Post tsunami: Phi Phi revisited two years on

                                                                                         

Although living in Thailand for some time, I finally only got to Phi Phi island two weeks before the Tsunami hit. At the time I had no idea what this lovely island in Krabi province, not far from Phuket, was about to experience. But when I saw how rampant and haphazard development had ruined the island it might have sounded like a good joke. Yeah right, what this place needs is something like a Tsunami to wipe it clean. Well that’s exactly what it got and, without disrespect to those who perished or lost everything, I witnessed a much more beautiful Phi Phi when I returned 18 months later.

On my first visit to Phi Phi Island on a day trip from Phuket I was appalled. I should have been impressed by the tower cliffs and white sandy beaches which were so perfect by natural design that it seemed man himself had deliberately engineered it for our own leisure purposes. I didn’t notice the sheer karst that were impossible to even build a hiking trail on let alone a hotel, I was too taken in by what I didn’t like. I should have been marvelling at how cleverly nature had left a beautiful flat stretch in the middle for us to come and build resorts on, indeed I had seen it all already from the many aerial pictures, including the equally pretty beach on the other side, just 500m away. But in reality it wasn’t like my imagined image. Online guide to Phuket

We alighted at the ferry pier in Ton Sai bay and to reach Lo Dalam bay on the other side, we where funnelled into a crowded and ugly mass of rampant over development. Huge holiday crowds from Phuket were all trying to squeeze themselves into a narrow, smelly lane lined with dive shops, internet cafes, swimwear boutiques, 7-elevens, trinket sellers, you name it – a tourist gauntlet that was anything but paradise. Music blared from bars, trash lay around everywhere and the sun failed to penetrate this poor, sandy lane at all. Beautiful Phi Phi? I was stunned.

Well, to be fair, it was just three weeks before the tsunami when the peak season in Thailand was in full swing and everyone wanted to be on Phi Phi, including all the day trippers, and locals from Krabi town looking to make a living. I had long suspected this island’s popularity would have done this. When I emerged at the other bay, I did see a lovely seascape and beautiful beach, even if it was crowded. A beautiful beach full of people enjoying themselves is still beautiful I guess.

At the time I, and I suppose no one else, imagined just what was about to happen to the this masssive tourist magnet. For starters, there was nowhere to run, where would the tens of thousands on that day have gone to escape two huge sandwiching waves? It’s a macabre thing to imagine, other than to dream it up to wash away the sinful development I was so disgusted with, but it didn’t cross my mind. I was thinking things like ‘which restaurant for lunch’, ‘how much to hire a lounger’, ‘where to rent a kayak’, ‘what a sexy suntanned body she has’ and so on.

These things are all gone now. Almost everything is gone. When I returned during a trip to Southern Thailand in May 2006 I could barely recognise the place. I had come to see what should be accurately described in a travel guide on Krabi province and the Andaman sea near Phuket, and I was lost for words. There was a island still, with some remaining coconut trees and two lovely beaches which could be seen from side to the other. But everything that had been inbetween was gone, and I found myself walking along a grassy-edged sandy path that I realised was once the lane which so disgusted me. Here, finally was my ‘idea’ of Phi Phi. Full guide to Phi Phi island http://www.1stopkrabi.com


I was so gripped by the total lack of buildings, lack of anything really, save for a few surviving coconut palms. I even had difficulty placing ‘that lane’. Gone were the internet cafés, the 7-Eleven, the bikini boutique and the ‘fissst’ sound of diving regulators. Gone were all the people and shop keepers and tanned carefree holidaymakers.

So, in a mean kind of way nature had taken revenge and reclaimed the natural beauty of Phi Phi. It had reverted the island it looked like 20 years ago before the tourists arrived in Thailand. Reconstruction had been slow in the ensuing 18 months due to beauracracy and perhaps a nagging sense among the authorities not to let it all happen again. There were a few buildings, a small market area, the odd dive shop and a couple of internet cafés, with some guesthouses tucked away nearer the high ground and one or two proper hotels had been re-built.

Lo Dalam bay was as beautiful as ever, only this time it was uncrowded and peaceful in its natural appearance. The big old Banyan tree that still stood at the end of the lane and beneath it grilled fresh seafood on a makeshift barbecue was served on little wooden stools. A few temporary backpacker style A-frames were erected further along the beach, and a few rustic bars played the usual Bob Marley classics. It was admittedly low season and a few people were enjoying an exclusive experience on Phi Phi.

Other places on the Thailand coast have recovered. Phuket, from where all the day trippers come, has been completely rebuilt since the Tsunami. It too was very much trashed at greater expense and damage, but it has rebuilt itself and gone back to being a tourism magnet. Read more about Phuket: http://www.1stopphuket.com

About the author:
Andy Burrows lives in and writes about Thailand on the web. He travels the region extensively.

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