The Rebirth Of An Island

So....our last big journey....today's trip should be our last 'major' day of travelling on the trip, but who's to say really. The Travel Gods like to throw curveballs at you once in a while, so you never can really be all that sure of anything while on the move.

Our destination today was Ko Phi Phi, located on Thailand's west coast, and since we were leaving Ko Samui, on the east coast, that involved a combination of ferries and buses again. Luckily, it was smooth sailing all the way. An hour and a half ferry ride, than an hour bus ride, than a two bus ride on another bus, and then another ferry, this time for just over two hours. We sailed into Phi Phi's harbour in the late afternoon and immediately we were left awe-struck by its beauty.

However, it's not just the island's striking scenery that makes this island so very famous here in Thailand. Only 11 months ago Ko Phi Phi was one of the islands that was absolutely devastated by the Dec. 26 tsunami. To understand how bad it was, you have to know a bit about Phi Phi's geography. Ko Phi Phi is a dumbell-shaped island, and it's the narrow isthmus connecting the two highlands where all the hotel, shops, and restaurants are. Or, should I say, were. When the wave rolled into the shallow harbour, tourists were caught completely off-guard by the quickly-appraoching crest that was nearly 3 metres high. Running the few hundred metres or so to the other side of the isthmus, panicked tourists looked up in horror to see a second wave - this one nearly 6 metres high - crashing in on them from the other side. They hardly stood a chance. The island was literally swept clean, and hundreds, if not thousands, lost their lives. Those that happened to be on higher ground at the time, or on the upper floors of hotels, were lucky enough to have made it, and today their living nightmare tales, retold in poster boards around the island, remind us of the disaster that struck not so long ago.

Ko Phi Phi was one of the prime jewels in Thailand's crown of island paradises, and so the government, along with the generous help of volunteers from around the world, have worked quickly to restore the island to its former beauty. The white beaches have been swept clean, and trees re-planted, but the middle isthmus still remains as a barren wasteland, strewn with a mix of piles of rubble and construction equipment busy rebuilding the hotels. It's such a morbidly fascinating juxtaposition. Look one way and you see a perfect beach surrounded by soaring lush green limestone cliffs and a turquoise sea. Turn 180 degrees and you see the shattered remains of what was once a crowded and busy piece of land, now empty except for the ghosts which must wander through unseen. It's chilling.

Phi Phi registered a 90% drop in tourism during the few six months after the tsunami, but the tourists have since come back. And oh my, have they ever returned in a big way. Prior to the tsunami, Phi Phi had 1500 hotel rooms. 1000 were swept away leaving only 500, most of which sat empty for months on end. Now if you revisit Phi Phi's harbour, you're greeted with boat after boat after boat packed full of tourists pouring in from nearby Phuket and Krabi. The island has been flooded again - with tourists curious to see the scenery and how the island has recovered - and Phi Phi simply can't cope with this second wave.

It's high season now, and with the onslaught of tourists, hotel prices have shot straight up into the stratosphere. A 400 baht a night bungalow can now fetch 1200 and above, and people are so eager they'll take just about anything. The arrival of our massive ferry spawned a fury of overwhelmed touts wheelin' and deelin' out overpriced rooms to the desperate tourists willing to take any room, just to get a room. In a mere 10 minutes pretty much all the remaining rooms on the island were snatched up. And being one of the last passengers off the ferry, Janelle and I were left with little choice but to take what was available. The cheapest we could get was 1000 baht a night for a resort - way on the other side of the island that's accessible only by boat. Way out of our price range, and not exactly what we had in mind, but I guess we'll take what we can get.

A Dutch guy named Roy ended up being ferried along with us, and we took the choppy boat ride over to our resort. We arrived at Relax Resort just as the sun was disappearing behind the island's hills, and had to jump out into the waves to get to the hotel. The resort itself was rather....basic.....and very isolated....but quite charming indeed. A string of wood and bamboo bungalows along a small beach with a small restaurant and bar. Nice, but far from town and all the action, and we were left completely dependent on the owners to transport us via their long boat to get us anywhere. But it'll do for a night, and once we settled in we quite liked the place. It was a cool and windy evening, and we spent the night in the restaurant and on the beach chatting with new friends and chasing the giant sand crabs.

Our plan was to stay the night, and then in the morning head back to the village to try and find something else. Preferrably something cheaper than this hotel (which we really can't afford,) and something not so isolated a-la Robinson Crusoe! Six of us from the hotel took the morning boat back to Phi Phi's village, only to arrive at the same time as another one of those massive tourist-filled ferries. We were all a bit panicked, as other guests had told us about their own difficulties trying to find an affordable - or an available - room on the island. Apparently things were so busy that people were actually having to sleep on the beach at night cause there was 'no room at the inn.' Holy cow! Things are crazy here!

Running back to the info centre, and actually beating the boat's passengers, we were shocked again to hear from the touts that all the 'cheap' rooms had already been snatched up that day. The only places left were uber-expensive ones, or those in isolated corners of the island. Hmmm...what to do?

It was at this point that a different tout - from another island - approached us with some brochures for resorts over there. Ko Lanta is just over an hour away by boat, and also has beautiful beaches, but you can find a nice bungalow for about 400 baht! This sounds like a much better deal!

And so, Janelle and I - once again - abandoned an island early and changed our plans. Roy decided to come along to Ko Lanta as well, as well as quite a few hundred other tourists left feeling stranded - or just plain poor - by Phi Phi's current strains. It was sad to say goodbye so early to such a strikingly gorgeous place (voted the third most beautiful island in the world, and also where they filmed the movie 'The Beach'), but I promised myself I'd visit again one day - during the low season!

Off to Ko Lanta we sailed, always in search of that perfect island paradise and that perfect beach. My eternal quest. Tune in later to see how Ko Lanta measures up with it's nearby more-famous cousins. :-)