Since lots of my friends had prior travel plans in recent weeks, either solo or with family, last week I found myself in a predicament: a weekend with no plans and no one to travel with. But after exploring Thailand and the surrounding countries every week for the past three months I was confident I’d be absolutely fine traveling alone for the weekend, the only question was where did I want to go? Looking forward into my planner, I realized I didn’t have any other weekends that would work out well to visit Phi Phi Islands, a place I had on my bucket list since I first started researching what the heck was in Thailand, so this weekend seemed it would be the absolute perfect opportunity to explore.
I booked my flight into Phuket and figured out some accommodations (sadly pretty expensive on the Phi Phi Islands for a very basic dorm hostel) and was surprised a little that I actually had some nerves about the trip. After a short hour flight, an overpriced hour taxi to the pier and then a two-hour ferry to the islands, I had finally arrived! I was stunned walking down the ferry towards my hostel. The entire little town was settled between two giant limestone cliffs, and I’ve never seen more brilliantly turquoise waters.
My hostel was extremely small and sandy everywhere, but it would do. After getting my whereabouts, I decided to hike down along the water about 30 minutes to Long Beach, a beach that had been known for having blacktip reef shark sightings. The walk was beautiful and the beach itself was gorgeous, however, one downside of traveling alone on the beach is you have to leave your stuff unattended. I found myself a little too distracted to snorkel and search for sharks because I kept checking up on my backpack to make sure it was still safely where I left it. The sun started to set, and I so I figured I should hike back before it got dark.
As the sun set on one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen in my whole life I was surprised once again at how homesick I felt. I missed Austin and my family and Charlie and Karma and wished more than anything I could enjoy the beauty with them. It was a tough night, and for whatever reason, I felt myself on the verge of tears for most of it. I wanted to just go settle in my bed in the hostel and watch Netflix and feel at home, but instead, I made myself stay out just a bit longer. Knowing I needed to eat something for dinner, I wandered down along the water and found a little place called the Happy Hipper Bar that had someone playing live music on an acoustic guitar and seemed chill. Trying my best not to cry over my french fries as the singer sang Country Roads, Take Me Home and Leaving on a Jet Plane, the mood and tone of the bar took a sudden change when all the waitstaff suddenly got on stage and announced there would be a fire show. Nothing to distract you from missing home like a group of upbeat, high-energy Thai men playing with fire! In the end, I actually got sucked into “volunteering” to participate in exchange for a few shots of flavored vodka from the bar. It ended up being just what I needed to lighten the mood for the night and remind me that each of the incredible experiences I’m having, including missing the people I love so much, are new, exciting, unique, and beautiful and truthfully those moments of sadness are just as important as the moments of joy and wonder.
“Thai Fireworks Show”
After those few free shots at the Happy Hippie Bar, I fell asleep soundly through the entire night. The next morning I woke up feeling refreshed and spirited. I planned to hike up the hill to see the Phi Phi Islands Viewpoint. I had read there were two ways to get up: 1. By stairs (The most common and fastest route) 2. By local road (The less-traveled and longer route.)
Of course, I chose option 2, and I was so happy I did! One thing that had been bothering me about the island was that the town itself was completely built for and ruined by tourists. The souvenir shops all sold the same things, the restaurants and bars had Western food and names (labeled Thai Pancake instead of Roti, Serving hamburgers and fries everywhere, etc.), and I saw more tourists than Thai people by far walking around. And it obviously was beginning to take a toll on the natural beauty of the island when people traveled here and didn’t treat it with the respect it deserved, for example, littering in the oceans.
Cats rule the streets around here. Each cat has a shop and each shop has a cat (or two or three!)
