Best of Both Worlds - Mayhem and Serenity in Koh Phi Phi

(by Kevin Bernardin)

At 20 meters below the surface of the ocean, it really is a whole new world. When I dive I spend a lot of the time scouring the sand banks opposite the coral reefs in hopes that I might catch sight of a leopard or black tip reef shark as that’s where they’re typically found.  The reefs themselves are spectacular and teeming with all kinds of marine life but most of it is smaller stuff, like box fish, lion fish, scorpion fish, trigger fish, moray eels, and the list goes on and on…. I’ve always been more interested in the bigger stuff! Like a 2 and a half meter leopard shark swimming casually past, regarding me as though I was actually supposed to be there. Or the one time I was fooling around practicing floating upside down and a school of batfish, all at least 20 inches in diameter, swam past me from behind brushing my flailing arm. Not to mention the turtles, which are very accurately depicted in the movie “Finding Nemo”, seeing them lazily drift through the water, munching on bubble coral, seemingly stoned out of their minds. I definitely found my love for diving in Koh Phi Phi.

There’s also an unparalleled night life to be found in Phi Phi, it’s definitely more centered around lust rather than love though. I’ve always thought of Phi Phi as the Las Vegas of Thailand, except without the gambling…. So what are the young adults of the world supposed to do when they converge on this hedonistic  playground in endless waves from all over the globe? Testosterone fueled men, and sometimes women too, battle each other in Muay Thai boxing rings for a bucket of alcohol each, just to amuse throngs of drunken tourists. Some of the greatest fire dancing shows in the world displayed in front of thousands of dancing people just meters from the lapping waves of the ocean. But why stop there? Why not light giant jump ropes on fire and get the drunkest people in the crowds to skip through them as they spin faster and faster with the intent of causing a scorching accident. All just another way for people to escape their protectionist societies and sheltered upbringings in a chance to experience the realness of life first hand instead of just watching it on a TV screen.  It’s good to know there are still places like Koh Phi Phi that people can go to enjoy themselves and not have to worry about who might sue who for some legal obscurity that fun loving people really don’t care about. That’s not to say people don’t get hurt, but I’ve never seen a person with a bloodied knee or burn mark on their arm whining about it the next day trying to put the blame on someone else.

But there is escape from the non-stop action of Phi Phi island. I found it a short boat ride away on a camping trip with a group I was leading at the time. Sure you could once again follow the tourist crowd to Maya Bay to camp out where the beach was filmed but there’s another island near by called Bamboo Island that offers an equally amazing, if not better experience for a night of seclusion on a tropical island!  We embarked mid afternoon by longtail boat to do some great cliff jumping, followed by some amazing snorkeling just off the beach of Mosquito Island, thankfully we didn’t have to go ashore to find out if it was aptly named! Our group of 24 great friends finally arrived at Bamboo Island just before supper and got to relax in front of an amazing sunset, playing Frisbee and listening to music, while our hosts prepared a feast of traditional Thai food.  We spent the night around a beach fire sharing stories of the past 40 days, laughing our asses off and really enjoying the new friendships we’d found in each other. Most fell asleep on the beach under the stars, but I had brought my trusty hammock (never leave home without it) and awoke to a sweet ocean breeze and one of the most spectacular sunrises I’ve ever witnessed. Sometimes there are moments in life that you don’t realize are amazing until much later on, but this was not one of them, this was recognized immediately by myself, and hopefully by everyone else, right then and there as an amazing moment in life.

Go to Koh Phi Phi, have great adventures and debaucherous fun! But don’t forget to search out the simpler beauty as well…it’s still very much there.