cheap, but still good), then set off to explore. Patong is roughly equivalent to the Thai version of Cancun, but seedier. Very commercial, very nightlife oriented. But located on a beautiful island in the south of Thailand. Offers for “massage” and “lady-boys” are everywhere, as well as frequent invitations for “ping-pong shows” (google it if you feel so inclined). We ventured down to the beach, but it was very windy. Somehow (even after our 4-hour mid-afternoon nap) we were still tired, and not really feeling the Patong night-life, so we headed back for a good nights’ sleep.
The next morning, we booked a flight to Bali, and a ferry to Koh Phi Phi (weren’t really feeling Patong, or the weather) and then we rented a scooter ($6 a day!) and set off to explore the greater Phuket area. We stopped at a few beaches and watched tourists try to surf & kite-board despite the red “danger, no swimming” flags.
We made it about half-way around the island before it was obvious that a downpour was imminent, so we ducked into a little local cafe (one of dozens, with absolutely no one in them) to “wait it out”. We had been advised from a fellow traveller not to try and scooter in the rain, since he had tried that the previous day and ended up hydroplaning and crashing.
We had a delicious lunch of Tom Yum Kung soup and Papaya Salad. I was very impressed with the soup, it was loaded with shrimp and fresh Enoki mushrooms. The Papaya salad was spicy, but contained a bit too much dried seafood bits for our liking. We were glad we’d tried it, but didn’t order it again.
The rain didn’t really stop, but it let up a bit so we set off anyways, since we were at the other end of the island and were going to have to get back some time. We passed by a few elephant safari camps along the way as well, but didn`t feel like sitting on elephants in the rain. It rained the rest of the afternoon, on and off, so we hopped between various bar/restaurants/cafes a long the way, and stopped for a cup of tea everytime it started pouring, which was frequently.
During one of the longest heavy-rain spells we spent a considerable time at one place, and so a very toked up rastafarian thai employee brought us out a plate of complimentary “barbeque sticky rice”. We were dripping wet when we got back to Patong, but refreshed ourselves with a hot shower, some Chang beer and another nice, cheap meal at No. 6.
The next morning we took a shuttle bus and then a ferry to the island of Koh Phi Phi (pronounced "Pee Pee"), about 1.5 hours east of the island of Phuket. The weather was warm, but very overcast, making picture-taking difficult. Below is the island of Phi Phi Lee, where "The Beach" (with Leonardo DiCaprio) was filmed.
Three things that define Koh Phi Phi are; a) the enormous population of cats, which the locals worship, b) the annoyance of locals riding bikes down narrow, crowded street (you had better get out of the way, because they won't), and c) how many tourists, and related touristy things there are.
Some awesome sunglasses that Dewey found at a kiosk:
We walked around trying to find a deal on accomodation and settled for a small but neat little bungalow at the far end of the beach.
We had a friendly local neighbour (named Wai) beside us who ever invited us to his bungalow for some ice-cold beer (literally, put ice in your beer) and to share his dinner with him. He had four cats, and we're not quite sure what he did (except possibly clean the bungalows for guests). He was very kind, and spoke a couple dozen words in English.
On our first afternoon in Koh Phi Phi we wandered around the island, exploring the not-so-touristy bits, including the parts which haven`t quite recovered from the 2004 tsunami, which pretty much flattened everything on the island that wasn`t built from concrete (and some of the buildings that were).
Take note of two interesting things in the following picture: the two ducks nesting in the rubble, by the gate, and the small boy fishing in the pond that has formed in the middle of this building that was half demolished by the tsunami.
An esthetically pleasing waste-water treatment facility!:
Street food is sold about every 5 feet, but for the most part is hard to identify, and you have to wonder how long it has been sitting out there for.
While you most certainly don't need to speak Thai to visit Thailand, it is often humourous to observe the local translation [attempts]. A few examples:
There were hundreds of restaurants on Koh Phi Phi, but we found two that we kept going back to because they were authentic, cheap ($2 - $3/meal), and delicious; "Papaya", and "Garlic 1992 Restaurant". You wouldn't imagine either to be anything special from their appearance, but we loved them so much.
