The 'Phi-Phi' experience...

Two and a half weeks we have been on Koh Lanta and although we are now in the process of leaving, we are leaving with a very heavy heart indeed. The few days we have had since New Years Day have been some of the most packed and in a way, best days we have had yet on our trip. I really don't want to sound repetitive, banging on about all of these incredible places so I will, for the purposes of giving you a true reflection, try to write a true representation.

After arriving back our hotel at 6am after NY eve, we woke up at midday and instantly thought we had miraculously been transported back to the UK. we had squinted, bleary-eyed, through the curtains to find Koh Lanta covered in a thick, wet blanket of cloud and drizzle, interspersed with rain of biblical proportions. Added to this was the fact that we were now in the salubrious surroundings of a proper hotel room, with hot water and air conditioning! We could have been back home on a wet Sunday afternoon, recovering from the usual Saturday night antics. If we closed our eyes we could just imagine it, the smell of bacon, the impossible-to-remove taste of dead badger in the mouth and the constantly nagging feeling of work in the morning. If it wasn't for the fact that every channel on the tv was taken over by the most irritating collection of Thai voices, we could of been home.

After slouching around in the worlds most comfortable bed, we managed eventually to meet up with Klara and Andreas as this was their last night on koh Lanta. We had a fantastic meal, amazing food given the location and cuisine we had selected. There we were, me and shell, a British couple, meeting a Swedish couple for dinner, in a Greek restaurant, in Thailand. You really can't get more international than that. Globalisation you can be proud of.

After saying our goodbyes to the both of them and promising to take advantage of their offer of a place to stay in Stockholm, we slipped, yet again, back into the comfort and security of our little slice of home to eat crisps and watch Thai soaps.

The next morning we were up at 6am in readiness to be taken to the harbour for our day trip to Kho Phi Phi. Although we had been told many times already about it's beauty, and ofcourse seeing it in the film 'The Beach', you kind of expect it to be striking. It was of course stunning, but stunning at a price.

As we boarded the boat, you almost expect to see hoards of Brits in these situations, or that's what you prepare yourself for. In reality, the boat is crammed full of every nationality you could think of. American, Canadian, French, german, polish, Romanian, Chinese. The list goes on. It's a strange one, that even beyond the usual tourist suspects, Ko Phi Phi's draw is simply irresistible, which I guess, kind of makes it a victim of it's own success. Like anything in this world, something can be truly beautiful, but only beautiful for a limited time before the crowds find it.

First up, we were transferred from the relative comfort of the ferry to the small, rickety longtail boat (a small, wooden, very rocky, traditional boat) that would take us from phi phi don over to phi phi Ley. On phi phi ley, we were taken to a couple of spots for swimming and snorkelling before winding up at the entrance to Maya Bay, the setting for the secluded beach scene in the film. As we took in the scene we were instantly drawn towards what could of been seals on a remote south Atlantic island in a David Attenborough documentary. There were hundreds of people, all drawn by the beauty of the island but crammed into a piece of beach the size of a tennis court. We actually only had about an hour to explore the island and eat lunch so after quickly posing for the obligatory paradise shots we were then whisked of to phi phi don, to wait a couple of hours for our ferry back to Koh Lanta.

You have to be honest with yourself at this point, as i know there are far worse places in the world, but being on phi phi don in peak season was truly awful. The place was so busy that to walk down the street would be an exercise in spacial awareness all in itself. Not only that, and I'm not a judgemental traveller either, the place was full of the kind of people you try your best to avoid. The blokes who treat this like a tropical Magaluf and the girls, who think that they have travelled the world if they go to Phuket and Phi Phi.

Needless to say we didn't have an amazing time on phi phi but that doesn't mean to say it isn't beautiful, because it is, it's stunning. The problem lies with the insistence in cramming as many people on the island as possible, rendering waste disposal and environmental awareness, pretty useless, given the stretched tourist infrastructure. I guess it could be a condensed version of Bali, in a way.