Finally on Phi Phi Island

Trent and I woke up the other morning, we had no boat or hotel booked to get over to Phi Phi island but we packed a few things and headed down to the pier to catch a ride somehow.

We signed up for a snorkel tour which most people complete in one day but we were catching a one way ride and in a few days we would complete the snorkel tour on the way back. 30 people boarded a three engine speedboat for the hour long ride to Phi Phi with stops on the way.

This particular morning the ocean was quite rough and the boat ride was not what we would call smooth sailing. People from the open bow of the boat were slowing making their way to the rear of the boat hoping to find reprieve from the pounding and the waves coming over the nose of the boat.

Finally we made it to our first stop after an hour on the rough water at “Maya Bay”; this is the beach that the movie with Leonardo Dicapro “The Beach” was filmed in 1999. This cove was breathtaking and the beach was like white powder. We did not get off the boat here as there was not great snorkeling and over crowded. We could take a private boat here another day if we wanted.

From here we went by “James Bond beach” where in the 1970’s they filmed Golden Finger and this place was crawling with boats. It was low tide so again it was just a glance; this was nothing special here as it has been over run by tourist (like us 🙂

Our snokeling stop was at “Loh Sama Bay”, we had a great time chasing fish and looking at the gorgeous rock formations. I am amazed at the beauty that surrounds us.

On our boat we met a couple from England who were the nicest people. They came to Thailand to visit their grandson and this couple had been married for over 55yrs. The husband was going to be turning 82 next week. They were wonderful to talk with and were an inspiration for me they confirmed that we are heading in the right direction with our family and that you will be as old as you allow youself to feel. I wish we had longer to talk with them but the short time we did talk was wonderful, it sure made me miss my gramma!

One of the craziest things we have done yet was to get off at “Monkey Beach”. Here the monkeys are wild but tourists come and feed them. Monkeys are dangerous and I had no interest in getting to close, there were so many of them. I dropped my bananas so I could take pictures of Trent teasing the monkeys and petting them. I thought this was a little to close but they were facinating to watch. Trent gave a monkey a banana and the monkey sat down and peeled it like a person would do. It was very interesting here.

 

On our way to Phi Phi the captain took us by “Viking Cave” which is now closed to the public because it has started to crumble now they are trying to restore the inside. Here the story was, hundreds of years ago Chinese came over and due to stormy weather they seeked shelter here in this cave. Bad weather persisted for many months and they had to stay here. Inside the cave is many drawing of Viking ships carved on the walls and the captain said it was very interesting. To bad we could not go in hopefully it will be restored in a few years.

Now to Phi Phi. I am not sure if you know the landscape of Thailand but Phi Phi is in the south and it was an island devastated by the tsunami. I know this may be hard to read but if you can magnify it it’s very interesting.

When our boat pulled up to Phi Phi I was taken back by the condition of a hotel we saw. You could see the devastation of this island right away. The hotel we saw was called Hotel Cabana, I said to Trent prior to arriving on the island we should check out this hotel since I read some good reviews about it on the internet.

This hotel clearly was hit and they had a few rooms for rent while they are trying to rebuild the hotel. Our captain said that the water during the tsumani was above the hotel. I was speachless as I stared at a clearing that looked like it was mowed over and everything was gone except a few palm trees. Ead said that there were over 1000 rooms lost that day that occupied this space.

 

 

Here is a picture of the only street on Phi Phi island at Ton Sai Bay. Here 70% of the buildings were destroyed, more than 800 people found dead and more than 1200 still missing. 104 surviving children have been left orphaned.

Unbelievable how in minutes the world can change so fast and what sadness and pain has came from it.

The patrons on our boat were escorted to a resturant for lunch provided with the snorkel tour on phi phi. It was funny because they had a variety of Thai dishes but they were all quite westernized, they also had spaghetti & onion rings as well for us falongs. The people at our table did not like anything (why come to a country if you are not willing to try the food or experience some culture is beyond me)

Before we boarded the boat in Phuket Trent phoned a resort to confirm they had a room if we needed one. We heard that Phi Phi had no rooms available so we were taking a chance jumping on a boat, but we had no kids… so no problem.

A representative from the Phi Phi Island Village resort came to the restaurant we were eating lunch. Ead was his name and he came to escort us to our long tail boat to take us to the resort.

I have yet to meet someone who did not want to tell us their story about December 26, 2004 so I always ask “where were you when the tsunami hit” Well Ead is a survivor. He took us to where the palm tree was that he held on to for dear life. He showed us a memorial of pictures and stories of when the tsunami hit. We say pictures of the devastation of the island at places we were standing, it all seemed surreal I just can’t believe this happened.

Phi Phi is very small there are no cars or motor vehicle at all. Ead said the morning of December 26th the water was strange. The water went way out and all the fish were laying on the ocean floor. Then all of a sudden this wave came in on one side of the island and he grabbed a palm tree as the water rose and climbed to the top. Water was rising because it engulfed the whole bay and there was no where for people to run to because the water was rising on both sides up the hill.

Ead hung on for dear life and then swam from the tree to a near by hotel roof, he suffered from a broken jaw, lost conciseness for a few minutes and had two large spikes punchier through his foot.

It took Ead four hours to walk home in what usually took 45min; his family thought for sure he was dead. I stood on the beach and I am having a hard time putting into words what I was feeling, I felt guilty that we were there and we have the resources in our country we have, I was so sad for the people but most of all I was amazed on how Ead had such a huge welcoming smile after all he saw and went through.

After we saw the memorial Ead took us to our boat. What broke the sadness was when we were getting in to the long tail boat; Trent tipped the boat as he was getting in. Ead said something to the boatman in Thai and then said “Yack” in his sentence. Trent said I know you just called me a Yack and Ead was shocked he heard him and he know what it meant. I was really funny!

