NIGEL'S WORLD: Thailand: Phi Phi Island

The six islands that make up the Phi Phi archipelago are considered to be one of ".....the most naturally beautiful islands in the world....." and "....one of those places everybody should go at least once in their lifetime......"

This is my fourth visit and to all intents and purposes, my last!!!!
Don't get me wrong, the Islands are spectacular with huge limestone mountains, whose cliffs abound with lush vegetation, that descend into azure coloured waters rich in coral and marine life. During my times scuba diving and later as an instructor, I have dived most of the reefs in the area. There are numerous caves carved in the rocks and the long white sandy beaches are soft to the touch.

Now I know I am now a fully paid up member of the 'grumpy old men club' where life in the past seemed golden and joyful, (not true, by the way!!), but not all change is for the better.

Take Phi Phi as an instance -

I first came to the Islands in the late 1980's. An age before the internet, emailing and social networking changed our lives.....
The journey by boat taking several hours and after I embarked, I encountered a serene paradise with no permanent buildings, electricity or telephones, with shade only being found under a canopy of huge palm trees. The accommodation was really basic, there was one dive 'shop', a couple of 'local' restaurants and I remember the few other tourists I encountered were of the same 'adventurous breed' as I, with the local population being made up of fishing folk.
Paradise gained.........

Today, the islands have suffered from the rampant growth & exploitation of tourism. Being a mere 50 km south-east of Phuket, Phi Phi is now easily accessible from mainland Thailand by fast boat, putting the islands squarely on the tourist map, turning them into a 'rush a day' destination, where the day-trippers overpopulate the island from about 11.00am when the first boat arrives till 3.00pm when the last boat leaves.
Restaurants, shops, in the main selling T-shirts, internet cafes and a shanty town abound on the main and only populated island of Ko Phi Phi Dom. Litter in the form of cans and plastic bags are strewn over the two beaches that form the isthmus. At night the bars lure the young into a frenzy of binge drinking and merrymaking till dawn, turning the place into the ordinary rather than the extraordinary.
Paradise lost..........

There are a couple of factors that compounded this. Firstly, Ko Phi Phi Leh was the backdrop for the 2000 movie 'The Beach'. Following the release of the film, tourism on Phi Phi Don increased dramatically, and with it the population of the island. Secondly, Ko Phi Phi was devastated by the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004, when many hundreds of people lost their lives and nearly all of the island's infrastructure was wiped out. Reconstruction was swift in coming, leading to the growth of permanent structures, hotels, resorts and dive shops.