It’s pronounced Ko Pee Pee, but don’t worry, you’ll get over how hilarious it sounds as soon as you fall in love with the island, its parties, its views, and the surrounding beaches.
We grabbed a ferry (a real one this time) from Railay to Ko Phi Phi, and after walking for quite a while, finally found our hostel which was called Oasis Guesthouse. It was located on a pretty quiet and under-populated road, but the second night on our island we were relocated to their other location, close to the nightlife on the beach, because they had a power outage.
By this point on our trip, I had been experiencing a severely sore throat and had lost my voice. Instead of taking it easy though, we decided to spend the first day walking around the island and hiking up to the viewpoint. Walking up the hill for the sunset view was almost as hard as the four-day trek to Machu Picchu last year. The mere 15 minutes felt like forever because of the heat and humidity. To say that I was dripping sweat is an understatement… I was a waterfall. Thank goodness for the wet wipes that I constantly carried around in my backpack.
Our second day on Ko Phi Phi was spent boating around the area and exploring various beaches, inlets, and islands. We paid $21 for a full-day snorkelling trip including a lunch. Our tour started by going past the Viking Cave. We then went snorkelling off of Pi Leh Bay — there were so many fish and corals!
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Next up was Maya Bay, made famous by the movie “The Beach” which Leonardo Di Caprio is in, and which was filmed in this location. To reach this infamous beach, we took kayaks from our tour boat and paddled to shore (okay, it was mostly Milos paddling, let’s be real). Although the beach and island were quite nice, there were far too many people and tourists to make it an enjoyable experience. But hey, I walked on the same sand that Leo once walked on, so I guess that’s worth it.
By far the nicest beach and snorkelling was at Monkey Beach. We didn’t see any monkeys (despite all the warning signs), but the beach was so beautiful, quiet, and deserted. We swam to the beach from our boat, and on our way back, we realized that the crew members of the boat were throwing rice into the water. There were hundreds of fish swimming all around us — it was magical and surreal!
The most intense part of Ko Phi Phi was the nightlife. Crazy, wild, hypnotic, dangerous, and loud. First off, there was fire everywhere — fire limbo, fire jump rope, and even a burning ring of fire that brave and stupid party-goers could jump through. The beats were heart-pumping, everyone was happy, hot, and dancing with a carefree spirit.
We drank out of sketchy sand buckets. We raved like teenagers. We ran into the ocean anytime we got too hot and sweaty. We danced long into the night. We felt alive, young, and free.
Highs: The nightlife, snorkelling tour, view from the viewpoint, the food, a restaurant called Cosmic which played Sabrina beats 24/7
Lows: Still expensive, still hot and humid, still touristy in parts
