Ko Phi Phi, Thailand

What an amazing place! They've rebuilt it really well after the tsunami of a few years back and now it is quite nice but still affordable. The beaches are amazing and the area is spectacular. The nightlife is great and we had a fun night out. They've got bars all along the beach and the beach itself becomes a dance floor later in the night. After staying out so late, we barely woke up in time for our longtail boat tour of the Ko Phi Phi Don (the big one with all the accommodation), Bamboo Island, and Ko Phi Phi Ley. The longtails are wooden boats named for their propeller attached on a ten foot rudder-like thing to a car engine in the back of the boat. We shared the boat with eight other people and rode around all day, stopping to snorkel, enjoy the beaches, and admire the views. The other people on the boat were a fun lot and the seven hours on the boat were some of the best so far traveling and probably the best $16 I've ever spent. We met up with some of the people from the boat later that night for food at this amazing Thai restaurant for easily the best food I've had on this trip, called Papaya. The picture of the fridge is from this restaurant, notice the cats napping in the bottom of it. It was tough to leave but after spending two days longer than we had originally thought to, we moved on to Railay.



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Details:
Traveling in Thailand is almost ridiculously easy. We booked the boat from Phuket to Ko Phi Phi, with transfer to the port in Phuket, for $12 at Phuket Backpacker Hostel. There are tons of little "travel agencies" set up in Ko Phi Phi and from one of these, we bought our tickets for the tour ($16). It is definitely possible to book this all ahead of time or even through one person in Phuket, but you will invariably pay more money and you aren't guarenteed any higher quality (unless you book through someone online with reviews on Tripadvisor, but these tend to be 3 to 4 times the price). I would highly recommend the longtail tour of Ko Phi Phi starting at 11:00, called the sunset tour, because it is an easier start and almost all of the boats go earlier in the morning, so there are only a few boats out there with you, as opposed to the fleet in the mornings. Make sure to go out to Bamboo Island as well, definitely worth the few extra dollars on the tour, the tour I took went to Bamboo Island and started at 11:00, so make sure to shop around, sometimes not every tour agency will offer the same tours, though they are all about the same price and they don't lower them all that much if you try to barter. Guesthouses are everywhere on Ko Phi Phi and they will do their best to woo you in. The budget places are a bit further back along the main walkway. We stayed at Lux for $8 a person in a twin room.