Back to Koh Phi Phi...
ENJanuary 2007. Koh Phi Phi has undergone a metamorphosis since my last visit in July 2005 (almost six months after the tsunami). The transformation is incredible.
Two years after the tsunami
After a first night in Bangkok, a flight with AirAsia to reach Ao Nang (Krabi) in the south, then an hour-and-a-half boat ride: here I am on Koh Phi Phi.
The island has changed a great deal since I last visited a year and a half ago, in July 2005, some six months after the terrifying tsunami of December 26, 2004, which probably claimed over 230,000 lives (around 5,400 in Thailand, 170,000 in Indonesia, 31,000 in Sri Lanka, 16,400 in India). I had my suspicions, but the transformation of Koh Phi Phi is truly incredible.
Update. See also my reports from 2014, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary.e anniversary of the disaster, for the daily Ouest-France :
➜ Back to Indonesia ten years after the tsunami
Reconstruction has continued apace, in a somewhat anarchic fashion, and work is still going on in every corner. New hotels and shops are springing up all over the place.
I'm having a bit of trouble finding the solitary banyan tree on the back beach, the only one left standing after the killer wave. Today, it shades the chairs and tables of a restaurant, set up in front of rows of umbrellas and skewers of tourists cooking in the sun, next to a large resort with infinity pool...
Strange to see everything going back to the way it was, in the very place where so many people perished.
Return of tourists
The tourists are back, in huge numbers. The first difficulty, and not the least, when you arrive and haven't booked anything in advance: finding accommodation. Prices have skyrocketed, and the simplest room is already fetching 1,000 baht, or around 20 euros, which is an astronomical figure for Thailand... But then, Koh Phi Phi is an ultra-tourist enclave that stands out from the rest of the country.
After the boat's arrival, I hurriedly left my cumbersome bags at the dive-shop with which I'd be diving the next day, to make the rounds of the guesthouses, almost running along the way, behind other travellers weighed down with backpacks to overtake them, in order to get there first. Full" signs everywhere, but I ended up finding a roof anyway.
The island remains beautiful despite everything
For this first day, lazing on the beach amid the spectacular scenery of Phi Phi, with its large cliffs in the sea, and registration at the diving center ... I will be able to release my new equipment tomorrow, finally!
You can find other pictures of Koh Phi Phi, that I put online on my very first website Notebooks of Southeast Asia into July 2005 and January 2007.
So far, so close ... Everything is said in the title ...
Delighted to read you, we didn't expect news so soon, thank you. Once again, our thoughts turn to Asia, we've just read in "El Pais" about the catastrophic and deadly floods that have hit Malaysia, and you'll be smiling, Dad feels reassured, because he no longer confuses these two countries geographically!
Here the news is marked by the NS media show, no need to elaborate, this is not the appropriate space! Have a good dive tomorrow, and a good vacation.
Lydie
Youpee! Finally news of our favorite rider.
It must have felt strange to be back in those post-tsunami landscapes... Too bad about the inflation too, but hey... I guess you can't wait to test your new holder in the blue waters of Phi Phi. We're counting on you to make us dream with beautiful photos. May Poseidon be with you and have fun. And heck, you've got to go to work tomorrow...
Lots of love.
Thank you for your messages! It's so nice to read you... I've added a few photos to illustrate everything. The new regulator is working perfectly and I've already got a load of new underwater pictures from the two dives I did today!
Good luck to the workers. See you soon.
I just stumbled across this post. I went to Ko Phi Phi in 2001. Of all the corners of Asia I've visited, this island holds a special place. I still remember the sunsets from a little bungalow I rented in the mountains for a few baths, the magnificent beaches, the meals with fellow travelers and the joy of strolling through a car-free haven.
1000 baths? Lots of tourists??? I'm sorry. As someone who dreams of going back, I'm thinking that maybe I should keep my paradise intact in my head...
@ Marie-Julie:
I must have been to Koh Phi Phi three or four times in all, every few years. Before and after the tsunami. I was happy to go back for a vacation in early 2007. I had good memories, too. I was curious to see how life had recovered after my previous visit in July 2005.
But it seems to me that the double killer wave has only accelerated Phi Phi's transformation... I was stunned to discover, once there, the prices and the crowds. However, the beauty of the area makes up for it, and the cliffs and turquoise water remain the same.
I intend to go back there one day, but I think I'll settle down on more isolated beaches in the north. Tonsai, the center between the two beaches that turn their backs on each other, is a little too crowded these days. Paradise isn't what it used to be...
😕