Hello, steemians!
Today I would like to tell you about my trip to the Phi Phi islands!The Phi Phi islands(Mu Ko Phiphi in Thai) are a group of islands located in Krabi province, Thailand. The Koh Phi Phi Don is the largest and the most populated island, with almost 3000 people living there.
Island was firstly inhabited by muslim fishermen, who moved there in 1950-s. But nowadays citizens are mostly Buddhist, as other parts of Thailand( Thailand is 94.5% Buddhist, it's the most Buddhist country in the world)
Koh Phi Phi Don is famous for its Full Moon Parties and stunning views from the viewpoint!!
Koh Phi Phi Leh is may be even more popular, than Phi Phi Don attracting thousands of tourists every day. Despite the fact, that this island is not inhabited, people come to see beautiful beach, that got famous after the American- British movie "The Beach" with Leonardo Di Caprio, that was shot in 2000.
Production of the movie had to bulldoze the beach and move some more palm trees on the shore so that the island would look more "paradise-like". This caused some environmental problems and government of Thailand had to file a complaint to International Court against 20th Century Fox, for ruining the island's ecosystem.
Koh Phi Phi Ley is only 6.6sq km. so the story in the movie actually didn't take place on the island, only the beach scenes were shot at Koh Phi Phi Leh. If you watched the movie, you could probably notice, that the lagoon was closed and couldn't be reached from outside. This is not true either, Lagoon has quite a broad pass, so they had to shoot all the scenes from the left side of the beach, that way it looked like the lagoon is closed.
Phi Phi Don islands got severly damaged during the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004 when almost all of the infrastructure was destroyed and literally just washed out.
So called "Viking Cave" is located in the western part of Phi Phi Leh, that limestone cave got its name from the strange drawings, that looked like Scandinavian warships - Drakkar. Very exclusive and rare edible bird's nests are being found here. It is believed, that bird's nests can prolong human's life and keep you away from various illnesses.
The Phi Phi islands are a wonderful opportunity to stay away from civilization and become closer to nature for 1-2 days, explore the nearest islands and beautiful beaches. If you come to Phuket, don't miss your chance to visit "The Beach" and have some fun at Full Moon Party.
Hope you enjoyed my story, more are coming!
Stay happy and have an amazing day!