Phi Phi Island

Island destinations are not normally my cup of tea. I find them restrictive in nature (you're captive), and I'm really not much of a beach whale. However, I have been to my share of island destinations. Phi Phi island in Thailand was different in that it was just a day excursion. I was more into it for the boat ride than the actual destination. It's often that way for me, the journey being more interesting than the destination.

But, the destination was quite nice too:

The waters off the shores were an emarald blue. The sands were of a nice texture and kept quite clean. As you can see it was not crowded during my visit, but my visit was during the pandemic. Since few would go through the country's quarantine policy (10 day quarantine at the time), it was a great time to travel for those like me that were willing. When else would you see this beach so empty?

As I said, it was the journey I was in it for mostly. It is about a two hour ferry ride to the island with a round trip cost of 1500 baht (around $45 USD). For 4 total hours going through this scenery it was a bargain:

And now approaching Phi Phi island:

If you've been following my posts you will recognize these rock formations as familiar sights in Asia. I saw them in Khao Sok, Thailand:

https://www.kirkstravelstories.com/post/the-incredible-rainforest-of-khao-sok

And also a much more pronounced version in Vietnam's Ha Long bay.

https://www.kirkstravelstories.com/post/ha-long-bay-vietnam

This is actually one of a group of 6 islands called the Phi Phi Islands collectively. I visited the largest and most popular island called Ko Phi Phi Don. The majority of the islands are not really islands at all, but simply large limestones rock formations.

There are only about 3,000 permanent island residents, with many more transient workers to service the huge tourist industry here. After the release of the movie "The Beach", this place became widely popular. In non-pandemic times the island hosts over 1,000 visitors per day.

The primary activity here (if it is an activity) is relaxing on the beach and enjoying sunrises and sunsets. Other activities include boat tours, snorkeling, and cave exploration including Viking Cave.

The only activity in which I was interested was the boat ride to and from the island through the marvelous rock formations. On the island I just wondered around and ate lunch. Then I took the next ferry back to see the rocks again.

As I've said before, beaches are not my thing. My partly Irish skin rebukes the sun and I find no personal pleasure in darkening my skin on purpose. But I did walk the beaches with shirt on;

This is a very busy place year round most years. I felt very fortunate to be a Covid quarantined traveler who was one of the fewer visitors this day. I'm not really into the crowds much. Great day visit!