It’s probably the anxious me acting up, since we were checking out and leaving for Phi Phi Island later in the day. I woke up at 4.30am, and recorded the travel journal for this trip. (I keep short travel journals for every trip, so that details and meticulous impressions on otherwise forgettable events are recorded. These are the things that we always don’t remember when the holiday itself overwhelms us with surprises and wows.)
It was still early, so I headed back to sleep and got up at 6.30am to get ready for breakfast at the restaurant in the hotel.
The ferry operator picked us up from the hotel and went on to pick up other passengers from various pick-up points.
It was a 2 hrs ferry ride to Phi Phi.
I was really excited when we finally reached Phi Phi!!! I had arranged via email with Chunut House – where we were booked into for lodging on Phi Phi Island – the day before to have someone at the pier to receive us. I was expecting a taxi or tuk tuk, although I had read that there is hardly any vehicle on the island, I really thought there was some form of transportation, like a mini tuk tuk. (I know, I am one ignorant city person)
It was very interesting when we spotted the hotel’s representative. He was very friendly and he walked really fast! We followed him wherever he was taking us.
It was thrilling for me to land on an island which looks like an island! So many boats, and so sandy!
We were supposed to follow the hotel guy closely, but apart from the fact that Mike was carrying one large luggage on one shoulder and a large backpack on the back, we were in awe with the narrow alleys lined up with all sorts of shops! It reminded me of the alleys at The Ruins of St. Paul’s Cathedral in Macau, where you buy souvenirs and famous foodstuffs.
We were relieved that we had arranged for a pick-up though, we will never be able to find our way to the hotel in the maze-like connecting alleys!
After a short distance of walking, the hotel rep. pushed a ‘push-cart’ – not fanciful but extremely effective – for us to load the luggage onto, and we continued to march towards the hotel.
After we passed the ‘town’ and ‘market’, we will have to walk past a ‘wastewater garden’ whereby the signage slab was sprayed over with ‘shit-garden’. It was hard to slow down your pace, let alone stop, to read up on the board of what exactly this ‘garden’ does. We were guessing that this is a wastewater collection area which they use the wastewater to grow the plot of plants. It sure stinks a great deal though.
(I later googled and found a write-up on the wastewater treatment plant)
After the wastewater garden, we will pass a long passage, and we would be almost reaching Chunut House! We were two very useless city people who panted out of exhaustion trying to catch up with the guy ahead of us who was pushing the luggage push-cart in the most relaxing fashion. He appeared to be slowing down his usual pace and even stopped several times to wait up for us. Shame on us!!
Alas! We reached the Chunut House! Exactly what I imagined! Ok, I checked out the photos on the booking site before booking the room.
When I read up more on Chunut House the day before, I noticed a newly posted review posted by a guest who complained about the absence of credit card facility although the booking site stated the acceptance for major credit cards. (Booking.com does not charge users upon booking confirmation, the credit card information is only required to confirm the booking, and in the case of no-show) Be prepared to bring more cash if you are planning to stay there on your visit to Phi Phi.
Chunut House is further away from the main town, but we felt fine with the distance. After all, all we did on the island was eat, eat, and more eating.
We were originally allocated with a ‘hut’ above the front desk, so I requested for a change. What? I am fussy, alright! The hut is not built with concrete cement or sound proofing materials, so it could get quite noisy when the staff – just underneath your room – talk or watch television.
The staff was friendly and helpful with the move. We were given another room, where we found a bonus ‘house cat’! Imagine my excitement when we found a sleeping cat at the balcony! I literally ‘begged’ the cat to stay around during our stay.
The room was nicely decorated. The floor is parquet and can make some creaking sound, but that didn’t bother us much.
We headed out for lunch shortly after we checked-in to the room. We went to ‘The Rock’ restaurant, which we would not recommend. There was a very friendly staff who might have chatted a tad too much, especially that he worked in Singapore in the early 70s. He claimed that he laid all the roads in Singapore back then. He was fine, just a little braggy.
We didn’t like the food. Believe me when I say the food was not tasty, as I usually order vegetables and when all other meat and poultry dishes tasted badly, the vegetables usually saved the day. In this case, the vegetables failed too.
After lunch, we went back to the hotel and watched ‘Wall Street‘. I fell asleep before the show ended.
Sometimes, the cat rested on the floor mat just where the door opens to. Mike had fun taking photos of the cat.
Then, of course, it’s meal time again! We decided to walk to the town for dinner. When we walked past the long passage (before the wastewater plant) we saw some locals placing little kittens on the floor to attract passers-by. I reckoned that they might be either selling the kittens or letting them up for adoption. We didn’t ask. I knew I love Phi Phi already, because it’s apparent to me that it’s an island of meows!
We had dinner near the market – fresh produces market. It is a Chinese restaurant, and the server spoke perfect Mandarin. After taking a few bites of the dishes, we were almost losing hope that perhaps we would not find better food on this beautiful island. We felt bad about not finishing the food, but they really tasted weird.
We walked around the exciting town for a bit. Phi Phi is an interesting place. It is constructed with alleys and alleys of shops, restaurants, and countless of happy people partying in the pubs.
We headed back to the hotel.
References:
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