To the islands
We got up fairly early today, gathered our stuff, and checked out of the hostel. The pair of us were getting the boat to the Phi Phi Islands today, and as such, we had to wait for the bus to take us to the dock. Whilst we were waiting for the bus, we chowed down on the coco pops we purchased yesterday, yummy! Sometimes, you can’t beat sugary cereal and milk in the morning! We didn’t have to wait long until the bus arrived, and then it was only a short journey to the dock where are boat to Phi Phi awaited us.
For our adventure on Cat Ba Island in Vietnam, check it out here.
Using the tickets we’d acquired, we checked in with the ticket checkers, and we were then pointed towards the boat. Once we were on board the boat, we found some seats (there were tons of seats) and made ourselves comfy for the journey. The boat journey took around 2 hours, and it went incredibly fast as I kept myself busy with some games I had installed on my phone. It seems like all the locals play games on their phones, why not join in, eh? When the boat arrived in Phi Phi Islands, we were greeted with more sunshine and clear, blue water. Looked like a touristic paradise!
Street maze
The streets of Phi Phi are jam packed with shops, bars, restaurants, beauty parlours, and more. In addition to these, there are loads of people, definitely a tourist hotspot as expected. The town is fairly small and compact, so it doesn’t take long to get anywhere you want to go here. After a short trip through the street maze, we made it to a hostel which was cheap and modest. It was a basic dorm, but clean and had everything we needed. As usual, the transport takes the energy out of you sometimes, so we chilled out in the cool room. There aren’t too many hostels on the web here, so you may have to just turn up and do some digging.
After chilling for a time, we went out for some food nearby. Whilst we were out, we also checked out some boat tours which kinda seem mandatory for the Phi Phi Islands. It’s important to shop around if you can, because you could potentially be getting a bad deal at the first tour provider you ask. It turns out that our first provider is the one we went with, which was pretty handy. Once we’d booked the tour and had food, we nipped back to the hostel to swap into our walking shoes. There was a viewpoint nearby, so we thought we’d check it out.
For some info on Phi Phi Island tours, check this out.
Viewing the islands
There are a couple of small signposts dotted around the streets. These show you the way to the bottom of the steps which lead to the viewpoint. It’s not the most pleasant experience; baking heat, plus a hundred or more steps, equals a baking hot sweaty mess. We’ve both done steps plenty of times, but it’s still tiring as hell. The pair of us soldiered on up the steps, paid the 30-baht fee, and enjoyed the wonderful, quirky garden, as well as the view of the island which spanned all around us. We were overlooking the centre of the island, which is the main town. The centre is actually quite thin, and then the eastern and western sides of the island expand out.
There were many quirky garden decorations and a wide variety of flowers and other plants. We continued up the hill as there happened to be a second viewpoint. It only took a few minutes to get there, and it was worth it. This viewpoint was higher and had an even better view than the first viewpoint. We could see more of the beach, the island, and the other islands around us; it was awesome. We hung around here and chilled (despite blistering temperatures), admiring the beauty around us.
After we returned to the hostel, we chilled for a while (we really did need to cool down for a bit). After dark had fallen, and the music and lights had been turned up to full, we ventured out in search of nourishment. Not far from our place, we found a nice restaurant and had some lush pizzas, whilst being in the middle of the party scene. After the food, we wandered round for a little longer, had a refreshing McFlurry, and turned in for the night.
