Understand
There are actually two islands here:
Although rapidly becoming less and less attractive due to the masses of tourists as well as the construction on the island, it's still a very beautiful place to visit, and is one of those places everybody should go at least once in their lifetime. Although the beaches are not the best in Thailand, the place has a good vibe and nightlife and there are dozens of dive shops to choose from.
Ko Phi Phi was devastated by the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004, when nearly all of the island's infrastructure was wiped out. Services like electricity, water, Internet access and ATMs are up and running again, but waste handling has been slower to come back online.
Get in
By air
By boat
Ferries leave from Phuket and Krabi daily (several times a day during the high season). Tickets are 450 baht to/from Phuket, Krabi (390 baht) or Ko Lanta, and if bought in advance should include transport to the pier. Open tickets (you can fix the day at a travel agency on the island) are 400 baht, however there are rarely any advantages with buying open or return tickets, whereas one-way tickets are a good way to avoid hassle and often end up costing less overall.
Get around
Long-tail taxi-boats ply between all beaches; on Phi Phi Don, you can also walk to any beach. From Ton Sai to Long Beach, expect to pay 40 baht/person in the afternoon, at least 80 baht at night. To have a complete boat to yourself, expect to pay at least 100 baht.
Wheelbarrows are used to transport goods, including your luggage if you like. Expect free "transport" from the pier to your room, but not necessarily in the opposite direction.
See
Do
It is highly recommended to arrive at Maya Bay before 8am, when the place can still be enjoyed in solitude. As from 9am hoards of speedboats arrive with European and Japanese tourists on package tours from Phuket. At 11am we counted 40(!) speedboats in the bay, many of which were revving their engines unnecessarily loud. Another thing to think about when coming to Maya Bay is the time of year. During the high season (October - May) you will feel like you are at Disney Land but come durning the off season and you shouldn't be surprised if you are one of only two or three small groups on the beach. NOTE: Since the begining of 2007 the Park Rangers have begun to enforce a park fee on the island though, if you are trraveling in a tour group, they will typically include it in the price of your trip.
Buy
Most stuff is brought in by boat, so most things are less original and more expensive than on the mainland. However, there are a few shops that manufacture their goods on the island. Prices for commodities vary widely between shops.
D's Books, with two locations on Ko Phi Phi and many others throughout Southern Thailand, is a well respected book store.
Most of the items sold here are either made by local fishermen or they are brought to the island from Phuket town.Rising commercialization and inflow of tourists throughout the year seems to be a big bonus for these locals. Prices told may exactly not be worth the item, but if you are a good talker, you can bargain for a good price.
Eat
Food on Ko Phi Phi is not as spectacular as it generally is in Thailand, because most ingredients have to be brought in by boat from the mainland. Nevertheless there are some restaurants that manage to serve surprisingly tasty food:
Drink
Drinks prices are quite high (cocktails 180 baht). Many bars offer similar entertainment, cabarets and striking fire shows - performed by the same people, advertised by posters and flyers apparently drawn by the same person...
Sleep
Accommodation is relatively expensive - doubles range from 400 baht up into the 1000s the closer you get to the beach front. If you are a budget traveler expect to work hard to find a decent price. If you get really desperate a couple of places rent out tents for about 200–300 baht - mind your valuables! One thing to note, prices are double during the high season which runs from October/November until May. Other time of year you can find relatively cheap accomodation in the 200 -300 range.
To have the best choice for accomodation, arrive in Phi Phi just before the time of the full moon party, when most people will be on Ko Pha Ngan. Since a lot of people move from Pha Ngan to Phi Phi after the party, accomodation may be very hard to find on Phi Phi around this time. It is not uncommon to see people arrive on the morning ferry only to leave on the afternoon one because they have been unsuccessful in aquiring accomodation.
The Phi Phi Islands (หมู่เกาะพีพี) are located in Thailand, between the large island of Phuket and the western Andaman Sea coast of the mainland. Phi Phi Don, the larger and principal of the two Phi Phi islands, is located at . Both Phi Phi Don, and Phi Phi Leh, the smaller, are administratively part of Krabi province, most of which is on the mainland, and is located at .
Ko Phi Phi Don ("ko" (เกาะ) meaning "island" in the Thai language) is the largest island of the group, and is the only island with permanent inhabitants, although the beaches of the second largest island, Ko Phi Phi Lee (or "Ko Phi Phi Leh"), are visited by many people as well. There are no accommodation facilities on this island, but it is just a short boat ride from Ko Phi Phi Don. The rest of the islands in the group, including Bida Nok, Bida Noi, and Bamboo Island, are not much more than large limestone rocks jutting out of the sea.
