Harmonie - Tourist Town with a View - Koh Phi Phi Don, Phang Nga Bay, Thailand

Tourist Town with a View - Koh Phi Phi Don, Phang Nga Bay, Thailand

Harmonie

Don and Anne Myers

Tue 22 Mar 2011 10:57

07:44.763N 98:45.804E

Our Phang Nga Bay circuit with the Maloneys continued on February 22nd when we left the naked guys behind and partly sailed the 15 miles south to Koh Phi Phi Don. Phi Phi is pronounced Pee Pee, which, adolescents that we are, causes us to giggle every time we say it.

Kathie on her favorite perch as we sailed by the tiny rock islands between Koh Dam Khwan and Pee Pee. This was the one and only time we sailed while Bill and Kathie were on board, and even then it only lasted about an hour until the wind died and the heavy, hot and humid air rolled back in.

Pee Pee Viewpoint. Don and I elected to make the climb to this overlook while Kathie and Bill walked the town below. Ok, ok, that's not quite right. I elected to make the climb and made Don feel guilty enough to go with me. We thought it was going to be a quick 20 minutes, but it turned out to be a long hour and a half. Don would add that it was uphill both ways. I thought the climb was worth it for the view. Don wasn't quite as enthusiastic. We've done plenty of uphill hikes along the way, but not usually in brutally holy humid hot conditions. At least there was a little cafe at the top so we could replace the pound of water we sweated out on the way up. But forget about all that, look at the view! Nice, huh? Phi Phi Don is really two mountainous islands connected by this tiny strip of sand where the town of tourists resides. When the 2004 tsunami hit, the waves came from both sides, pretty much obliterating the town. At the viewpoint, there was a framed photo nailed to a tree showing the same view, but taken only hours after the tsunami hit. It wasn't pretty.

Just one of the zillions of happy hour bars lining both beaches and the connecting streets on Phi Phi Don. If you take Rai Leh Beach on the Krabi coast and compare it with Phi Phi Don, you could say that Rai Leh is the place people go to chill ('chill' defined as anything from beach sitting to rock climbing depending on the person), and Phi Phi Don is the place people go to check the box. As in, when asked, "Have you been to Phi Phi Don?", you can honestly say, "Yup, been there." In other words, none of us found the town at Phi Phi Don all that attractive. However, the place where we picked up a mooring around the corner from the town in the western part of the northern Phi Phi Don bay, was marvelous. There we found the clearest water in all of Phang Nga Bay, good snorkeling and a white powdery sand beach. Of course we had lots of company on the beach (and I'm not just talking about the resident extended family of crab eating macaque monkeys), but come 4ish o'clock, most of the tourists disappeared and we had the place almost to ourselves. Very nice.

Not the whole town was a frenzied tourist trap though. This dressed up banyan tree and Buddhist shrine had a semi-quiet corner all to itself.

Phi Phi Don is the most popular day-trip destination for tourists based in Phuket to the west, and on the Krabi coast to the east. To get them there, every form of motor and sailing vessel is employed including our personal favorite, the traditional longtail.

Anne