Traveling to Phi Phi Don

I headed down to the dock this morning to find transportation to Phi Phi Don. They basically have one dock for all the boats and they tie up the boats side by side. You may have to cross two or three other boats until you reach what you believe is yours, however without any signs, in English or Thai, your best chance at it is to ask as many people as you can. Doing so will result in one of two situations, one, you get on the boat with the correct destination and are tossing back a Singha beer watching the sunset, or two, you and a bunch of other people all end up on some island you have never heard of and probably is not on the map you paid 200 Bhat for from the guy on the dock. They also don’t keep track of how many tickets they sell so most of the time these old wooden ships are packed pretty tight with people. However this experience was nothing in compared to my return trip…




A few boats that time forgot along the way.






And some garbage, so thats where it is all going.


Within no time we were in open water with islands to small to fit everyone from the boat, plus how would you ever get up there.


About an hour and half of travel time and Phi Phi Don appeared.


This island is amazing, the second most beautiful place I have seen in my life, just in front of Koh Naang Yuan and just behind Phi Phi Leh which I would travel to the following day. When I arrived I thought this was a drought year and they did not have much water as most boats were beached, however later on that day I would realize that it was just low tide.






And as afternoon approached, so did the tide.




This island is far enough away and does not have the infrastructure to rapidly rebuild and there were still lots of signs of damage from the Tsunami. Speaking of signs, the good news is that they now have signs pointing you to the highest point on the island in the event another major wave comes through.


The main part of town lines between the beaches, however there are some “resorts” on the northern parts of the island. No cars here, you have people with push carts, or if you head north you have your backpack and some hiking boots, and the challenge of following signs to the resort of your choice. Note the many of these resorts have no running water and only have electricity from 9am to 9pm.




While Phi Phi Resort looked adventurous I opted for Phitharom PP because the owner was so friendly and they had hot water, which would be my last hot shower until I returned to Bangkok. The owner also said “Hi” and asked how I was enjoying the island every time he saw me as well as made a few recommendations on places to eat. If you don’t mind the walk or the countless stairs to get up there I highly recommend it. After I was settled I checked out the island a bit before settling down on a nice bar over looking the beach. However that was after a nice hour long full body massage right on the beach, for only $8 USD, $10 USD if you want the "happy finish"










I was here less than 12 hours and I had already fallen in love with the island and its people. I hope that it is far enough away so that it does not suffer the same fate as Phuket, however I fear in another 5 to 10 years and it will be another tourist destination.