However, on my hike up to the Phi Phi Viewpoint, I didn’t see a single tourist. Instead, I walked past Thai construction workers building new resorts, local neighborhoods and homes, families gardening alongside the road, mothers doing laundry in their front lawn, and tons of lizards, beetles, and other interesting insects. I’m not sure how long I ended up hiking (45 minutes maybe?) but the pathway, although paved, was sparsely marked so every so often I’d ask a local I passed by if I was going the right direction and get verification from a head nod and smile. The sun was beating down on me and my entire shirt was soaked with sweat but I felt really, really happy getting the entire trail basically to myself. Finally, arriving at the top viewpoint, I paid my entry fee of 30 baht to a man working the ticket station with a couple cats surrounding his desk. As I started up the last few stairs to the viewpoint, one of the cats decided to join me on the climb. However, much to my surprise when I looked down it wasn’t a cat hiking alongside me but a little monkey! She really was hiking with me too, waiting for me at the step ahead of me. That being said, she was probably just hoping I had some snacks in my backpack I could share (or she could steal if I was uncooperative.) The Viewpoint was worth the hot climb for sure. It was a stunning view of the town between the two rock formations. There was a little cafe at the top where I helped myself to a mango lychee smoothie and sat and enjoyed the view for a little while.
That afternoon, I had decided to book a snorkeling/island tour at one of the numerous tour agencies. It was so hard to figure out which one would be best or would give me the most value for my money so, in the end, I went with one that was fairly cheap and had an English-speaking guide. In all honesty, I just picked it because the girl in line in front of me picked it and was alone too, so I was hoping at the very least I’d know another solo traveler was with me! It turned out it was just me and her who booked the tour, so we had the entire longtail boat to ourselves! She was a kind, quiet, girl from Belgium, and we had a comfortable amount of talking & silent times throughout the day. It was very enjoyable. Our “English-speaking” (barely) tour guide was nice and had a happy smile.
Our tour included Monkey Beach, which was mainly a lot of monkeys sitting on rocks waiting for tourists to feed them. We were both a little monkeyed-out after seeing so many throughout Southeast Asia that neither of us needed much time here. Then we went to a lagoon and swam and snorkeled a little. This lagoon had tons of colorful fish, sea urchins, coral, and sea cucumbers!! I had never seen one before, I can’t say I honestly thought they were a real thing but they look like giant, rotting turds on the floor of the ocean. It was so fun to swim so close to these fun colored, tropical fish. I had never seen a coral reef before or swam so close to so many tropical fish, so I really enjoyed snorkeling. Plus, this was some of the clearest water I had ever seen. Unfortunately, I forgot to pack my GoPro (I know — the one place on Earth a GoPro was literally created for.) So you’ll just have to trust me that it was gorgeous under the water too!
Then we went to another bay, a less-clear water but supposedly this one had blacktip reef sharks in it! I wasn’t exactly sure what I was supposed to be looking for so I missed them. Others snorkeling there at the same time as us did say they had spotted some though!
Then we went to the famous Maya Bay, featured in the Leonardo DiCaprio movie The Beach. This beach, however, has been so decimated due to tourist overload that they are actually closing it off from all tourists this coming June until September to give the coral reef time to recover. With almost 5,000 tourists a day, it’s long past time to give Maya Bay some much-needed rest and restoration. I’ve never seen the movie, so seeing “The Beach” wasn’t super necessary for me. However, you really can’t book a tour through an agency that doesn’t take you here, so even those who don’t really care to see it will end up here, which made me feel guilty contributing to the masses of people who have destroyed the once natural and untouched beauty of this bay.
After, we went back into the ocean and watched the sun go down. Our guide had cut up some fresh pineapple for us to enjoy. Then, in the dark, we were able to snorkel once more with plankton. I was expecting the plankton to glow more, but instead it kind of just resembled glitter in the black water when you waved your arms in front of you — still cool to see I suppose but not really necessary.
Back at my hostel after the tour, I wasn’t tired but also knew I had no interest in joining some of the others for the giant parties on the beach. I already did that once for the Full Moon Party and, although fun at the time, that was about enough for me for the rest of my life. So instead, I walked over to a Mexican place a couple blocks away and helped myself to an extremely overpriced, giant margarita, a pile of chips and guac, and some chicken fajitas. They had nothing on La Mexicana but they subsided my consistent Mexican craving for the time being.
Lanterns lining the streets and trees around town
Afterward, I went and sat at another chill, beachfront bar and drank a beer. My favorite cheap Thai beer is called Singha, so that’s usually my go-to unless Chang is significantly cheaper. I started reading a book here called If Your Dream Doesn’t Scare You, It Isn’t Big Enough on the Kindle app on my phone. This book was great as it was so comforting to read about another solo-woman traveler who has struggled with and also loved some of the same things I had struggled with or loved myself while traveling. Knowing all of my confusions and uncomfortableness and also wonder and happiness was all normal made me feel better. One of my favorite excerpts from the book so far is…
“It just reinforced my need for acceptance and patience when faced with obstacles, delays or changes. Embracing this perspective was one of the hardest lessons travel forced upon me. I had been spoiled by American expectations — that if I paid for it, I would get it immediately; that schedules were meant to be followed; and that I should have 24-hour access to everything I wanted.”
