Trip – Thailand – Phuket – Phi Phi Islands

The Phi Phi Island in Thailand was our last travel destination during our internship in Singapore. We have heard so much about this paradise on earth, that we decided to see on our own how this one of the most beautiful islands in Thailand looks like.

Almost everybody knows that Phi Phi Islands, as well as Phuket and the whole Thai west coast have been heavily devastated by the Tsunami on 26. Dec 2004. We also knew it before going to Phi Phi and therefore were prepared to see many signs of the catastrophe that happened and took as many as 800 casualties. This is a huge number of people taking into account that the island is actually very small and there aren’t so many permanent inhabitants. In the dry season (Nov-March) however, there are thousands of tourists, as it was when the Tsunami came….

The greater was our surprise to arrive on the island and discover a true paradise. Actually, a huge deal of work has been done during the last 1.5 years, and in order to find the “tsunami” on Phi Phi you have to look for it pretty hard. On the opposite side to Ton Sai Beach, there are many palms without tops, and leaves, and the coast still looks a little empty. You can also see many houses and new hotels being built. On Ton Sai Beach, where the “down town” is situated everything looks NORMAL. Like nothing happened. Most shops and mini markets look and smell very new….the only proof that there has been a lot of reconstructing action taking place in the last 18 months.

Now let me present you some facts from our romantic weekend on Phi Phi We stayed in the Bay View Resort – a definitely good accommodation tip from Stephan. The chalets were very cozy and clean and all of them with closer or more distant sea view. The hotel is situated about 15min walk from the busy Phi Phi Village at the Ton Sai Beach and about 10 minutes away from the Long Beach where we spent very lazy and relaxing Saturday.

The sea was pretty rough at that time, since we went to Phi Phi in the middle of the monsoon season. Yet, we had two beautiful sunny days on that weekend, which is actually considered as very lucky! and we really appreciated and enjoyed that delightful weather! On Saturday evening we set off to town and found that you can have a real fish feast! Numerous cosy restaurants situated by the beach offer enormous variety of sea food, you simply cannot miss if you ever have the opportunity to spend your holiday on Phi Phi.

On Sunday, after a very relaxing first day, the time has come for a real adventure: a boat trip to Ko Phi Ley, a small island nearby, about 20 minutes ride. It is a real “tourist” destination since “the Beach” – the famous movie with the Lenardo di Caprio was shot there. However, since we set off pretty early, we managed to avoid the crowd and enjoy almost alone the breathtaking Maya Bay on Phi Phi Ley (check the pictures)! And the weather was beautiful again, despite the rainy season Only a bit choppy …so the boat trip to this small rocky island was really exciting! After the Maya Bay we did 1 hour snorkeling! We were really really impressed by what we saw underwater.

Phi Phi has one of the most beautiful corals in the world. And even Tsunami did not destroy too much of this nature’s miracle. We were lucky to have a very special guide during our Sunday escapade. Andrew has been living in Phi Phi for 12 years now, and he was one of those who survived Tsunami and with his “dive camp” team contributed greatly to the Phi Phi’s restoration and bringing the island back to life . He explained that they removed tens of tones of rubbish from the coast. If you would like to find out more about the Island’s restoration, take a look at the divecamp website: http://www.phiphidivecamp.com/. Thanks Andrew for the great snorkeling trip and for saving the paradise for all those that are still about to spend their unforgetfull holiday on Phi Phi.We really can recommend him and his crew from the Adventure Tours for a great snorkeling trip.

Oh did I forget to mention how we got to the Phi Phi Island from Singapore? I always have problems with the chronology, sorry about that So first we took a JetStarAsia tiny plane to Pukhet, and then took a ferry to Phi Phi (about 2 hours), depending on the weather conditions… Our weather conditions on Friday afternoon were extremely bad – meaning, I , and many other people on the boat, got really sea sick. I should have taken some medicines before the ferry trip, did not know however that it could get that bad.

Well, for the way back on Sunday I really prepared myself, mentally and physically….to our relief the weather got much better, and I managed to get by without throwing up. So after this experience I can only tell you: “always be prepared!” Don’t let the monsoon destroy your good mood and exotic holiday! It didn’t destroy ours for sure – we had a wonderful (last for me, and second last for Patric) weekend in South East Asia! A perfect end of our stay in Singapur and a perfect beginning of the next part of our lives!

Trip: Cambodia – Siem Reap – Angkor Wat

The 2nd day was our “we visit all the temples” day. We got up very early – at 4.30 am to be in time to watch the sunrise at the Angkor Wat temple. Our guide for that day was already waiting in the taxi in front of our guesthouse and we headed towards the temples. Before you enter the temples you need to pass a checkpoint where you must purchase a ticket. A one day ticket doesn’t require a picture and costs 20 US$. 3 days are 40 US$ + picture. It was really busy that morning since the sunrise at Angkor Wat is a must in a tourist program.

