This was a longer trip than I anticipated. I was picked up at my hotel at 7 am and as I was planning on coming back to Phuket I decided to leave the big rucksack behind and just go with the smaller one.
With me, there were a couple of Israeli girls that were picked up at my hotel as well and an indian family from Bangalore that were picked up in a nearby hotel. We were on the road for 1-2 hours, it felt like a long drive due to the traffic, then we got to the pier and there were 4 boats stacked up one after another, we were all wearing a sticker to identify us (nothing like being treated like cattle to feel like a proper tourist) :-)
As soon as we got there our driver who didn't speak much english told us what sounded like, "last one" but I wasn't sure wheather I was understanding him so I jumped on the first boat and the tripulation made signs to me to continue to the next boat, so from the first one jumped to the second and the same thing again so from the second one jumped to the third one and again...everyone pointing to the next boat...once I jumped to the 4th one I felt quite relieved to noticed the tripulation did not ask me to continue jumping boats because the next one would the ocean. Just in case I looked around and noticed a few more people branded with the same sticker I was...so we were all on the right boat or a lot of people made it to the wrong boat! :-)
The trip on the boat also lasted for an eternity, 1-2 hours but it got pretty interesting when we were reaching our final destination, the islands.
It reminded me a bit of Halong Bay in Vietnam...although with fewer and bigger islands but the rock formation on them was quite similar.
We finally made it to Phi Phi and as soon as you step our of the boat they hit you with the revolutionary tax for the island, 50 Bath (about 1 pound), I'll probably have to shell out another 50 on my way out...we'll see.
The village by the pier is a frantic place filled with narrow passages crowded with all sort of shops, diving schools, fast food trolleys, dvds, t-shirts...it's an authentic maze of small streets.
I had book a place last night over the phone and now I only had to find the place, it looked easy on the map I had...it turned out it wasn't as easy as I was expecting. At some point I took the wrong turn and ended up climbing the longest stair I´ve ever seen...hundreds of steps. You can only see half of the staircase on this picture and although at the bottom looks like a ramp. I promise you, they are steps...all the way!
and I was carrying my rocksack, the heat and humidity were unbelievable, I had to clean up the sweat from my eyes every 30 seconds, I wasn't sweating, I was creating a river! After walking and walking and asking a few locals I've managed to find the place...it was pretty hidden.
Anyway, the room is not bad, although it looks nicer on the picture than what it actually is.
Not bad for 800 Bath (about 16 pounds) although it has no air con and after all the heat I had to endure today looking for this place I started to have some regrets on whether I should change for a place with air con. On my long way around I had the oportunity to see some other places, there was one I quite fancied so went back there and enquired about their rooms, prices, etc...There was a nice British lad attending reception and he actually recommended me not to change just for the air con, at night it cools down so you don't really need it he said and during the day you are not going to be by your room so no point, he added.
In the end I decided to follow his advice and give it a go tonight, if I still feel is too hot at night I'll be paying him a visit tomorrow in order to book one of his air con rooms. :-)
As it happens I found out I was sharing my room with a cockroage or maybe two, not sure. I thought I had drown the first one in the shower but then I saw another one so it could be the same one. Nonetheless it turned out to be a good neighbour and stuck to its room, the toilet so I never got to give it another forced shower.
By the way, the bungalow is by the reservoir...which you can tell by the photo it has seen better days.
After this, a went back to town to enquire about diving and rock climbing...I intend to have 4 very intense days before heading back to Phuket. :-)
Finally I went to inspect one of the beaches...
Not bad, eh?, well, now imagine the water temperature at 31C and you'll understand why I had to come here. :-)
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