Ko Phi Phi, paradise found...by me and a lot of other people

I really wanted to go to Ko Phi Phi. Some said they liked it, others said that it was over-hyped and touristy, but Phi Phi is (was) the stuff of backpacker legends, so I needed to see for myself.
Ko Phi Phi is a beautiful island and a place of dramatic contrasts. Topographically, it looks like Palawan with clear water and dramatic limestone karst formations rising out of the sea, but the vibe couldn't be more different. The main tourist village is crammed with people, shops, pubs, guesthouses, and the main beach is shoulder to shoulder tanners, but at the same time a 20 minute walk takes you to one of the pristine empty beaches that made this place famous.

I traveled to Phi Phi with Sonja, a German friend I had met on the Similan island liveaboard trip. We were planning to do some diving in Phi Phi, but all of the recent water-sports activities had taken a toll on my ear, and I came down with my first ear infection in about 15 years (nice timing with that one, ear canal). That meant no swimming for a several days and absolutely no diving for 1-2 weeks. Bummer. Growing up on swim team, I was no stranger to ear infections, but I had forgotten how much I hated them. Now I remember....very clearly.

Fortunately there are plenty of activities on Phi Phi that didn't involve submerging your head in water (my preferred one being lounging on the beach), and by the end of my stay, I was well enough to do a little snorkeling.

Sonja and I had a great time in Phi Phi, and I'm glad that I went there, even if the place is no longer the backpacker paradise that it perhaps once was.

-Julia


Ko Phi Phi


Ko Phi Phi beach


Sonja eats some reeeeeeeeeeeeally spicy Tom Yam soup


I'm not really sure why, but these birds were hanging from the power-lines every morning


Phi Phi's pedestrian streets


One of the more quiet beaches


Surrounding islands


Long-tail boats


Difficult to see, but this bay is where the movie "The beach" was filmed (it was totally crammed with people and tour boats)


Cat in fridge...don't ask


Hanging out with Sonja on monkey beach


Butterflies


Sun-worshipers


More trouble with Sonja


Beach bar


Sonja and Steffen


Meandering through of Phi Phi


All directions were given in terms of the "big, yellow dive shop"...difficult to miss


The Andaman Sea from the top of Phi Phi

Similan Live-aboard

The Similan islands have some of Thailand's best diving. The only way to get there is via 2-3 hours in a boat form Khao Lak. So you can either make a really, really long day trip or do a liveaboard trip for several days (a liveaboard is when you stay on a dive boat for a number of days and do 3-4 dives per day). I'd never spent more than a few hours on a boat at any one time, but thought that the experience sounded interesting. I signed myself up for 3 days and 2 nights on the "backpacker" (i.e. budget) boat.

The trip turned out to be a fantastic experience. The dives were really good and I enjoy living on the boat (a bit like aquatic indoor camping..click here for a little background on the concept of indoor camping). The vessel was quite small and simple, but the ambiance was was really friendly and familial. My fellow divers were a great bunch, and we had a fantastic time together.

The small boat made of a unique summer camp-like atmosphere, but when the waves kicked up, the seasickness factor skyrocketed and moving from lower deck to the sleeping area was an all-fours-grab-what-you-can-and-hold-on-for-dear-life-adventure (honestly, I'm a little surprised that no one fell overboard). Every time I heard one of my compatriots scramble downstairs to feed the fish, I thanked my lucky stars that I hadn't inherited my dad's motion sickness tendencies.

During the trip I logged my 50th dive. Most of my accomplishments during this year of travel have been of the personal growth variety, but learning to dive and becoming a proficient diver has been a measurable feat. Though small, perhaps it is a tangible example of greater things afoot.

-Julia


Home, sweet home on the boat


Donald Duck Bay


Similan islands


Checking out the islands between dives


Andaman Sea


Hmmmm....perhaps I should back away from this cliff


Sonja, one of my compatriots, climbing the boulders


Squeezing between the rocks


The view from our dive boat


A turtle, checking out our boat


Dive briefing


Nap-time between dives


Returning to Khao Lak harbor

Khao Lak and the start of Southern Thailand

After a few days of appeasing my internal princess-and-the-pea, I headed towards Southern Thailand. For many people, this is their first SE Asian destination, but I was saving a few weeks of relaxation on pristine beaches for the end of my trip.

