The Island IS Out There

Below is a copy of an article I sent to Heartland, a South African publication.
A friend of mine is in Krabi now. She sent me a kind've amusing email about the fun and not fun stuff happening there. It's in Afrikaans, and I'd love to publish it here. I'll try to get her permission first.

Here's the article:
The Island is Out There

True story. I was on a flight to Singapore the day before Christmas, and I opened the inflight magazine to a breathtaking picture of a beautiful beach. Not only was it beautiful, it was The Beach. The real set used in the movie of the same name. Since I was going to Thailand anyway with my girlfriend, I made up my mind there and then that The Beach was where I was going to take her.

After meeting Fiona in Singapore, I went to Kuala Lampur by way of Malacca. Fiona had to wrap up business (she’s a lawyer who works in Singapore), so I had two days to explore. I’ll write more about my trip through Malaysia some other time. Suffice it to say, we met in KL on New years Eve, and early the next morning, flew to Phuket.

You have to pronounce it right. Foo khet. Not…the other way. Phuket is Thailand’s most visited and most populous island, and arguably the most popular. It’s situated on the south western side of Thailand. Head here if you’re looking for an action-filled and lively holiday. December is High season, and high season means higher prices. High still means pretty low, but if it seems too high (and sometimes it will be), don’t be shy to negotiate. It’s absolutely teeming with tourists. Many of them are British, but it seems like all of Europe and much of the rest of the world come here. Is it Paradise?
Yes. Is it a party? Yep. So how cheap is it? Everything has a price, but in Thailand the prices are so cheap, that you really can’t help but to enjoy yourself. It’s a heady mix of the exotic and the convenience and the absolutely pristine places in nature that make Thailand so popular. There really are elephants that walk down the streets. Foot massages too.
Want to go to the Similan Islands? Snap your fingers and you’ll get your package, with a picnic lunch thrown in at no extra cost. Your Thai hosts know exactly how to pamper the world weary westerner, and they speak passable English to boot.

When we stayed in Phuket we stayed in a comfortable hotel close to the beach in Kata. If you arrive without booking accommodation in advance (sometimes not such a bad idea), don’t make the mistake of falling for the first hotels you encounter after the airport. Don’t fall for the first price you hear either. The further you get from the airport, the better the value and the scenery.

I had the picture of The Beach that I’d torn out of the inflight magazine. I was walking down a street and noticed just one of the dime a dozen Boat Trip booking booths. I said, “ I want to go here.”
“Ah, yoo wan go Koh Fee Fee Lah.”
“Hey?”
“Yoo wan go Koh Fee Fee?”
“Is this Ko Phi Phi?”
“Yoo wan go tomorrow?”
You can’t believe how easy it is.
The next day a mini bus, air conditioned, picked us up outside our hotel and drove us to the harbor. From there we got onto a beautiful twin engined boat with a batman logo on it. And then the Michael Bay/Jerry Bruckheimer clip began. We sworded out of the harbor on our sleek craft, the fresh air billowing through my girlfriend’s hair, the sun sparking energetically off the Andaman Sea.

Within a few minutes we noticed other boats, just as cool and sleek as ours, racing us passed islands towards the one we all wanted to go to.
I’ll cut to the chase. When we arrived, The Beach (Ko Phi Phi leh) was packed. It is, after all, the most popular tourist destination after Phuket. It’s very small, and so there’s no way to get away from the flocks of people. It’s a parking lot. There was almost nowhere to ‘park’ our boat. And all the time we were there all you heard were the engines roaring off the tall walls of the island. Not peaceful at all. There must have been at least thirty or more speedboats on the beach, with some even bigger craft drifting in the slightly deeper water beyond. The Beach itself was swamped by tourists, standing around, gawking. Fiona and I joined them. I had to laugh. Obviously I was not the only one to read the Alex Garland book, The Beach, or the only one who watched the movie version. Once any beautiful place finds its way into Lonely Planet, it’s no longer secret. I made a video, creating the illusion at first that we were alone on the beach, and then panned the camera around to show how many people were there.

But never fear, all is not lost.
Although the coral around The Beach is about the worst you’ll find in Thailand, once you leave there are plenty of other beautiful islands and places to see. The snorkeling is amazing, about as good as what I experienced in the Philippines. Maybe better. I saw a lot of much bigger fish in Thailand. I saw a turtle, a sea snake, lots of Nemo’s, parrot fish, you name it. That’s one of the best things about Thailand.

There is something very compelling about that island, so a few days later, when Fiona flew back to Singapore, I decided to go back to Phi Phi, on my way through Krabi, and back to Singapore overland through Malaysia.
I stayed with someone I met on one of the chartered boats on a nearby island called Ko Phi Phi Don. (This island bore the brunt of the Tsunami). Before dinner, we decided to charter a longboat, and have a look at the coves and around the rocky towers that make up Ko Phi Phi Don. When we pulled around one of the rocky outcrops we found The Beach. It was almost completely deserted. It was nothing like the first day. This was, we discovered, because the tide had gone out and it was just too shallow and dangerous to approach in a speedboat.

This time I had a good look at the island. I climbed some way up some very sharp rocks to take a photo. I found a hole carved through a huge black rock that led to the sea on the other side of the island.
I lay on a blanket and just absorbed the incredible beauty.

Then Amber and I got back into the longboat and visited other spots that the hordes of tourists had left in their wake. I think the package tours fly through here at the same time every day, but they don’t stay long, and by late afternoon, it’s just about as calm and quiet as nature intended.

Getting There:

You can fly directly to Phuket from a number of airports, including Kuala Lampur, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Ko Phi Phi Leh (The Beach) is the same distance from Krabi as it is from Phuket. It’s a cheaper to get boats from Krabi though (200B average).
Many companies operate from Phuket. Prices are from 250B upwards, depending on the speed of the boat you’re on. Don’t make the mistake of paying for a speedboat and then you find yourself on a giant, but very slow cruiser. Boats leave between 08:30am and 1:30pm. Try to find a boat that leaves earlier. Almost any hotel or guesthouse can arrange tickets for you. Your trip will more than likely also include visits to neighboring islands on the way back. This other visits tend to be a very pleasant surprise, after what may seem like disappointment, on Ko Phi Phi Leh. A good package will set up back about 950B, and add another 100B if you want to stay overnight.

The Similan Islands, in the opposite direction to Ko Phi Phi, are also well worth visiting.