FW: Phi Phi Don Thailand Christmas 2010 7:43.74N 98:46.20E
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Fai Tira blog
Christmas 2010 Phi Phi Don,
Thailand 7:43.74N 98:46.20E After visiting the islands around
the very busy James Bond Island (Koh Ping Kan) and canoeing down a pitch black
tunnel into the ‘hong’ on Koh Phanak, we headed back in a southerly direction
to even more hongs and hundreds of tourist boats, before over-nighting at a
pleasant anchorage in the Chong Kho Yao channel, in a bay at the south of Koh
Yao Yai, and eventually to Phi Phi Don. (Hongs are sea-fed inland lakes usually
only accessible via tunnels or passages through the surrounding rock.
It’s important to get your timing just right!).
John and I negotiated the 100
metre tunnel into Koh Phanak hong. There were lots of bats inside and we
had to swim under this low and narrow gap into the hong. Once inside it opened
up into a huge open air lake.
This tourist boat is feeding the
numerous sea eagles that live in the area. This is not good, because the
eagles get to rely on the handouts and stop hunting for themselves, but what a
fantastic panorama this is of the so-called ‘James Bond’ group of islands in
Phang Nga Bay.
Ian, Glenda from Lucy Alice and
myself paddled and then swam into the hong in the spectacular island group
called Phang Nga. John and Jeremy managed to paddle into the hong once
the tide had dropped as you can see on our previous blog.
After a fantastic day Ian and
Glenda invited us on board for an evening meal and a few drinks. The next
day - Christmas Eve - saw us have our first real sail in ages heading for Phi
Phi Don. Here is Lucy Alice in full flight.
John was feeling poorly so
Jeremy and I headed off to town via the “Tippies”. The Christmas
celebrations started.
Phi Phi Don was a hive of
activity with hundreds of back packers, tourists and BWRalliers. After
wandering the bars and pubs we eventually met up with Lucy Alice, Enchantress
and Aspen and went for a meal. It seemed that other than
drinking, the main reason people come to Phi Phi is to get tattooed.
There were lots of establishments all with people queuing to get their bodies
imaged up. Jeremy merely went for a haircut.
We eventually met up with Paul,
Derry, Jack and Amy (spelt with a y) walking back to the boat. We had
some fun in a cart before heading back to their boat for more drinks. We
eventually got to bed at 04.30am having had a great Christmas Eve.
Christmas morning saw Susan and myself
snorkelling along the reef before we headed into town to carry on
celebrating. Not lots to see but this clam did remind me of a pair of
lips with blue lipstick on them. (The dates on the photos are
wrong).
All three of us headed into town
although John was still feeling rough. We found an Italian restaurant
where John and Jeremy ordered a pizza and I had T Bone steak for
Christmas dinner. We did some internet stuff at a bar, met up with
Richard from Island Kea and the party started all over again. John headed
back to Fai Tira still feeling ill, and I teamed up with Jack and the Sol Maria
crowd and headed off to the beach on the other bay. We sat there until it
got dark and were joined by Jeremy, who’d been to visit the police station and
also get a new leather cover for his magnifying glass. The other guys
left to get back to their families and the two of us wandered the streets
looking at all the sights. We eventually bumped into Blue Magic and
Jackamy and headed for a Muay Thai (kick boxing) bar although it wasn’t yet
“Boxing Day”
A feisty little girl training to
be a kick boxer. The rest of us decided not to have a go (she was too
good), even though if you did you got free beer. We headed back to Fai
Tira about midnight after having another great day. Jeremy stayed out a
bit longer as the Muay Thai standard improved the later it got. Rather
expensive drinks though, by local standards. Boxing Day saw us leaving Phi
Phi Don for Phi Phi Le and a dive site called Kho Bida. More to come. No virus found in this message. |
