I spent over a month in Koh Phangan and just a few days on the Phi Phi island of Thailand. It is said to be an idilic paradise with beautiful beaches and scenery, the place where Leonardo DiCaprio filmed “The Beach”. It is definitely all that, BUT.
A wise man once said that everything what comes before word ‘but’ doesn’t count and another wise man said that even if you love a kitty, don’t hug it too tight as you will strangle it.
What does it have to do with Phi Phi?
Well in my opinion, it is a perfect example of what is wrong with the world. It’s an example of how we as ‘developed’ human beings can take something so beautiful and pure and completely commercialise it, not even just strangling the metaphorical kitty, but killing it completely.
I visited the “Maya beach” where DiCaprio film was shot and obviously it was once a quiet paradise, where you could forget all the troubles of the world. Now, the beach is covered with non stop rotating boats bringing tourists and cramping them on this short stretch of sand. There is a designated area where you can step into the water and have a bit of a swim in the hopes of forgetting what’s behind you. If you can tune off the noise of the ever growing crowd on the beach you might even succeed, however you are back to the horrific reality of our consumerism driven world once you turn around.
I’m sitting on a boat travelling to Phuket, leaving Koh Phi Phi behind me and can’t stop wondering. Was it worth monetising the paradise? Are the money really worth turning this idilic island into the smelling commercial sewage that it is now? Who is responsible ? Can we fix it? Would they want us to?
Here is for reality check and for the glass full of elephant!
glass of elephant 
I’m going to copy and paste my comment from a similar blog, mainly because I am lazy.
The crux of my comment being that we can still enjoy popular spots how they once were with a bit if planning, but tourism is getting more accessible and we need to respect not just each other, but the places we visit more than ever. This is true for both us tourists and the people who make their living from tourism.
“Visit the popular tourist attractions in the high season and it is going to be full of tourists, so we need to think differently.
This could be as simple as visiting a place in the off season or shoulder seasons, Venice in January is a lot less crowded than in July. Getting up at the crack of dawn to visit an attraction that starts to get crowded later on is another simple trick, until most people start to do this.
Flåm in Norway is another example for me.
Most people visit for the day, arriving early on the Flåm Railway and catching the last train back or arriving on a cruise ship. I took the last train on the Flåm Railway, stayed over night and left the following afternoon. I got to see lovely little Flåm without the thousands of tourists.
I fully agree with your comments about speaking with the locals. Think about where you live and where guide books would take people, now think about those other places that you only know about from living there.
But the brutal truth is that more people are travelling. Travel is becoming more and more accessible, in particular the increase in tourists visiting from Asia. Most places are inevitably going to become more crowded and respecting and being aware of other tourists is becoming more and more important. This is something that some groups of people have yet to acknowledge, but I’m sure we’ll all get there”
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Thanks for your comment, even if you copy pasted it here 😉 I am fully aware of the fact that travelling is so much easier these days and if you want to avoid the crowds choose less popular times to visit certain places. But I think what happens to the Koh Phi Phi in particular is beyod simply visiting it in off season. I don’t think there is an off season for them anymore. It’s really hard to explain, honestly I think you have to see it to understand the extent to which this island has been exploited to. Tourism brings money of course, but that’s where I was raising a question, when enough is enough? I talked to people who visited the island few years ago and they told me there were no hotels on the mountains of the island, now there are plenty with more in the building process… It’s crazy how quickly our demand is changing the face of this island.. It’s like plastic surgery, I guess, you have to know when to stop..
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I haven’t been to Koh Phi Phi, so I guess it’s a little hard for me to comment on it specifically
But like any destination, without regulation – usually from the Government – as long as the people will come the over tourismisation will continue. I have totally made up that word, but I think you know what I mean!
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