Ko Phi Phi - Thailand
5/24/05
We left Krabi for Ko Phi Phi. The ticket we bought included pick up from the hotel and transfer to the pier, so it was really easy to get there. The boat left at 9 A.M. and the ride took one and a half hour.
Ko Phi Phi has superb sceneries composed of high limestone hills with cliffs surrounded by marvelous beaches and emerald sea. The island is unbelievably beautiful.
.
Once we arrived, the first thing we did was to look for Stephanie since we knew the name and location of the hotel where she was staying.
Ko Phi Phi was severely hit by the Tsunami and on the way to the hotel we crossed an area that seemed to have been completely washed away by the waves. There were many non-Thai people working under a killing sun to clean the area. At first we didn't understand why and how those “tourists” were working together but later we came to know that it was a voluntary task force to help reconstruct the area.
Stephanie wasn't in her room, so we decided to wait and rest since it started to rain anyway. We ended up taking a two-hour nap and since she didn't show up, we decided to leave a message under her door and went to walk around the island.
We walked on both sides of the stripe and despite the signs of destruction the beautiful nature is still spectacular. The water on the beach is shallow, clear and warm.
We met Stephanie at the end of the day and went for dinner. She explained to us that an organization named HiPhiPhi helps the locals to reconstruct the island since they did not get anything yet from the government. Moreover regular tourists are afraid to come back, so it is getting really difficult financially for the locals. HiPhiPhi is actually an international volunteering group and most of the people participating in the work are long-term travelers, like us, who stop there and help. Some end up staying quite a long time. Stephanie worked in Thailand as an English teacher and before going back to the USA went to Ko Phi Phi where she has been volunteering for more than 7 weeks already. Amazing!
We then went out with some of the volunteers, Stephanie’s friends, for drinks.
5/25/05
We were planning to go back to Krabi but we changed our plans a little bit and decided to join the volunteer work.
I joined Stephanie and the snorkeling team to clean the beach and the sea while Angie joined the land team and help to clean the garden of a guest house .....
Most of the rubble at the place where I worked was concrete blocs that were actually the street and side walks pavements. There were also wood, pieces of roofs, tires, some clothes and sometimes they also have found bones. Everything is piled up on a platform and removed at the end of the day.
Keep up with your great help, Stephanie!
Angie helped to turn the soil of the garden and remove all kinds of stuff, like clothes, cups, hair clips, Christmas lights, tiles and carry it to the “rubbish” pile.
They also sometimes find wallets or ID cards of people and try to return them to their owners or their families. It is quite a strange and sad feeling to find all these belongings…
At the end of the day we were very very tired and had no energy to go out at night. Angie went for a Thai massage and we went to bed not long after dinner.
5/26/05
We woke up early and had breakfast with Stephanie but we didn't volunteer again, we had to go back to Krabi and resume our trip. The plan for the day was to climb to the viewpoint and try to find somebody to share a boat to Phi Phi Leh. Also we had to be back at 4 P.M. to catch the boat going back to Krabi.
The climb to the viewpoint was easy because there was a cement path all the way to the top; the only problem was the ferocious mosquitoes. We enjoyed the view for around 30 minutes before heading back down.
At the pier it wasn't difficult to find someone to share the boat; there were two other girls and a guy also planning to go there. It came out really cheap, only 160 Baht per person for four hours of fun.
Phi Phi Leh is almost all sheer cliffs, with a few caves and a sea lake formed by a cleft between two cliffs that allows water to enter into a bow-shaped canyon. This is by far the most beautiful natural formation we have seen. The place is unbelievably beautiful.
This island is also famous for being the place where the movie The Beach was shot. Our first stop was the little beach where most of the movie takes place. There we were surprised to see that they were shooting The Beach 2. Here you can see Leonardo Di Caprio posing for the fans. :D
After that we moved to another spot, a little bay with clear green water where we snorkeled above a rainbow-color coral with hundreds of colorful fish. (Laurent, you would stop asking me for fish from Amazon after seeing this). It was a pity that our camera is not water proof, so there is no picture from this fantastic underwater world.
From the snorkeling area we moved yet to another place surrounded with walls rising vertically straight up from the water, there are no beaches here, just the cliffs. There was a swing in a tree growing from one of the walls where we stopped to have some fun. The place looks like a huge natural swimming pool.
By now it was time to leave heaven and go back to earth. We went back to Koh Phi Phi and Stephanie came by to say goodbye at the pier. At 4 P.M. we where on our way back to Krabi.
We left Krabi for Ko Phi Phi. The ticket we bought included pick up from the hotel and transfer to the pier, so it was really easy to get there. The boat left at 9 A.M. and the ride took one and a half hour.
Ko Phi Phi has superb sceneries composed of high limestone hills with cliffs surrounded by marvelous beaches and emerald sea. The island is unbelievably beautiful.
.
Once we arrived, the first thing we did was to look for Stephanie since we knew the name and location of the hotel where she was staying.
