Traveling to Koh Phi Phi was quite an adventure in itself. Minibus-train-bus-anotherbus-taxi-ferry-longboat, and voila, 27 hours later I'm on an island in paradise. No one said it would be easy...
The island has beaches spread throughout, but most are only accessible by boat. There are no roads, and the town is a maze of paths littered with clothing shops, souvenir stands, restaurants, 7/11 stores, bars and more. It is not your traditional thailand scene, that is for sure. We stayed at a resort on one of the more secluded beaches, called Long Beach. It was a much nicer beach, mostly filled with families, couples, and older people, and it was nice to escape the craziness that is the main part of the island. It was a 45 minute hike (purposefully I avoid the word walk, here) to the main part of town. Literally it was a truudge along the beach, a treacherous climb up a slope equipped with ropes, more paths through the jungle, more beach walking, and then navigating through the chaos that is town. It was a fun trip though so we made it every day to socialize a bit (mostly with australians and europeans... there were surprisingly few americans on this island).
The island itself was unreal. Sheer cliffs of jungle, interrupted by white sand and green and blue waters. The water was warm, and the sand so clean and bright. When I went swimming, fish swam everywhere about me... schools of colorful fish of all different sizes. We took a snorkeling trip to the smaller islands around us and there was plenty to look at under the sea... plants and fish everywhere. To see the other islands we went on a tour in a long boat (a long fishing boat with a long rutter that is manouvered in and out of the water). One island is famous from the movie "The Beach" with Leonardo DiCaprio. It was shockingly beautiful, but it's unfortunate that it has been discovered by tourists... There were so many of them (literally thousands) that you couldn't even see the sand. We went to some smaller beaches and islands... one rightly named Monkey Island because it was filled with monkeys hanging from the trees and snatching food offered to them by tourists. That beach was my favorite... not as touristy and a nice atmosphere. Unfortunately for me, this day I decided I would forgo sunscreen on my back, and as punishment suffered the next day. I'm sporting a nice tan now, though, so don't feel too bad for me.
We spent 4 nights and 5 days on the island, and it was a paradise, but I was definitely ready to leave. There's only so much sunbathing and reading one can do before it gets a little old. (As a side note, with the amount of traveling and vacationing I've been doing, I've finished 10 books since I've arrived...). The trip back from Koh Phi Phi to Phnom Penh was even worse. It goes like this: long boat-ferry-taxi-overnight bus-taxi-airplane-tuktuk. The worst was that the overnight bus was packed full of people (designed for tiny asian people). I spent a sleepless night shoving off an old American traveler who kept resting his head on my shoulder, and kicking the seat in front of me because the guy reclined his seat right onto my lap. By the time we reached Bangkok at 5:30 AM, I was less than thrilled. My flight wasn't scheduled until 1:30 pm, but luckily I arrived to the airport early enough to catch the 7:30 AM flight.
While I was off touring around Thailand, Val was busy here in Phnom Penh making friends, interviewing and finding us a place to live. She found us a BEAUTIFUL apartment in a good part of the city... We have a nice balcony, 3 large bedrooms (we live with our friend Shiloh as well), a large living room, wireless internet, air conditioning, cable TV, a nice kitchen... it's perfect. and the price? 350/month. split 3 ways. Currently we have 2 friends of ours staying here for a few weeks, so things are even cheaper than that. Tomorrow I will explore the neighborhood a little more, and hopefully set up some interviews for some jobs. It seems not too difficult... most schools are looking for young white American girls to interview, so it sounds like I fit the bill.
I'm glad I had a chance to see Thailand... it's a beautiful country with a lot to offer, good food, and an interesting culture. However, I feel like it's already been discovered by the tourists of the world. Cambodia seems much more untouched by western culture. It was strange to feel like I was coming home again as I drove back from the airport... but the city is inviting, in its own dirty underdeveloped way. The people are friendly, things are way cheaper even than Thailand, and it's retained some of its culture that hasn't been commercialized for the effect of tourists. It's good to be back.
I see perhaps Travel Writer in your future, Susan. I am impressed. I am happy you're back "home" with Val again. Good luck in finding a job.
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