Two Nights in Koh Phi Phi With a Pit Stop in Krabi

Shortly after the jungle adventures of Khao Sok we found ourselves in another adventure: navigating our way to Krabi.  Our next destination was an island called Ko Phi Phi but it made sense to first spend a night in Krabi Town which was on the way.  Our tour guide was trying to be helpful and dropped us off at a bus station and gave us very quick directions which ended up being not so helpful. Long story short, our connection bus never showed up and we hitched a ride with a lovely Thai couple (or father and daughter) to Krabi Town. 

Our night in Krabi was spent eating at the local night market and checking out some of the nearby bars. Our accommodation was very inexpensive as well as most things in Krabi.

The night market in Krabi

We took a ferry from Krabi to Ko Phi Phi and arrived early on the May 5th.  We  only stayed  for 2 nights but still got a good sense of the small island:

Pros: 

Size: Pretty small so you can walk to most places. There were no cars or motorbikes but the walkways were still crowded with people (even in the low season).  The main "party beach" was right near the center or town. The longest walk was about 25 minutes to a beautiful beach called Long Beach

Long Beach: a decent walk from the main beach where we were staying but one of the most beautiful beaches I've seen yet. Quiet and clean with nice resorts and restaurants. We spent a few hours at this beach but wish we could have stayed longer. 

***On our walk to this beach we ran into a few girls who had just slipped on some wet rocks and warned  us to walk a different direction. Andrew's response was "Eh, I'm feeling a bit like Robinson Crusoe", walks two feet and slips and falls  immediately.  It was prettyyyy funny (since he wasn't hurt).

Pp A few  

Long beach

View from lunch on Long Beach

Night Life:: Ko Phi Phi has probably had my favorite nightlife  so far. There are several bars lining the beach  but it is not as overwhelming as Ko Phangan.  There is also a strip of bars in the center of town. The first night we met up with Andrew's fried from abroad and her friends. We of course had to get Thai buckets and I ended the night with a huge slice of pizza which they were oddly had selling at every corner. The second night we hung out with a group of people staying at our hostel. It was an eclectic group of Chileans, an Israeli and an English guy. We all swapped stories and  travel advice and then headed to the beach for a dance party (we ended  up running into some of these people again in other Thai cities) 

Maya bay: This is where the infamous movie "The Beach" was filmed and is ultimately what has made Ko Phi Phi the overdeveloped tourist destination that it is today.  This beach is breathtaking--  it is a national park and is only accessible through a  boat tour during the day. We booked  a unique tour that allows us to stay on the beach until late at night (when all of the tourists have left) and sleep on a boat right in front of the beach.  The tour also had us snorkel at night which allowed us to see nd swim with flourescent plankton!! Unfortunately, our first and only day of bad weather was the night of this trip so we ended up only doing the tour until around 8pm. We were still able to get a few hours of this popular beach to ourselves. Even with clouds and rain this beach is magnificent.

The island in the distance is where The Beach was filmed 

Maya Bat during the day-- full of tourists

Maya bay with less tourists and in the rain-- still beautiful

Cons

Over developed- the popularity of the island has led to too many people, hotels and therefore waste. Near the main beach and town there is tons of trash and a waste management pant that the locals call "poo river". Ecologically the island is not what it used to be.

Expensive- the popularity has also allowed for prices to be much higher than average (although still cheap by US standards)

Crowded- the streets and beaches were very crowded and this was low season! Apparently, during high season it is difficult to walk den any of the main roads in town because of overcrowded ness.

Overall we really enjoyed our stay in Ko Phi Phi and probably woud have enjoyed one or two more nights. We met great people and felt spoiled with beautiful beaches.