Island hopping in Thailand
Tropical beaches, exciting nightlife, and a slew of guest house options. The beaches on Koh Phi Phi island are the most popular in all of Thailand and even with the high volume foot traffic, this island is still worth the trip. There is only one way to get to here, a two hour boat ride for roughly 450 BAHT per person...and so the Thailand Island hopping begins.
I decided to take a month off to spend New Year’s in Thailand, I flew Vietnam Airlines landing in Bangkok and from there took an inland flight to Krabi Town. After spending a couple of days in Krabi I took a ferry from Aonang to Koh Phi Phi. Unfortunately, on my arrival I was bitten by a street monkey (apparently they see smiling as aggression – I was extremely excited to be in Thailand). Thailand has many clinics and even on the tiny island of Phi Phi, there was a hospital. The bite wasn’t too bad, but did draw blood and just to be safe I had to receive a series of rabies injections. What a way to start the trip, right? On that note, it may behoove you to get your rabies shots before arriving.
Spending New Year’s on the beach was fantastic - fire dancers, parties, and an exciting night! On this island I stayed at the Flowers Bungalow. I’d arranged to stay here prior to my leaving for this trip as I knew everything would be booked and over priced during New Year’s.
I visited the famous Maya Bay where The Beach was filmed. There are many boat tours available to get to the bay, but to beat the crowd I’d planned a private long boat tour with a few people I met. The tour was great, we woke up nice and early before the other hundreds of tourists arrived - which provided a fairly quiet setting. Maya Bay was great, but it is a shame that it is no longer the private paradise it was fifteen years ago like you see in The Beach. Our tour guide took us to a different secluded bay where we snorkeled and swam to a tiny beach only accessible by swimming. We each spent 400 BAHT for the private half-day trip.
The first few island hops on this trip were very relaxing and a bit nerve wrecking (considering the monkey bite), stay tuned for more paradise adventures next week!