If you want to keep secrets, kill everyone who knows. The same could be said if you want to ruin something good, tell someone. If you want the whole world to know about it, show it in a movie. The islands of the Koh Phi Phi island group in southern Thailand were featured in the movie The Beach. If you are not familiar with the history, some young travelers discover this fantastic place in Thailand and decide to make their version of utopia and keep it a secret at all costs, if they had been successful this would still be a small group of islands that few but the tougher backpackers would visit.
When the movie The Beach was made here there weren’t many who knew about this beautiful group of Stonehenge islands like monoliths jutting out of the pond like the waters of the Andaman Sea. Clad in deep jungle vegetation, they have an imposing yet alluring aura around them. The white sand beaches look like the picture of a tropical paradise for all, with palm trees on top with green pods of coconuts waiting to drop their sweet milk for thirsty travellers.
Today, thirsty travelers come in the form of packs of young backpackers who pack the center of the main dogbone-shaped island at night, moving in streams fueled by the ever-present urban thump. During the day, these hordes descend on the beaches and huddle together in groups of children bathing and baking themselves. Bars, shops, cafes, travel agencies, nightclubs and even a very popular 7-11 serve the needs of these adventure seekers, many of whom sport bandages and crutches to protect themselves from spills and the thrill of rock climbing, cliff jumping and expeditions in the jungle to find waterfalls.
The waters around Koh Phi Phi are unsafe not because of the animals in the water, but because of poor water treatment Streptococcus, a particularly nasty skin-eating bug, and other ailments too, so it’s worth taking care of even the smaller scratches here. so you don’t end up in the ER with bits of skin cut off.
The other thing to watch out for is your wallet as they are firm believers in pricing from the internet to diving, they have some of the highest prices in Thailand and they don’t bargain at all. Bert. Cheap hotels in every sense of the term are priced like 3 star hotels elsewhere where we didn’t see anywhere offering value for money with the exception of The Phi Phi Hotel which was quoting off season rates it seemed to be the only hotel that had a key.
In the period before the islands here became famous, this was a great place to come and hang out for weeks, however today it’s another paradise lost.
