Isthmus be paradise!

Day 95, 25 June 2006

Ko Pha Ngan, Gulf of Thailand

Last week two familiar faces popped out of the void and cheered me and James right up:

















Since Tim and Kate got here we've had opportunity to check out the southern islands, at last. These islands in the Andaman sea and the Gulf of Thailand are usually places which are first on any backpackers' south east Asia itinerary, but we been saving the sun and sea for the arrival of additional Windsorians. As a quartet, we had necessary numbers to confirm naval supremacy and therefore safe passage from the Thai coast.

For the last few days we've been in Ko Phi Phi. This pair of islands in the Andaman sea on south-west coast of Thailand, are the first I've visited which I'd describe as 'paradise islands'. It's also the first time I've ever used the word isthmus (coastlines were an option we didn't take up on the syllabus, Dad). This is what she looks like:

















Phi Phi is beautiful and the kind of place most people would love to spend some time. It's recent history has been fraught, however. Like the neighbouring coast line and islands such as Phuket, Phi Phi was directly in the firing line when the Indian Ocean Tsunami struck 18 months ago. To explain what happened you need to know a bit about the geography of the place.

There are two islands which make up Ko Phi Phi: Ko Phi Phi Don and Ko Phi Phi Leh. Phi Phi Don is where all the tourists stay, Phi Phi Leh has national park status and is uninhabited; it's available for day trips only. Phi Phi Don therefore suffered the overwhelming human cost and destruction when the Tsunami hit on 26 December 2004 at 10.30am. Phi Phi Don is really two huge limestone edifices sticking proudly out of the sea; they are joined together by a sandy isthmus, upon which the major resort area Ton Sai developed. Arriving at Phi Phi Don you come in on one side at Ton Sai Bay, whilst Loh Dalum bay sits on the other side of the Isthmus. Two waves hit Ton Sai heading in from both bays. One was 10ft, the other 18ft. Not amazingly huge relatively speaking, they were large enough to decimate the buildings on this narrow strip of land. More than half the buildings were destroyed and over a tenth of the 10,000 population (including tourists) were killed.

A year and half on and there's no evidence in people's behaviour or demeanour to suggest that such a dark episode recently occured. There's plenty of poor people jostling for the tourist trade, but an large number of professional looking businesses lie alongside them. A mere year after the tragedy, the place was nearly up and running in much the same was as it had been before. A tribute to tenacity, NGO action, tourist volunteers, the disaster mangement charities and the therapy of reconstruction. There is a tsunami early warning system in place to ensure the same thing doesn't hppen again.

There is still plenty of work going on, and venturing in to the middle of the isthmus the scars are there for tourists to witness. There is plenty of evidence of rebuilding, and leftovers from the remedial measures taken in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami. You can see sandbags and debris strewn about in the picture below:

















We did enjoy ourselves a great deal on Phi Phi and the activity Tim, Kate, James and I enjoyed most was the snorkelling. This is a great thing. It was something I always wanted to have a bash at as a child, when I had a particular interest in all things aquatic. Mainly frogs, tadpoles, bullrushes (I was obsessed with those), junior angler and ponds in people's back gardens. I fell into several of my parent's friends ponds, a swimming pool at the Livermede Hotel in Torquay, Bayliss Park lido in Slough, a public pond in Holland park and even Slough Fountain before the council concreted it over. Good lord - I loved the stuff. I managed to overcome this foible as an adolescent, but it has been lurking below the surface. Only now have I had the chance to have a crack.

It's frequently remarked that there is far more than you expect just below the surface of the sea. Well there isn't at the Gasworks beach in Paignton, but there certainly is a Ko Phi Phi. Scores or hundreds of fish, sea anemones, coral and coral reefs in a kaleidoscopic colour scale. It can be particuarly difficult to manouvre yourself in small spaces with large fins on, and not 'crashing' the reef is particularly importantly. Tim - who's a comparative snorkelling expert - taught James, Kate and I a thing or two about how to breath easily with all the gubbins and how to equalise pressure when you dive. James got the hang of this particularly and we were all entertaining ourselves in no time.

Tim, James and Kate took copious notes of what we saw in particular, so you can ask them for latin names etc. I stuck to making 'ooh!' and 'aah!' noises in wonder at the underwater arcadia. Among the most colourful species we saw were clownfish and parrotfish. The former enjoys particuar symbiotic relationship with sea anemones slipping between their tentacles, as wikipedia describes:

"The clownfish presses itself into the anemone, living comfortably within the stinging tentacles. This is possible because of a protective mucus that covers the clownfish. The clownfish benefits from this symbiotic relationship because it is protected by the anemone. The anemone benefits because the anemone gets food scraps from the clownfish."

This is a particularly attractive feature of nature, and one that Steve will obliged to take the piss out of me for mentioning. There are plenty of relationships like this among nature that are not so visible and will cause intractable problems when man realises he's tipped the balance too far.

Light is everything with snorkelling and our session just off Phi Phi Leh in the glorious tropical sunshine was perfect for this. I wish we hadn't had to go in so early. We also have our first snorkelling trip captured for posterity on DVD. You can see it if you wish - just contact Tim or Kate. We had wanted the instructor to capture an underwater stomach drumming competition so we could send it to Mr. Zafar Janjua (in the hope he'd project it alongside industrial white noise to pensioners at Windsor Arts Centre), but this sadly wasn't feasible in wetsuits. There is a small section of me swimming up to a nearby beach and feebly trying to beak into rotten coconut husk. That's it for laffs - I'm sorry.

Kate and Tim wanted to see more than one island during their stay, so we thought it would be a good idea to check out one of the islands in the Gulf of Thailand on the other side of the Malay peninsula. After fours days in Phi Phi of swimming, sunbathing, eating and drinking we thought Ko Pha Ngan - home of the infamous Full Moon Parties - was the destination at which to reach the pinnicle of our indulgence. Hooray!

We have been staying on Thong Nai Pan Yai beach for the last day or so. Fairly remote and not as beautiful as Ton Sai bay.

One thing particularly noticable about this part of Pha Ngan is the rapid development going on. I went for a run this morning and went up and down the rough road which leads past the beach/resort. Half of the street is lined with semi constructed huts and bungalows, with the track eventually petering out as the incline increases. There is other recently cleared thoroughfare around here flattened and awaiting development. I'm perpetuating this; I didn't bother to think about my destination, so I'm complicit in supporting where I've ended up. None of us had much idea of which resort to head to (although Tim did try) and we were happily bundled into the bck of an SUV and taken to Thong Nai Pan Yai. I think I should have learnt the questions to ask by now. Had I pulled my finger out and researched I might have gone to an acknowlegded resort like Haad Rin and taken day trips out. On the other hand going to an established spot means you encourage it's burgeoning spread.

Not one for the brochure, eh?




















Today we managed an average snorkelling trip (poor light), a trip to Bottle beach (Bluebottle beach as it should be known - bloody flies) and finally Than Sadet Waterfall. The day was a good opportunity to prepare myself for some of the forthcoming 'big group' trips that I may venture out on in Oz: in an identical long tail boat, alongside Tim, Kate, James and I, were a gang of American, Canadian, English and Australian backpackers. I like these, it's a good opportunity to meet other people and to stop you getting on your high-horse about the reason you are travelling. It is for fun as much as anything else.

It didn't take long for the pond-fetish to return when we got to the waterfall. I love leaping around on rocks and I was soon engaged in a juvenile imperial conquest to reach the top of the falls with a muscle bound American bloke. I won. Ha ha ha!!! I celebrated by dumping my head under the cool water with a silly grin on my face.