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I was glad to leave Phuket. It was like being in a different country outside of Thailand, the kind of country that I prefer to avoid. I wanted to find a real Thai tropical island to laze on the beach for a few days and although I knew that Phi Phi Island would be touristy and busy, I decided to make it my first stop on my quest.

As the ferry made it’s way to the island, the tall limestone karsts came into view, covered in jungle with turqoise waters and long stretches of beach below them. Scenically, the island looked naturally beautiful and as we pulled into the peir the water and the beach looked clean and uncrowded.

Tonsai Beach on Koh Phi Phi, Thailand

Tonsai Beach near the peir

When we got off the ferry we were surprised to to be greeted by someone from our guesthouse, who carried our packs in a cart and escorted us through Tonsai town to our bungalow. I had heard that the main town was something to avoid, loud, dirty and smelly. On first impression I couldn’t really see what people were talking about. Though quite developed, the town seemed very clean with plenty of shops, restaurants and guesthouses that all seemed quite inviting.

Our bungalow was located a little away from the center of town, meaning that we would avoid any noise that might cause problems later in the night, but still close enough to everything including the beach.

As we made our way to the famous Loh Dalum Beach, I was instantly hit by the scenic beauty of the bay, but as I began walking along the beach I was appalled. As I was dodging all of the sunbathing tourists I noticed that I was also dodging an endless line of rubbish where the water was gently lapping up the beach. When I looked closer I noticed that the tourists were all lying amongst this rubbish and when I looked out at the people swimming, once again, rubbish floating all amongst them. I was disgusted. Here we all were, in this amazingly beautiful tropical paradise, walking, sunbathing and swimming in rubbish!

We walked to the end of the beach where there were very few people and to no surprise, very little rubbish, so we got to enjoy the beach in the end but still, I couldn’t get the thought of that rubbish out of my mind. Is this what tourism does to a place? Do people just not care that they are ruining such a beautiful place? How could they not even care that they are lying and swimming IN RUBBISH?

Loh Dalum Beach on Koh Phi Phi, Thailand

The view from Loh Dalum Beach

 

Tonsai beach, on the other side of the village where the pier and most of the boats are located, was much cleaner, however you have to swim amongst the boats.

Long boats on Tonsai Beach, Koh Phi Phi, Thailand

Long boats on Tonsai Beach

View of Tonsai on Koh Phi Phi, Thailand

View of Tonsai village with Tonsai Beach on the left and Loh Dalum Beach on the right

 

The next day as we took another walk along Loh Dalum beach, my wife spotted our final straw, a used condom on the beach. We left first thing the next morning.

Koh Phi Phi is absolutely beautiful, a perfect island paradise, one that is being ruined by tourism. My visit there wasn’t what I was looking for, infact it was somewhat of a sad experience. Seeing all of that rubbish broke my heart. I hope that if I ever return, things will have changed to take care of the amazing environment that Phi Phi is set in. But the truth is, will people ever change?

View of Loh Dalum Beach at low tide from a beach bar, Koh Phi Phi, Thailand

View of Loh Dalum Beach at low tide from a beach bar

Have you been to Koh Phi Phi? What was your experience like?