Some of our favourite Thai dishes:
Dewey's "Chili and Black Pepper Chicken" (quite "ped" (spicy!))
Pad Thai (of course):
"Three Spice Chicken" (sweet, sour and a little spice!):
Most of the meals were a good size, but one night at Papaya we ordered two huge dishes and ate them all (because they were so good) then felt positively awful afterwards because we were so stuffed.
One of the most entertaining things about Koh Phi Phi was the cats. Not only were they everywhere, but they seemed to call the shots. For the most part they appeared to be healthy and well-taken care of. Every house, store, grocery shop and restaurant had at least one cat (more likely about half a dozen), and they could go wherever they pleased.
Desk cat:
Grocery store cat:
Family of restaurant cats:
Cat on the table while you order dinner:
But this one takes the cake...
Refrigerator cat:
This was not just an accident! A couple regulars to this restaurant told us that when the servers go to get a guest a beer, sometimes one cat jumps out (sufficiently cooled off) and another couple cats will jump in. The restaurant apparently will just place the menus on top or beside the cats if they happen to be on your table, rather than kick them off.
On our second day on the island we took a long-boat trip out to visit Phi Phi Lee (the smaller of the two Phi Phi islands).
It looked like we were in for some fun weather as we set out across the ocean. We got absolutely drenched with salt water, and the boat rolled about in some pretty significant waves. At least we didn't risk getting sunburnt.
Our first stop was "monkey beach" where dozens of monkeys would beg for food, or just steal it from you.
While it was neat to see the monkeys, it was a bit of a tourist trap, and the monkeys were known to be quite aggresive.
Our last stop was Maya Beach, where "The Beach" was filmed. It was also very pretty, but there were a few too many tourists here as well.
We stopped on the south side of Phi Phi Lee for some snorkeling.
One our last morning in Koh Phi Phi we rented a two person Kayak (for about $6) and set off to find a less touristy beach. We found the old "Monkey Beach" which was deserted, but unfortunately covered with garbage brought in with the tides from Phuket. Most of the garbage had been blown into the bushes though, so the big picture was quite beautiful.
On the beach there was an abadoned hammock, and a few junky abandoned buildings which we explored.
There was evidence of monkeys, although we didn't see any. We half expected to return to our kayak and find that monkeys had dug through our bag looking for food.
At nighttime on Koh Phi Phi the popular drink of choice is the ``Bucket``, which consists of: a bucket, with a pint of cheap liquor, a small bottle of redbull, and some soda or juice, topped off with ice and a couple staws.
We tried it out:
Down on the beach at night there were free fire-dancer shows, which were quite interesting.
Overall, we had a lovely stay on Koh Phi Phi. Unfortunately, our stay ended on a very sour, and somewhat devastating note. After checking out of our bungalow we had about 2 hours until our ferry back to the mainland. An Aussie-run dive shop advertised luggage storage for clients, so we asked them if we could store our bags there as well, since it seemed like a very legitimate operation. We took our cameras and our passports with us but left everything else in their luggage room. It wasn’t until we were back on the ferry that Dewey went through his backpack and discovered that they had somehow found his small envelope of American Dollars, hidden amongst some papers in a pocket of his backpack. They took all the big bills, which amounted to about $550 US. They left the small bills. The reason Dewey had the cash in the first place was because there are no ATM’s in Myanmar, and so US dollars are the only way to get local currency. Expensive lesson; never trust ANYONE when you are traveling. Luckily, whoever the thief was considered himself lucky to have found the cash, and left all our other valuables alone (two laptops, two Ipod, kindle, camera lenses, etc...).
Let us pray this is the only major theft incident we have on this trip.
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| One of many small ornamental buddhist temples, which locals leave offerings by (this one stands about 3 feet tall). |
