Koh Phi Phi: Puking in Paradise

Koh Phi Phi: A truly idyllic island, the perfect location for a honeymooning couple to spend two days straight...vomiting. Whether it was a bug or the BBQ'd seafood feast we indulged in, we don't know. It certainly wasn't very nice. First Sam was struck down and whilst he was running back and forth between the bed and the toilet, I went out and sunbathed (on his request that I didn't just sit around and watch him throw up!) and very thoughtfully returned with supplies of sugary drinks, watermelon and ice lollies. By the time he had recovered, I too was puking. Worse, I also fainted in a restaurant, which wasn't very nice either.

Sickness aside, Phi Phi really is a beautiful place. As some of you may know, it's also where they filmed some parts of the Leonardo Di Caprio film, The Beach. They bang on about this a fair bit, with many of the boat and snorkeling tours offered bigging up a stop at Maya Bay, a pretty beach with clear blue waters, that is 'the beach'  in 'The Beach'.

Phi Phi was also one of the islands that was badly affected by the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami. As the main stretch of the island is a tiny strip of land between two beaches, it was completely flattened as the wave washed over the whole of the town.  There are hardly any signs of the disaster now though, incredibly the island has been completely rebuilt. The only reminders being the new Tsunami evacuation signs that are posted all around the island (in 2004, the people on the island had little warning and no evacuation plan in place, so 700 people sadly died).

When we weren't puking, we enjoyed a bucket (a whole bottle of rum, a can of coke and a red bull, all poured into a seaside-esque bucket and served with ice and a straw for only two pounds fifty), went snorkeling and watched the sun set over Phi Phi from its incredible viewpoint, high up on the hillside.

Phi Phi really is very beautiful, it's just a shame that the town is a little on the tacky side and that some of the tourists are the type that just want to sit in an Irish pub all day and maybe even beat each other up (that's right, there was a thai boxing bar, where punters are encouraged to drunkenly fight their mates in return for a bucket of booze). Also, the north beach has a couple of 'crazy' beach bars, the kind that blaze really crap music and have nightly fire shows, where fire is literally thrown across the beach, narrowly missing punters. 

If you avoid the centre of town and the handful of horrendous beach bars, Phi Phi is definitely worth visiting - just make sure you sort yourself out a nice place to stay, in case you have to spend a lot of time in your room, puking.