Ko Phi Phi was severely hit by the Tsunami and on the way to the hotel we crossed an area that seemed to have been completely washed away by the waves. There were many non-Thai people working under a killing sun to clean the area. At first we didn't understand why and how those “tourists” were working together but later we came to know that it was a voluntary task force to help reconstruct the area.
Stephanie wasn't in her room, so we decided to wait and rest since it started to rain anyway. We ended up taking a two-hour nap and since she didn't show up, we decided to leave a message under her door and went to walk around the island.
We walked on both sides of the stripe and despite the signs of destruction the beautiful nature is still spectacular. The water on the beach is shallow, clear and warm.
We met Stephanie at the end of the day and went for dinner. She explained to us that an organization named HiPhiPhi helps the locals to reconstruct the island since they did not get anything yet from the government. Moreover regular tourists are afraid to come back, so it is getting really difficult financially for the locals. HiPhiPhi is actually an international volunteering group and most of the people participating in the work are long-term travelers, like us, who stop there and help. Some end up staying quite a long time. Stephanie worked in Thailand as an English teacher and before going back to the USA went to Ko Phi Phi where she has been volunteering for more than 7 weeks already. Amazing!
We then went out with some of the volunteers, Stephanie’s friends, for drinks.
5/25/05
We were planning to go back to Krabi but we changed our plans a little bit and decided to join the volunteer work.
I joined Stephanie and the snorkeling team to clean the beach and the sea while Angie joined the land team and help to clean the garden of a guest house .....
Most of the rubble at the place where I worked was concrete blocs that were actually the street and side walks pavements. There were also wood, pieces of roofs, tires, some clothes and sometimes they also have found bones. Everything is piled up on a platform and removed at the end of the day.
Keep up with your great help, Stephanie!
Angie helped to turn the soil of the garden and remove all kinds of stuff, like clothes, cups, hair clips, Christmas lights, tiles and carry it to the “rubbish” pile.
They also sometimes find wallets or ID cards of people and try to return them to their owners or their families. It is quite a strange and sad feeling to find all these belongings…
At the end of the day we were very very tired and had no energy to go out at night. Angie went for a Thai massage and we went to bed not long after dinner.
5/26/05
We woke up early and had breakfast with Stephanie but we didn't volunteer again, we had to go back to Krabi and resume our trip. The plan for the day was to climb to the viewpoint and try to find somebody to share a boat to Phi Phi Leh. Also we had to be back at 4 P.M. to catch the boat going back to Krabi.
The climb to the viewpoint was easy because there was a cement path all the way to the top; the only problem was the ferocious mosquitoes. We enjoyed the view for around 30 minutes before heading back down.
At the pier it wasn't difficult to find someone to share the boat; there were two other girls and a guy also planning to go there. It came out really cheap, only 160 Baht per person for four hours of fun.
Phi Phi Leh is almost all sheer cliffs, with a few caves and a sea lake formed by a cleft between two cliffs that allows water to enter into a bow-shaped canyon. This is by far the most beautiful natural formation we have seen. The place is unbelievably beautiful.
This island is also famous for being the place where the movie The Beach was shot. Our first stop was the little beach where most of the movie takes place. There we were surprised to see that they were shooting The Beach 2. Here you can see Leonardo Di Caprio posing for the fans. :D
After that we moved to another spot, a little bay with clear green water where we snorkeled above a rainbow-color coral with hundreds of colorful fish. (Laurent, you would stop asking me for fish from Amazon after seeing this). It was a pity that our camera is not water proof, so there is no picture from this fantastic underwater world.
From the snorkeling area we moved yet to another place surrounded with walls rising vertically straight up from the water, there are no beaches here, just the cliffs. There was a swing in a tree growing from one of the walls where we stopped to have some fun. The place looks like a huge natural swimming pool.
By now it was time to leave heaven and go back to earth. We went back to Koh Phi Phi and Stephanie came by to say goodbye at the pier. At 4 P.M. we where on our way back to Krabi.
posted by Adriano and Angie | 7:11 AM
3 Comments:
Oi Di Caprio
Estamos vendo suas fotos, eu e a mamae.
Ve sse deixa tudo limpo ai, pois o proximo tsunami deve voltar nas proximas ferias dele, e nao quer encontrar sujeira, so a que ele deixar. ;-)
Boa viagem, nao coma muita barata, escorpiao, cigarra... essas coisas que tem ai no Vietna, compra uma Ruffles, hehe!!
Abracos pra vc e Angie, divirtao-se e fiquem com Deus.
Junior e Mamae.
OUAHOU !!!
What a nice story guys. This only part of your trip is the dream of many of your readers here ... Volunteering, climbing, diving, being a movie star for a moment and big mosquitoes is a MUST in a traveller's life. You're so lucky again. Where next do you plan to find this kind of wonderful time ? I'm coming !
Flavien.
Just wanted to say hello.
Mike B.
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