Another one I can really connect with is…
“I had left my culture to explore others, only to find that this vantage point compelled me to examine my life in America.”
I don’t pretend that every moment of my experience has been glamorous or beautiful or that I feel strong every second. I face a lot of frustrating moments, and I miss home often. Somedays I’m bored and others I’m overwhelmed, but mostly, I’m really happy. But it is all so worth it. It makes the entire experience more memorable, and I know I’m learning more about myself and the people around me this way. And I kept reminding myself that I chose to study in Thailand because it would be uncomfortably different. When I chose Thailand, I knew I was going to be living somewhere absolutely different than anything I had ever known, and that’s what I get every single day.
The next morning, it was already time for me to leave the islands! I had enjoyed my few short days here, especially when exploring the natural beauty, but with the touristy city and the overpriced everything, I was ready to leave too. I was headed back on the ferry to spend an afternoon and night in Phuket before going back to Bangkok. I had booked a hostel in Old Town Phuket, which I ultimately was sooo glad I had decided on! I was far away from the “touristy, get drunk on the beach” part of town and instead in this really charming, artsy area that reminded me a lot of Georgetown in Malaysia. My hostel was absolutely beautiful and had a little cafe attached. Walking down the street you could pop into handmade jewelry shops, art galleries, cafes, dessert bars, and even an English bookstore! On one of the neighboring streets, I found the greatest cone of homemade salted caramel popcorn ice-cream I’ve ever had — it was perfect. I was so happy exploring here.
I also decided to take a motorbike taxi to the Chalong Bay Rum Distillery during the afternoon for a tour. The distillery was really tiny with a gorgeous outdoor bar. It was fun to learn how and why they produce rum in Thailand. Thailand is one of the world’s largest producers of sugarcane. While most commercially produced rums are made with molasses, at Chalong Bay they make their rum with 100% sugarcane. Every single one of the Chalong Bay Rum bottles are hand-filled (using a ruler to get the exact measurements correct) and all the stickers are put on by hand too. With the tour, I got a mojito and free tastes of their rum (flavors: original, lime, Thai sweet basil, cinnamon, Keifer lime, lemongrass.) I got the original, cinnamon, and lime down before I was pretty done with drinking rum straight, although I will admit it was much smoother and easier going down than any Ron Diaz I’ve ever had! I’m officially 21 in the states so here are my celebratory drinks.
The distillery arranged a taxi driver back to my hostel for me, and she was an incredibly sweet young mom who wanted to talk the entire way about why I was there and where I was from and what I was doing and how her son doesn’t like speedboats and more. For the rest of the night, I chilled at the cafe in the hostel and drank a beer and read my book, and although I may not have gotten the typical Phuket experience, I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
My flight the next morning was at 5:30 am, and it could take almost an hour to get to the airport. No matter how many times I explained I was only flying to Bangkok, everyone thought I was going back to the U.S., so I ended up getting a taxi to pick me up at 3 a.m., even knowing this would give me way too much time at the airport for a domestic flight. I was unhappy to wake up so early because my bed at this hostel was so comfortable, but even in the middle of the night, my taxi driver gave me a big smile and wave when I stepped out of my hostel. He had the trunk open and ready for my luggage and laughed when I showed him all I had was a small backpack. And although I would’ve been satisfied driving in silence or even taking a little nap, my driver wanted to chat! And he chatted my ear off in wonderfully broken English the whole way to the airport. I felt bad not being able to give him a tip when he dropped me off because I’m sure he was really hoping his friendliness would get him one, but everything in Phi Phi and Phuket was already so crazy overpriced, including taxi rides that I just couldn’t swing it. Clear sailing through the airport, about 30 minutes later I was ready to head home — a successful first solo trip finished and feeling fulfilled as I had continued to learn tiny, but important lessons with everything I did.
Mckenzie Lena Halling 