Paradise Phi Phi: [Thailand]

© www.garymorga.com 2005

This is a picture of Loh Dalam Bay, Koh Phi Phi Don. It has got to be as close as it can get to paradise on earth. Its natural beauty is breathtaking. It’s in the middle of the Andaman Sea. Phuket on mainland Thailand is about 4 hours boat ride east. Head west and it’s over 1200 miles to the Bay of Bengal and the east coast of the Indian sub-continent. North about 500 miles is Myanmar and south about the same distance is Indonesia. There is very little land around and an awful lot of ocean. To a westerner like me, it’s an exotic, aquatic middle of nowhere.

I walked out at least a quarter of a mile into the middle of the bay and was only knee deep in the sun scorched crystal water. I hunkered down and sat on the soft white sand to rest and to savour the moment. The water level was only up to the middle of my chest. I rested there for a few minutes. It was mid-afternoon and the sun was blazing down, hitting the water and bouncing back at me from every angle. The seawater on my head and shoulders had dried and I could feel salt crystals around my eyes and over my face. There was no shade at all. I realized that this was perhaps not a good situation as I looked back at the shore in the distance. I could see the beautiful white sand beach stretch its crescent limbs around me. The green tropical jungle with outcrops of defiant palm trees just behind it rolled up and over the hills.

I couldn’t see a single soul. The beach was pretty deserted at the best of times and I guess everyone who might have been on it were in the shade having a sensible cold drink. I stood up and started walking back towards the shore. It takes a bit of effort walking thigh deep in warm water over that distance. I walked up the beach and in to the bar at the Charlie Beach Resort and out of the sun. The bar girl approached me and I blurted out “nùng bia kràp” [one beer please]. That was enough rays for the day.

© Gary Morga 2005