This first stop was Khao Lak. My main objective here was to arrange a dive trip to the Similan islands, but I also intended to enjoy the beaches for a day or two. Kaho Lak was hit pretty hard by the tsunami of 2004, and since then, most of the development has been up-market and geographically spread out along the long beach. This makes for a strange and not particularly friendly/sociable travelers' atmosphere. I also got the feeling that the town had the "I'm going to squeeze as much money out of each tourist as possible" mentality, which I hate and am learning to sniff out very quickly when it get to a new place. I think that this mentality is fostered through a combination of rapid/haphazard tourism development and disrespectful tourists. My suspicion was confirmed when I checked into a dorm room, paid 150 baht (roughly $5US), was informed that my bed would receive fresh linens once they had finished drying in the sun (oh goody), and then told later that night that I wouldn't be getting fresh sheets as they are only changed once every 5 days (regardless of the number of customers who had stayed in them.....yuck!!!). Those who know my tendencies toward general cleanliness can probably guess how I felt about this new piece of information. Shall we just say that an interesting conversation ensued. I really dislike it when people involved with the tourism industry take travelers for a ride, but I try not let it spoil my mood.

In any event, I enjoyed one day on the beach in Khao Lak before heading off on a dive trip.

-Julia


Khao Lak beach


Tsunami evacuation signs are all over Southern Thailand


Khao Lak town


Tsunami height in Khao Lak, 5 meters.

Bangkok, one more time

From Manila, I flew back to Bangkok. In need of fluffy towels and air conditioning, I cashed in on some of my hotel points to stay at the Le Meridien. Great for rest and recuperation, but not particularly good for encouraging myself to get out and do some sightseeing. Oh, well, I suppose sometimes my inner princess-and-the-pea needs a few days to herself.

One of my big adventures in Bangkok was getting my hair cut. Ever since the Milan Euro-mullet incident of 2002 (I still owe Kristina big time for holding my hand through that one), I've been hesitant to entrust my hair to strangers, especially ones who don't speak English. However, I was beginning to resemble Cousin It, so the time had come to take action. A Thai friend from Scripps, Ten, recommended a salon and I ended p with a very nice, non-mullet 'do.

Having gotten the Western-food cravings out of my system during my visit to Manila, I was pretty excited to get back to Thailand...home of the best street cart food in the world (at least in my humble opinion). I went directly for the fried pork with chilies and basil leaves. You want spicy? Yes, please. About two bites in, I was cutting one of the chilies and managed to squirt myself in the eye with chili juice, Naturally, my eye started watering like crazy. The girls at the food stall took this to mean that I had gotten myself in over my head with the spicy food, so they proceeded to shove glasses of water at me whilst I attempted the pantomime squirting chili in my eye. After lots of animated gesturing by both parties, I gave up, downed the 3 glasses of water and wandered off, half blind, in search of a bathroom.

So there you have it: I was happy to be back in the land of amazing food, but already missing the ease of communication in the Philippines.

-Julia


Fruit at the market


Food stall madness


A slight step up from the backpacker guesthouses in Asia

Alona beach and farewell to the Philippines

After weeks of striking gold in terms of travel destinations in the Philippines, I knew that at some point, there would be a letdown. Sure enough, that was what happened to me in Alona beach. After Apo island I headed to Alona beach in Bohol. Bastian and I were still traveling together, so we took a boat back to the apocalyptic town of Malatapay and then hopped on a jeepney to Dumaguete. In Dumaguete it started to pour down rain, so we, and all of our possessions were thoroughly soaked. From Dumaguete, we took the speed ferry to Tagbilaran, Bohol and hopped in a cab to Alona beach (travel in the Philippines always involves a lot of steps).

Alona beach would have probably been a fantastic place if it 1) hadn't been packed with middle-aged German package tourists and 2) the sun had come out for at least 5 minutes at some point during my visit. Alas, neither was to happen, and it was a fairly dreary place.

The diving was ok, but was negatively impacted by bad weather and crowded dive sites. I had a run-in with a somewhat militaristic German divemaster who told Bastian and me hat he confused us with the Korean dive school student during the dive (a passive and culturally insensitive commentary about out buoyancy control abilities). Not the best way to earn my respect, but I don't think that 's what this guy was going for. On the plus side, I did see some cool underwater creatures, including the ugly-but-cute frogfish.

I ran into Isabelle and Eric, the Canadian couple from Apo island, and it was great to see them again. Good company and a few decent dives were Alona Beach's saving grace.

Alona beach was my last stop in the Philippines. The Philippines has a reputation as a dangerous place, but the Filipino people seem to take it all in stride and with a smile. I never felt unsafe in the Philippines, but did have two experiences of this life on the edge mentality during my last day before returning to Bangkok.