Phi Phi Don was initially populated by Muslim fishermen during the late 1940s, and later became a coconut plantation. The Thai population of Phi Phi Don remains more than 80% Muslim.
Ko Phi Phi Leh was the backdrop for the 2000 movie The Beach. Phi Phi Leh also houses the 'Viking Cave', from which there is a thriving bird's nest soup industry. There was criticism during filming of 'The Beach' that the permission granted to the film company to physically alter the environment inside Phi Phi Islands National Park was illegal.
Following the release of The Beach, tourism on Phi Phi Don increased dramatically, and with it the population of the island. Many buildings were constructed without planning permission.
Villages
2004 tsunami
On 26 December 2004, much of the inhabited part of Phi Phi Don was devastated by the Indian Ocean Tsunami. The island's main village, Ton Sai (Banyan Tree, ต้นไทร), is mainly built on a sandy isthmus between the island's two long, tall limestone ridges. On both sides of Ton Sai are semicircular bays lined with beaches. The isthmus rises to less than two metres (six feet) above sea level.
Shortly after 10 am on the morning of 26 December, the water from both bays receded. When the tsunami hit, at 10.37 am, it did so from both bays, and met in the middle of the isthmus. The wave that came into Ton Sai Bay was 3 metres (10 feet) high. The wave that came into Loh Dalum Bay was 6.5 metres (18 feet) high. The force of the larger wave from Loh Dalum Bay pushed debris south-westwards into Ton Sai Bay.
The tsunami also breached low-lying areas in the limestone karsts, passing from Laa Naa Bay to Bakhao Bay, and at Laem Thong (Sea Gypsy Village), where 11 people died. Apart from these breaches, the eastern side of the island experienced only flooding and strong currents.
At the time of the tsunami, the island had an estimated 10,000 occupants, including tourists.
Post-tsunami reconstruction
After the tsunami, approximately 70% of the buildings on the island had been destroyed. By the end of July 2005, an estimated 850 bodies had been recovered, and an estimated 1,200 people were still missing. The total number of fatalities is unlikely to be known however local tour guides cite the figure of 4,000. Of Phi Phi Don residents, 104 surviving children had lost one or both parents.
In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, the island was evacuated. The Thai government declared the island temporarily closed while a new zoning policy was drawn up. Many transient Thai workers returned to their home towns, and former permanent residents were housed in a refugee camp at Nong Kok in Krabi province.
However, in late January 2005, a former Dutch resident of Phi Phi, Emile Kok, set up a voluntary organization, Help International Phi Phi. Hi Phi Phi recruited 68 Thai staff from the refugee camp, as well as transient backpacker volunteers (of whom more than 3,500 offered their assistance), and returned to the island to undertake clearing and rebuilding work. On February 18, 2005, a second organization, Phi Phi Dive Camp , was set up to remove the debris from the bays and coral reef, most of which was in Ton Sai Bay.
By the end of July 2005, 23,000 tonnes of debris had been removed from the island, of which 7,000 tonnes had been cleared by hand. "We try and do as much as possible by hand," said Kok, "that way we can search for passports and indentification." The majority of buildings that were deemed fit for repair by government surveyors had been repaired, and three hundred businesses had been restored. Hi Phi Phi was nominated for a Time Magazine Heroes of Asia award
.
On October 31, 2005, Deputy Prime Minister Pinit Jarusombat proposed an upgrade to the hotels and restaurants on Phi Phi Don, and a limitation to the number of tourists visiting. "It'll help us preserve its environment," said Pinit. However, after consultation with residents and land-owners, many of whom opposed the plan, the Bangkok Post reported on February 17, 2006, that the proposals would not affect Phi Phi.
As of 6 December, 2005, nearly 1,500 hotel rooms were open, and a tsunami early warning alarm system had been installed by the Thai government, with the help of volunteers.
Phi Phi Islands Imagery
Google Earth
:The islands of Phi Phi are intermittently visible on the satellite imagery software Google Earth, and the online maps of GoogleMaps. Although the resolution is not at a particularly high level, the beaches of Ton Sai Bay and Loh Dalum Bay are clearly visible at the "1 mile" and "2000 foot" scales. At all lower resolution (larger area) zoom levels, the islands are not visible. Via Google Earth, the elevation of the terrain can also be seen when the tilt function is used and Bida Nok, Bida Noi, and Bamboo Island are visible.
:Google Maps
Yahoo Maps
:Yahoo Maps
See also
