Islands

Saturday (it is Saturday, isn’t it?) saw the alarm set early. Cousteau-cub would be waiting in the car park at 07:20 and we would be heading nort to Sala Dan. As things worked out, C-c was late. Unlike her. When she turned up, however, the reason became clear. She had caught her long skirt in her motorcycle chain and needed help from some passing (very amused) Thai people to free her but ripping her skirt with an old razor blade.

Anyway, crisis averted we headed north in the car to Sala Dan (about 12 kms) and parked by the ferry pier. Here we would pick up the passenger ferry to take us across to Ko Phi Phi, so long her home.

We were early for the ferry (the car being so much quicker than the motorbikes on which the journey was based). This gave us time to have a look around the harbour-side and see all of the houses on stilts jockeying for space along the waterfront. We boarded and made ourselves comfortable before the inevitable last minute rush.

The crossing to Phi Phi takes about an hour and fortunately the sea was like a mill pond (without the swans and haywains). The boat moored briefly alongside another ferry to transfer the Phuket-bound passengers, then continued in to the main pier for the island. This came as a bit of a surprise. It was far more commercialised that the Gorse Fox had expected and has obviously become a victim of its own popularity. As we disembarked and headed along the pier we were accosted by people offering taxi-boat trips, boat trips, dives, accommodation, and goodness knows what else. Following Cousteau-cub we strode straight through the middle of the island and out the other side into the bay where she had been based.

This was like walking through a stargate from the chaos of the pier and the shops and stalls to the tranquillity of the bay. The white talcum-like sand was unmarked as we strolled along the water-line to the corner of the beach where C-c’s friend Mel, husband Ben and daughter lived in a splendid bar called Sunflower.  Ben lost his first wife and children in the tsunami – and indeed 18 members of his family.
So much was lost in 7 minutes and he said it is his duty to rebuild in 7 years.

The Sunflower has all been built using reclaimed flotsam from the tsunami, and even the tables are chunks of old longtails. Very moving.

Being low season, the normal ferry schedules had been changed. As a result we had to catch an 1130 crossing back to Koh Lanta. This limited what we could see, but saying goodbye to Mel and Ben we headed back to the centre of the island and the throng. Stopping to look in a few stalls and pick up some Danish pastries for breakfast it was soon time to catch the ferry for the trip back. It is easy to see what Ko Phi Phi once was, but it has become a victim of its own success and it is easy to see why Cousteau-cub and the Coventry Hobbit moved to Koh Lanta.