The maximum time any person should spend in Phuket is about 10 hours. Both times I’ve been there I have followed that rule pretty closely. After a nice night watching TV in my hotel room, I set out for Koh Phi Phi early in the morning (7:30 am pick-up). It was a short one and a half hour boat ride to the island, half of which I spent sunning myself on the upper deck. The ride was quite entertaining as the seas were a little rough, tossing the boat around, causing waves to crass all the way onto the second floor upper deck.

After arriving on the island, it was very clear that I had landed during peak season. People were everywhere! Susanne and I had spent a few days on Phi Phi last April, but it was at the end of the high season and the island was somewhat empty. In April we managed to get a great air-con bungalow on the beach for around 1,500 Baht a night. That same bungalow these days was going for 3,900 Baht. After checking I decided $92 a night for one person was a bit too much for this part of my holiday. Instead, I went for the closest hotel I could find that had a room available (ok, the first air-con room – it was freakin’ hot out). It was 2,000 Baht a night, but came with a beautiful view of the back of a very nice construction site and garbage dump. If I looked very closely through the debris and trees I could see a tiny bit of blue water in the bay, which, of course, is why I had to pay the “sea view” rate.

The reason why I was willing to pay so much is that I was really hot from sitting out in the sun all morning and really wanted to take a nice cool shower and rest up. The only problem was that I arrived at 11:00 (standard check-out time) and housekeeping said they would not have my room ready until 1:30. It seemed like an excessive amount of time to clean one small room, but what do I know about the hospitality business. I wandered around the island for a while, got hot, came back to the hotel and watched two Japanese girls take pictures of themselves by the pool. They easily went through a couple of rolls of film … posing by the tree; posing by the steps; posing with their towel (you get the idea). Man, how this has become such a hobby of mine. I just love taking pictures of Japanese tourists taking pictures.

Getting a little bored, I checked back with the reception desk several times to see if the room had been cleaned yet. I figured that it was a rather small hotel and it was unlikely that every guest had checked out at the same time. No such luck. At 1:30 my room was ready and I had the coldest shower I could stand.

SPECIAL NOTE: cleaning of the room did not include removal of cockroaches or geckos, apparently.

In the time that I waited around for my room I was able to meander around the island and make a few observations. I noticed that in the 10 months since we had been on Phi Phi nearly the entire island had been transformed into a high-end resort town. The affordable bungalows, although exactly the same as before, were now quadruple the price. The price to rent long-tail boat around the island had doubled and the speedboats became downright unaffordable to anyone. All the dive shops had built brand new buildings and the internet shops had been hooked onto on high speed network (blocking out instant messaging while charging double the price).

The charm that once existed for me on Phi Phi Island is not there anymore. But for the droves of Sweeds, Germans and French that now cover the island it appears to be exactly what they’re looking for.

For those looking for a bit more detail, allow me to quote my guidebook:

“Koh Phi Phi Don would itself be two island were it not for the tenuous palm-fringed isthmus that connects the hilly expanses to east and west, separating the stunningly symmetrical double bays of Ao Ton Sai to the south and Ao Loh Dalum to the north. The constantly expanding village at Ao Ton Sai is now a full blow low-rise holiday resort, and it’s the liveliest place to stay on the island. Shops, tour operators, restaurants, bars, internet cafes and dive centers line the main track that parallels the beachfront …. The beach is itself most attractive at the western end, but gets unbearably crowded with day-trippers.”

I did manage to make it up to the viewpoint this trip, which we couldn’t find the last time. From the viewpoint I could see just how much development had taken over the island. The entire center portion of the island was completely built up, with nearly every inch covered with some form of shop, hotel or cafe. The cool thing about the hike up the mountain is that I was able to take the “postcard” shot. The bad news is that it was a really long way up to the top. If I were a smarter person I would have just bought the postcard for 5 Baht at the base of the mountain and saved myself the torture.

The worst part about Phi Phi Island is not the development, however. It’s that the beach disappears during the day. Or better put, the ocean goes away. Both sides of the bay are subject to some pretty significant tidal changes. Right around the time a person would want to go lay on the beach and do some swimming, the water goes away. It stays that way until after dark. It’s quite a strange phenomenon.