Going to the resort in a long tail was pretty amazing because you can only access the resort by water transportation. It was about a 30min boat ride and the views were stunning.

We disembarked off the boat and we followed Ead along a path that was struck by the tsunami. You can see the tops of the palm trees gone and debris still in some places. (Ead insisted on carrying our packback, poor guy)

Our first impression of our surroundings as we were walking was that this resort was under major construction still and we had no idea what we were walking into. Trent looked at me and I at him and we wondered what we have done. Then all of a sudden we turned this corner and there was paradise I mean true paradise.

We reached the reception desk and they brought us towels to wipe our hands and a refreshing coconut drink to enjoy before we went on a tour of the resort to see if we wanted to stay here. STAR TREATMENT!

Ead took us around the resort in a golf cart for us to see each different bungalow, the resturants, and the spa. The resort was all bungalows and were divided into three categories basically.

We decided to stay and we took the beach front bungalow to treat ourselves. The little villa was so beautiful and had all the extras to make it even more special. It had two decks to relax on to listen to the waves crashing on shore (one of my favorite sounds)… Trent is relaxing on one of the chairs in red, look closely.

I have never stayed somewhere I can say covered every single detail. I have to say I just loved the flowers in the toilet it was one of my favorite parts of the room!

The view was stunning and it was such a treat to stay like a king & queen for a few days!

The pool was calling our names practically; it was pretty hot here on Phi Phi. Trent found his stool at the pool bar and met two couples from South Africa and a couple from Australia.

The night ended with Trent singing with the Thai band. It was comical to listen to a Thai band since North American rock so Trent & a Swed helped them out a bit. Trent had the best voice there. I have all the footage on video; it was a high light of our trip 🙂 Trent had everyone clapping for “Canada” (that is what the south africans called him, they did not know his name)

The couple from Australia, Vicky & Rad were really nice people. We had a great time with them comparing all the differences in our countries, things we thought we knew but had no idea about. The best was when Rad asked us what we drove back home and we said trucks; in Australia they call them (Yank Tanks) translation Big ass trucks.

Vicky’s background is Greek and Rad’s serbian. I asked Vicky if (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) is what Greeks are like and she said yes but toned down alittle bit but not much. I loved talking to them to learn about their families and customs, there was not a silent moment.

At dinner with Rad & Vicky and Rad showed Trent their Aussie money. He told Trent it was impossible to ripe this money. Trent took to the challenge with all his might and could not ripe it, Aussie money is impossible to ripe, it is pretty amazing.

Our second day on Phi Phi Trent and I went to the spa. We spoiled our selves with a massage and facials. It was heaven. Everything about this resort was beautiful; no small touch was left without a detail added. When we laid on the massage table and put our faces through the little hole we looked and smelt beautiful flowers. When we were having our facials and as my mask was setting the lady braided my hair and put a flower in it for me. This place was the closest we have ever experienced to being royalty… Trent said he could get very used to it. (here is a picture of the door handles to each of the treatment rooms, I thought they were pretty unique)

That evening we took a long tail boat with Vicky and Rad to Tom Sai Bay the little town on Phi Phi island to walk around and eat supper.

We walked the town which took us about 40 min while stopping to look at little shops along the way. Trent and Vicky tried on some super cool channel glasses (haha) Trent however decided to pass on them but Vicky sure likes hers.

The town is very small so it does not take long to walk around it . We ended up walking into a very local area and you could see how poor these people were and I can only imagine how hard it has been to try to rebuild their life after the tsunami, my heart goes out to them so much.

As we were leaving to go back on the long tail boat to our resort we stopped at a cart on the side of the street and had the best crepe/pancakes we have ever had. Each couple kept ordering and ordering off this man who was happy to keep making them for us with a big smile… I wonder what they think of us funny falongs.

It was pitch black when we took the long tail boat back to our resort. The star filled sky was beautiful and it seemed like a dream. It was one of those moments I had to say to myself “I just can’t believe we are in Thailand” I said to Vicky “Can you believe we are on the ocean, looking at the surroundings we see, we are the luckiest people ever to experience this”… all I can say is it was magical. On the other hand it was a bit scary because on our boat all we had was a little spot light and we passed a boat with no lights which made Trent a bit nervous so it made me a little paranoid.

We arrived at our resort but on the beach at the backside so we had to walk about 10min to get to the resort. We were dropped off at the beach and we had to walk in the BLACK night the four of us with no light, which was freaky. It’s not that we were scared of someone jumping out at us it was the snakes I was worried about. Ones mind starts playing tricks on you when you start to break down the situation…..Four white people dropped off on a remote beach… in the middle of know where practically… in a foreign country. It was a lot like the “Blairwitch project” Needless to say Vicky and I were glad to get to the reception desk

The third day we took a long tail boat back to the main town again to rejoin the snorkel tour on our way back to Phuket.

Once we boarded the speedboat we traveled about an hour and stopped at Khai Island. Khai island was beautiful with soft white sand that glided under our feet but over run by tour boats and tourists.

However the snorkeling was really fascinating. We were told (harmless) sharks were around this island so we were on a mission to find them. Trent went out in the water first and as I was getting my mask ready I heard him yell. He came swimming back to me so I could show him the water snake I was following and he said he was bit by a fish. There were these fish that would not move out of our way, they were aggressive little fish, they stood their ground. One was following me and would not go away.

The coral here was full of pretty colors but Trent was just skimming by in places. I was following him in a few spots and he brought us a little to close for my comfort to sea urchins that could have done us a bit of harm if we got any closer.

Trent & I had a great three days and I am so thankful we went to explore these beautiful places. I count my blessing each and everyday for the opportunities we have and I want to thank you for joining us on this journey it has been great to share it with you.

All our love Jody & Trent