Sunrise Angkor Wat: [+++]
We entered Angkor Wat through the main entrance and headed towards the libraries. Then we stopped in front of the small lake to the left side of the temple complex – the perfect spot for taking photos! The sunrise was nice with a beautiful red-orange color, but, to be honest, nothing special. If I went there again I would rather sleep another 2 hours to be really fit for the exhausting day.

Angkor Thom – Bayon – Phimeanakas – terrace of the elephants [+++++]:
Our first stop on our “4 temples tour” was Angkor Thom. This area was established in the late twelve century by king Jayavarman VII and was the most enduring capital city of the Khmer empire. It covers an area of about 9 sq.km with the Bayon temple located in the city centre. After having our early breakfast at one of the nearby tents (we can recomend the banana pancakes ), we went to explore the Bayon temple. This temple’s most distinctive feature is the many smiling faces on every tower. Our guide explained us that there are more than 200 smiling faces built into the towers of Bayon. Bayon is really exceptional with all those misterious faces everywhere and this should be one of your main temples to visit. Because this was our “first” temple we ran in all directions to explore the temple ourselves. I think, at one point our guide was a little irritated because of this . But once he reminded us that we pay him to explain the template we stayed with him and he had a lot of interesting stories to tell and spots where we could take pictures. After almost an hour at Bayon we went on the explore Phimeanakas-the Royal Palace, the terrace of the elephants, the terrace of the leper king and tep pranam. Everything really lovely and worth seeing. Did I already mention that after this tour it was around 9 am and it felt like it was 35 degrees with 100% humidity

Preah Khan:[++++]
Second stop was the Preah Khan temple which is located northeast of Angkor Thom. Preah Khan is one of the temples that is largely unrestored with lots of trees and vegetation growing among the ruins. There were not many tourists in this area and sometimes you could really feel and hear that you are in the jungle. We tried to imagine how it felt to stumble over the temples in the middle of the jungle in 1860. This temple is not one of the main tourist attractions, but to get a feeling of how all this looked before many people came to restore it, it is perfect.

Ta Prohm:[+++++]
Our third stop was the famous Ta Prohm or Angelina Jolie temple as they name it now, after the movie Tomb Raider was shot there some years ago. This is, after Angkor Wat itself and Bayon, the most famous temple: firstly, because of the movie (you can recognise the locations while visiting) and secondly, because of the very distinctive look of the roots of the trees that often cover all the whole roof of the buildings. Our guide mentioned that in 10 years there won’t be any of these trees anymore. It is currently restored and rebuilt since the (silk cotton) trees are destroying everything and it becomes very unsafe to visit the temple. Be prepared that there are many tourists. It is very hard to get pictures without a Korean or a Japanese guy walking into your picture.

Angkor Wat:[+++++]
Our fourth stop was Angkor Wat again. This time we used the smaller entrance to the right of the main gate. Our guide explained that the main gate was only for the king. The smaller 2 gates close to the main gate was for everybody and the large gate at the far end of the naga gateway (as it is called) was for the elephants. Angkor Wat was built in the early 12th century for the king Suryavarman II. This is the largets and best preserved temple in the whole area. It was first Hindu and then Buddhist and has become a symbol of Cambodia, even appearing on the national flag. Angkor Wat simply impresses with its huge and massive appearance. It is sooo big and an unimaginable amount of stones was used to build it. We went up to the top and adored the incredible view over the jungle and the other temples in the sunlight. This view from the top of this massive building will be something that will stay in your mind forever. I have to mention that you have to climb up the very small and steep stairs and that if you are afraid of height it could happen that you stay the night up there (Sorry Ms. P.)

Sunset at Phnom Bakheng:[+++]
Our last stop was at the Phnom Bakheng temple on top of a small mountain. Again very steep to climb up, but once your are up it offers a fantastic view. At that point, I guess, it was some when around 6 pm. You hardly recognise the temple anymore as a temple, but just as piled up stones that once you climbed up, are offering a better view. We watched the sunset at around 6.30 pm with many, many other tourists. It was not bad, but again something that is nice to do; but definitely not a must! They offer elephant rides up the hill for 15 US$ and down the hill for 10 US$ per person. We decided to walk up and down the short distance.

By that time we were really exhausted and just wanted to go home to take a shower and lay down for a while. At 9pm we left our guesthouse again to visit the Red Piano Bar at the Bar Street. The Red Piano Bar [+++] is famous because Angelina Jolie was there for dinner during the time they shot the movie Tomb Raider.

All in all a perfect day!!!

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Trip – Thailand – Phuket – Phi Phi Islands

Trip: Cambodia – Siem Reap – Angkor Wat

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