I am sad to say that the island of Phi Phi Don is the love child of college spring break and Disneyland. While the landscape is seductive, the tourists have turned the island into one big frat party. The island has dramatic mountains and cliffs which place it on all 'must see in Thailand' lists, but what they fail to mention is the island is also packed with ill-fitted booty shorts and men who refuse to walk around with a shirt on. For a Muslim island, I can only imagine the horror when tourists started showing up with their culturally insensitive swagger, going topless at the beach and showing off their thongs. We also tried to wing it here and showed up without booking anything in advance and once again our wings were clipped. Everything was booked or overpriced. We eventually found a place for one night and then had to move the following day to another which did not have water for the last two days. We were used to gross water or brown water, but hadn't encountered no water thus far. The good news was since we didn't book anything in advance, we ended up leaving earlier than planned.
Once night rolls around, the streets fill up with twenty-somethings all ready to get wasted. Buckets of alcohol mixers are sold on the street and the classy kids are all over it.
Take for example exhibit A below, what is this chick wearing? Or not wearing for that matter? I don't know what's worse, the fact that she thinks neon orange booty shorts are a good idea, or that her butt is hanging out of them. You can't see the outfit from the front, but by the looks of the Thai woman on the right, it must be just as appealing.
We decided that one night we had to experience the fire shows on the beach, which actually did prove to be somewhat entertaining and also made for some interesting shots with colored strobes lighting up the beach.
So overall, Phi Phi is in a word, gross.
Check out Rick's video he took of our walk home...
His description is spot on...
"I'm certain that Koh Phi Phi island in Thailand was once a beautiful domain. But witness it as it is now. Follow the wreckage of the migratory hordes of cheesy/gaudy Euro-trash tourists as they lay waste to the tiny walking street(s). Make a game of it — spot the Thai if you can...!!"
the PHI PHI theme park from Rick Onorato on Vimeo.
We did however end up taking a day trip around the island which was decent enough. That post is coming up next!