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Tour date: June 1998.

Backpacking in Thailand - South

Thomas Driemeyer
2005-10-17 14:12:19

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KO PHUKET

From Chiang Mai I took a plane to Ko Phuket because the train would have taken too long. Thai Air is efficient and punctual. I expected rickety turboprops but they fly Airbus widebodies. I only wished they wouldn't play Strauss muzak on the plane. Ko Phuket is the largest of the islands of southern Thailand, and the one with the most tourist beaches dominated by highrise hotels. Most are on the west side. I chose the Marina Cottage resort, which has a number of small luxury huts in a tropical park directly on a rocky part of the beach. I went for the most expensive room class ($84 off-season). Not bad at all.

Ko Phuket is the largest island, but it is actually rather boring. They have little towns catering to tourists, full of agencies selling diving trips. Diving is the big thing there; everybody offers boat trips to small islands with interesting coral reefs. However, diving requires a license, and getting one takes about four days and isn't cheap, and I wasn't planning on staying that long. It is a wonderful place to relax though. I tried to rent a bicycle but I did not find an acceptable one.

Here I also had a Thai massage. It was not entirely unpleasant. That lady had surprisingly strong hands and could make bones pop that I didn't know I had, when she wasn't busy walking on my back.

KO PHI PHI AND KRABI

From Ko Phuket I took a ferry to Ko Phi Phi. The Lonely Planet guide says that Ko Phi Phi is sadly overdeveloped and this is true. Good for snorkeling they say but otherwise skippable. Ko Phi Phi is actually one larger and one smaller islands connected by a narrow bridge, and it only takes a few minutes to walk from the beach on one side of the beach to the one on the other side. There are lots of tourist trap shops here, construction and garbage dumps. Getting away from all this is difficult because there are few ...