As I boarded the plane to return to Manila from Bohol, the captain announced over the loudspeaker that our flight would depart 30 minutes late because the Philippine domestic radar system had suffered a power outage, and the entire radar network was down. In the US, the captain would probably not have shared this information with the passengers, as such an announcement would have catalyzed a total frenzy, but the Filipino passengers seems totally unfazed by this.

The second event occurred while I was in a taxi on my way to dinner in Manila. Traffic was at a complete standstill, so I asked the driver what was going on, the conversation transpired as follows:
Me: What's going on with the traffic?
Driver: Oh, there's a hold up in front of us.
Me: Yeah, I know there is a hold up in traffic, but what's causing the slowdown?
Driver: (making gun sign with hand): There was an armored vehicle hold up.
Me: Holy crap, where?
Driver: About half a block up the road.
Me: Holy crap.
Driver: Just lock your door, put your purse by your feet and it will be ok.
Me: Right-o.

That's me, livin' life on the edge. From this day forward, you can call me Julia "danger" Martin (just kidding).

-Julia


Arriving in Tagbilaran


A grey and rainy Alona beach


View from the dive boat


More Alona beach


Reuniting with Eric and Isabelle


Local band


Bastian displays his excitement about Alona beach


Parting image of Manila

Apo island, could this place get any better?

From Puerto Princesa, I headed towards Apo island. Bastian and I continued traveling together, but James opted to stay in Palawan for a while longer. Getting to Apo required even more than the usual Philippine travel hurdles and was to entail 2 tuk tuks, 2 flights, a taxi and a boat, but Bastian and I hatched a very sophisticated plan to get ourselves to Apo in one day. Everything was peachy-keen until we landed in Dumaguete (jumping off point for Apo) and the sea was so choppy that the coast guard wasn't letting the boats go out to the island. So, we stayed the night in Malatapay, within striking distance of the boat pier.

Malatapay turned out to be one of the strangest places I've visted on this trip. The tourist clientele seemed to be of the creepy old European dudes and their significantly younger Filipina travel companion variety (I'm not even going to open the can of worm that is my opinion on this particular subject). We got up a the crack of dawn and headed to the dock. By 6:30 am, the area around the dock was surrounded by a market with a decidedly apocalyptic feel. To give you an idea, imagine this: the sky is overcast, the air is really thick, muggy and choked with smoke, the market stalls are packed, but don't have the liveliness and color of a typical market, as you walk around no one really looks you in the eye, and all the while you can hear animals screaming as they are taken off to be slaughtered (their fates evident by the numerous pigs roasting on spits over fires). Then, two toothless beggars (one of whom is blind) attach themselves to you and start chanting "money, money" over and over. Apocalyptic, no? It was pretty surreal and we were relieved to get on the boat to Apo.

In stark contrast to the "Apocalypse Now" village, Apo was a wonderful place. We stayed in little bungalows right on the beach. They were so idyllic, you could have taken them right off a postcard. The locals who ran the place were kind and welcoming, and the food was to die for (surgeon fish with soy, garlic, ginger, onion and kalamansi juice is one of my new favorite dishes). We me two Canadian ER doctors, Isabelle and Eric, and had a fantastic time hanging out with them (thus increasing the doctor to Julia ratio to 3:1...I felt very safe, and also learned some interesting facts about the Canadian and German health care systems, quite educational actually).

The diving in Apo was world-class. The island has been a marine sanctuary for 30 years (the oldest one in the Philippines), so the corals are pristine and the sea life has flourished. The visibility was good, the water was warm, and each time I put my face in the water, I felt like I was in a tropical aquarium. In my book, the diving at Apo was second only to Sipadan.

One of the highlights of Apo was attending our divemaster's 31st birthday party. It turns out that Kekeen was not only a divemaster, but also an important village figure, so his party was a important community event. Even though we had already eaten dinner by the time we arrived, his family set out a huge spread for us, including a native chicken, which they had roasted just for us. We felt a little like VIP guests. The native rum was also in abundance, so naturally the videoke machine made an appearance. Bastian, the boatman and I "sang" the Bon Jovi song "Bed of Roses" together, which must have sounded truly horrible since none of us even knew the song. My first and last Filipino videoke participation. The party was absolutely fantastic, let's just say that I had so much fun that I skipped the dive the following morning.

-Julia


Airport in Manila


Filipnos take their rooster nutrition very seriously


Apocalyptic market


Roasting pigs


Pleeeeeease get me outta here


The bungalows on Apo


Apo


My gecko roommate


Isabelle and Bastian enjoy a fruity cocktail


Sunset on Apo


Bastian, Kekeen and Kekeen's father enjoying the native chicken


Our Filipino feast


The dancing begins


Kekeen, Bastian and me


Local girls serenade Kekeen