Gavin and Becca got a long tail boat to the main part of Phi Phi town and did another quick search for accommodation. We had decided to split up – Oonagh and I stayed to complete packing and look after Tehya as the constant search for accommodation was starting to make Tehya unhappy and clingy. We had made a unanimous decision that we would have to increase our budget from 500 Baht to around 1200 Baht (about £24). The girls could split the cost and Gavin and I would just have to swallow it and accept our daily budget was no longer relevant.

We should have just left the islands and gone somewhere else – accept that Oonagh and Becca both had flights booked and paid for from Phuket to Bangkok (to catch their respective flights on to Australia). So the only place left open to us was Phuket and none of us wanted to spend more than a few days there. Which we had already planned to do so the girls could get their separate flights (a few days apart). On top of that Oonaghs cough and cold had gotten considerably worse and Tehya had also started to get unwell and none of us relished the idea of travelling while they were poorly.

Gavin and Becca came back with news that they had booked us into two rooms. They were 1200 Baht each – right at the top of what we had decided we could pay. When we got there the rooms were clean, the beds were comfortable and the bathrooms were usable. The rooms were incredibly basic and in all of our opinions really not worth £24 a room. We ended up staying four nights as the girls got more poorly and Gavin then started to come down with a cold too.

The rooms turned out to be a nightmare – there was a building site behind our room and the building work started at 5.30am and did not finish until gone 10.00pm. Adding to the noise from the building work was the site wash facilities that were used from 5.00am until 11.00pm – so we would have to lye in bed listening to people talk and whistle, slap and wash their clothes, snot and wretch while they bathed and washed their teeth. The wash area was directly behind our room (tap was against our wall) – the rooms all had ventilation holes all round the top of the wall – just below the ceiling. So the sounds echoed around our room and they might as well have been using our bathroom, at least we could have closed the door – that would have made it quieter. When we first arrived it had not been possible to see where the building work started as it was obscured by another building – we did not know about the wash room until we heard it and the following morning I climbed round to see where it was!! We went to speak to reception about changing rooms – they blatantly said it was not possible. The hotel was fully booked – even though we could see rooms plainly vacant and they remained empty.

What do you do? We stayed until we could bare it no longer…… I felt so down about the situation. Becca and Oonagh had flown all the way to Thailand to see us. Up to this point it felt like the whole holiday and been a total nightmare of mistakes and bad choice’s. Oonagh did not leave her room for days because she felt so ill – we felt trapped and did not know what to do for the best.

We did have a few excursions out and about Gavin and Becca went up to the view point and took some really great photos of Phi Phi. The three of us (me Gav and Teh) walked up Water Hill and saw the two huge recently built reservoirs. We also came across the Tsunami evacuation centre and the village that has been built since the 2004 Tsunami. It was strange to see the village – it is currently mostly unlived in. Although we did see one family and evidence of one or two more. Row after row of flats on stilts – possibly as many as 25/30 flats on each row sit on the side of the hill. It is a ghost town of government regulation style housing – every house looks the same and they look like they would be uncomfortable to live in long term. Metal roofs with no insulation that we could see would make them unbearably hot. We carried on down the other side of the hill stopping at a small cafe/restaurant for local people that work close by. We ate really great veg fried rice and hot coffee prepared by a very friendly lady. Then we walked on down to the beach (Ao Lo Moo Dee) we could see from her cafe and enjoyed some time on the beach. On the way back up the hill, we met an English guy – we stopped and chatted with him – he also agreed that things had changed on Phi Phi that he was shocked and dismayed by the expense and poor quality of accommodation. We ended our walk by finishing off back on Long Beach and got a boat back to our hotel.

We did meet a few friendly and welcoming people on Phi Phi but they were few and far between – as a rule we felt like walking ATM’s to be used and abused. Many of the locals were unfriendly and ungracious. The accommodation is over priced and not maintained or cared for. The food at hotels/guest houses on the whole was ridiculously expensive and a really poor example of Thai food. We did find a few local style places to eat where it was cheaper and good – so we stuck with them!!

It is hard to say such negative comments about an island that was hit so hard by the Tsunami in 2004 – but I feel every comment made is justified. The over building of very poor quality accommodation is detrimental to both the environment and long term to the tourist industry. The islands sewage and waste facilities are not going to be able to cope with the increase in accommodation being built. Many parts of the town already stink of raw untreated human waste. The sea on the pier side of the island is contaminated by so many boats – including the long tail boats. The coral and sea life that we saw on Long Beach 8/9 years ago barely exists – we certainly saw no evidence of it. Once you head inland you start to see where the waste produced by too many tourists ends up, badly hidden!!! I was told that the governing province for Phi Phi is Krabi and that after the Tsunami they wanted to execute some control over the rebuild to protect and manage the impact on the environment and wildlife!!! That has not been done – and the whispers I heard were that the Phi Phi mafia style families have ensured that no officials will come to the islands to see it. As they are too afraid to step off the boats – consequently there has been no control or management!! Anyone who feels differently about the impact of tourism on the island must have walked around it with either their eyes closed or had drunk to much whiskey while they were there. Don’t get me wrong – the island has it’s beautiful parts!! It has been badly managed and no one seems to care about the increasing levels of damage being committed every day.

In the end we went to Phuket early, when we arrived we booked into a resort at Patong Beach that did an offer on two rooms – this way we guaranteed a reasonable room. Then after we had settled everyone in, Gavin and I went off for a few hours to search for cheaper accommodation. It was possible to find rooms for 300 – 500 Baht but as a rule they came into the bracket of definitely not with a child!!! Eventually we found a place on Soi San Sabai – just opposite the Bangla Rd, it is well known for more budget traveller accommodation. The rooms had comfortable beds and they were very clean – the staff friendly and kind. The only downside were that several ‘ladies’ worked from rooms on our floor – but hey in Patong what else can you expect!!!