Phi Phi

After 8 hours of crisscrossing the Andaman Sea, the horn finally boomed as we docked in Ton Sai. Mounted with backpacks we stepped off the ferry and drank a lung full of the vibrant afternoon air. Towering limestone cliffs, technicolor coral-clad bays and blonde beaches smiled back at us. We had arrived at my favorite place in all of Thailand.

Phi Phi Island, the starlet of the Andaman sea is burdened by beauty. The Koh Phi Phi Marine Park is mainly made up of Phi Phi Don, and the development restricted Phi Phi Ley. After being immortalized in the movie ‘The Beach’, it’s vertical limestone cliffs and spectacularly well formed beaches have become one of the main attractions on the west coast of Thailand. There’s not a single tourist in the region that hasn’t heard of it’s stunning scenery.

At a Prize

Unfortunately fame comes at a prize. After having made regular visits to Phi Phi over the past 10 years it’s clear to me that the island is heading for an ecological meltdown. While it still retains it’s drop dead gorgeousness the crowded mazelike tourist village has grown with such ferocity that could put a Chinese suburb to shame. New development is constantly sprawling up, and the streets feel increasingly tighter. The island is fighting garbage disposal problems, water shortages, destruction of it’s reefs and general environmental pollution. The crowd is younger than many other places in Thailand, and the nightlife seems to have grown out of proportion. Hard pumping beats, large scale bars with a new flyer every day, sizzling fireshows on the beach and buckets of booze.

Near to my Heart

Despite all of the above, Phi Phi has played a pivotal role in my life. It’s my mental retreat, an embodiment of a tropical paradise that I’ve kept coming back to. A fixed position through years where I’ve moved. The gravitational pull of my getaways. I’ve visited this place with many different people, through what seems to be completely different lives. I’ve always felt an overbearing sense of relation, a feeling almost too palpable to be assigned a place and not a person. An early humid morning, the 25th of December 2004 I took a choice that saved my life, leaving behind so many that wasn’t as fortunate. This has further cemented my strong bond to this place. It’s been a source of inspiration and heartbreak, of laughs and tears, a centerpiece on the mental dinner table.

Days Fly By

On a tropical island you always seem to be lubricated in some substance. At morning we help ourselves to gulps of sticky sunscreen, afternoons are spend lotioned up in aftersun and by night we drown ourselves in insect repellant. Our days at Phi Phi were exactly as we wanted them, relaxed. A considerable amount of time was spent talking about the next meal, which in itself is a very soothing routine. In an ocean of days, the 3 fixed feasts easily become the anchor points of events. We hiked up the mountain to the viewpoint a few times and i re-explored parts of the island with my camera. After 10 days of lounging on the beach, eating out at restaurants and killing 5 books we said our farewells and boarded another ferry. This time to my second home in Thailand.