We woke up not feeling well rested after a long night of noise. The internet was very frustrating and after about an hour and a half trying to get the blog up we decided it would have to wait until we left the island. We lounged around a bit more before checking out of our hotel and setting out for the beach. It was 11am and we had until 14:30 to wait for our ferry to Phuket Town.
The beach was definitely the highlight of the day and there really isn't a lot to say about it. We opted out of the 200 baht an hour beach chairs and claimed a small area of sand in the shade. The beach was beautiful and there was plenty of activity to keep Tim amused people watching. Koh Phi Phi has many resorts that are only accessible by long-tail boats so there was a steady stream of vacationers coming and going through the beach area wishing they had brought a backpack instead of heavy roll luggage. Not the best thing to try to cart through the sand.
At about noon, Tim set out to get some food and water. The beach was getting very hot and our shade was quickly leaving us. He returned about 20 minutes later with 7-11 lunch, some beverages and a couple of bracelets to remind us of our stay. He opted for the 7-11 lunch because it is basically the only thing on the island that isn't overpriced, in fact it is the same price here as it was on the mainland. I ate egg salad sandwiches and Tim ate some weird crab an mayonnaise pocket. While it was an adequate lunch, I can't wait to have a real meal.
We reluctantly packed up our stuff and headed to the ferry. The dock area of the island is a zoo of people coming and leaving the island. It is loud, smell and generally not a nice place to be. To top things off, sometime between getting to the ferry and getting on the boat, Tim lost his hat; oh what a good one it was. Oh well.
After about 20 minutes of huddling under small roofed area with about another hundred people going to Phuket Town, we boarded, having to 'jump' through 2 other ships to get to our boat. We felt like cattle being ushered through in a never ending daily routine to move people on and off the busy island. The boat was nice, air conditioned and they were playing a movie; Avatar. Tim and I were luck to secure a bank of 5 seats to ourselves which I quickly laid out for a nap. The boat ride passed before I could know it and before long we were on the shore being hassled to buy overpriced transfers to our hotel. We (Tim) felt that 200 baht was too much for 4 kilometres; we would walk.
After being honked at and stopped about 10 times, we made it to the main road leading into town. I was very frustrated, hot and cranky because of the lack of sleep the night before. Before too long, however, a city bus honked at us and we hopped on. For 10 baht each, we road the bus the majority of the way into centre town. What a life saver.
Unfortunately our map was not the best and it turned out we doubled our trek to the hotel by taking a wrong turn. We did make it after about 2 kilometre of total walking; boy were we happy to arrive, pay our key deposit and get the royal tour of the guest area.
Cute little guest house, recommended by the Lonely Planet travel book. The rooms are extremely cute, very clean and the hot water, is HOT! We were on the third floor, which was a difficult (awkward) climb because the stairs don't seam to be North American standard; they are really small steps. The hotel has beautiful dark stained bamboo flooring throughout and the ceilings are very tall; probably an industrial building that has been transformed. I guess my only complaint about the place would be that the walls are very thin and sound travels easily; albeit better than a palm tiki hut!
We were both bagged from the trip and the lack of sleep the night before so we headed out only for food and to get some beverages for back at the room. We dinned at our first restaurant which was cheap and had very good food. Tim had fried noodles with shrimp and squid; I had chick fried rice (I know, not too original, but my stomach isn't 100%).
We went back to the hotel, enjoyed the best hot water shower; and, indulged in a couple whiskey and coke zero. It was the first time we had ice in a couple days so it seamed like it was a nice treat. I had a chance to Face Time home, but with the intermittent internet I had to sit directly under the router located in the hall. Unfortunately, because of the time (2230) and the thin walls, I was urged to keep quit. Call it a day Gunner!
