Short Walk in Maya ‘The Beach’, Thailand

Gue baru aja balik dari Thailand, lebih tepatnya travel ke Maya Beach di Phi Phi Island. Yap bener, ini adalah lokasi syuting filmnya Leonardo DiCaprio berjudul “The Beach“.

Dulu di tahun 2004, tempat ini sempet berantakan akibat tsunami tapi akhirnya bisa balik normal lagi.

Untuk bisa kesana banyak banget rute yang bisa diambil, tapi gue memilih untuk terbang ke Krabi, dan dari situ naik ferry selama 2 jam. Waktu udah nunggu mau berangkat, tiba-tiba ada pengumuman delay 3 jam! Bule-bule pada BT dan memilih nggak jadi berangkat, sedangkan gue sabar aja nunggu. Akhirnya, nggak sampe 3 jam kita udah bisa jalan pake ferry lain. Tapi gue nggak sanggup bersaing sama orang banyak untuk bisa duduk didalem, jadinya nangkring di dek luar dehhh…fiuh. Untung pemandangan sepanjang jalan lumayan oke. Gue sibuk berdoa aja supaya nggak masuk angin.

Just got back from Thailand, visiting a famous island called Phi Phi. It’s a setting location of Leonardo DiCaprio’s movie, “the Beach”.

Back in 2004, this island was completely devastated by Tsunami attack; nearly the island’s entire infrastructure was destroyed then. But now it’s running back normal, hosting for so many tourists, including me. To go to Phi Phi, everyone needs to ride a ferry for around 2 hours or so, from Krabi Island or Phuket. The one I took was delayed for 3 hours before departure with no clear reason. It was so frustrating. Everybody was cranky and thosught of cancelling the trip. Finally the ones who survived waiting, were moved into another ferry, fighting for a seat with the passengers of that ferry. I lost, so I had to sit on the deck. It’s okay; the view was nice along the way.

Sampai di pulau utama Phi Phi (Phi Phi Don), rasanya kurang nendang karena pulaunya biasa aja. Banyak orang pake bahasa Melayu nawarin paket ini itu. Adeuh males deh. Kabur dari situ, kita masuk makin jauh kedalam pulau.

Ya ampun, padet banget nih sama turis. Di pantai belakang, turis yang lagi berjemur tuh sampe dempet-dempetan. Waduhhh. Berantakan juga tempatnya. Jalan ngelewatin mereka aja kayaknya susah bener. Udah nih, begini doang?

Approaching the Island, I could see that it was a busy one. Touching down, we were swarmed immediately by agents trying to offer their hotels, cafes, boats, etc. The tourist center was full with the guys, and lots of photos and details of the things they offered. Got so confused and annoyed, we walked away from there, trying to find our own accommodation. The funny thing was when I was speaking in Indonesian Language; some agents understood and annoyed us even more in Melayu Language (which has similar sound). Argh.

Pas udah mulai mau kecewa, ada seorang tukang perahu nawarin untuk nganterin ke sisi lain pulau yang katanya sepi karena terdiri dari resort yang bagusan ketimbang disini. MAUU!! Bayar Rp.110 ribu, kita dianter ke Pantai Leamtong (cape of God) dimana kita bisa nikmatin matahari tenggelam yang cantiikk banget di lokasi yang tenang dan bebas turis. Makasih Mas udah di anter kesini!

Basically the main Island of Phi Phi (Phi Phi Don) was not a good one for me personally. It was very packed. The hotels were not convincing and it was also kind of a messy place. Even the beach was not inviting. People were everywhere doing their own thing. I barely could walk passing them. We then found some boatmen who mentioned a price to take us to another part of the Island. I thought “a Better part of Phi Phi Don? Sure! Let’s go!”. We ended up renting the boat for 350 Thai Baht (down from 600 Baht!) to take us North, to Leamtong Beach (cape of God), where we can watch the sunset and also the sunrise. We made the right decision. It was clean and pretty and less crowded. So many good resorts were there also. Perfect! The sunset was at the docking area, and the sunrise was at the front beach area. Both were astonishing.

Disini gue nginep di salah satu resort bernama “Erawan”. Kita kan dateng go show, tanpa booking… untung harganya terjangkau, jadi bisa nginep sini. Kalau mahal kan ribet gue.

Dan disini pula gue pertama kali seumur hidup nyobain Thai Massage atau pijat ala Thailand yang enaknya NAGIH banget. Mungkin karena ibu-ibu tukang pijetnya badannya gede jadi pijetannya mantep, atau mungkin karena ini pengalaman pertama, atau mungkin karena gue dipijetnya di pinggir pantai persis sambil kena desiran angin dan dengerin suara ombak. Entahlah… yang penting enak banget gilaaa…Sejam, gue kudu bayar Rp.75 ribu untuk pijat.

This place is very memorable to me. The thing is, I love massages, and here, I experienced my best Thai massage EVER in a resort called “Erawan”, They have massage huts right on the beach. My therapist (a big healthy lady 😀 ) was very very very good! I only had to pay for 200 Baht per hour. SUPER RECOMMENDED. While listening to the waves, I enjoyed my awesome massage. If only that place was near, I would pay for the same massage everyday!

Besoknya, bangun pagi gue disambut sunrise yang cantik banget. Gue nyewa kayak, terus pergi tengah laut dan menikmati setiap detik matahari keluar sambil leyeh-leyeh diatas kayak. Nah, ini berasa banget lagi liburan…. cihuy banget rasanya.

The next day at 6 a.m. in the morning, I went kayak-king while watching the sun to rise. Beautiful! 

Sehabis itu kita beli paket yang disiapin sama resort untuk bisa perjalanan PP travel ke Maya Beach – MAYA BAY, atraksi nomor satu di Phi Phi Island, yang adalah si ‘The Beach’-nya. Ya memang alasan utama kesini ya mau ke Maya Bay. Perjalanan kesana nggak begitu lama, dari jauh gue udah bisa liat pulau dengan warna air yang sangat cantik. Ooohh, ini toh. Makin deket, gue bisa liat kalau pulau yang satu ini udah rame ama pengunjung pake kapal-kapal. Wah, jam sepagi ini udah banyak orang, apalagi siangan ya?

And an hour later, we took a long tail boat to the main attraction, the famous MAYA bay –the beach-, located at Phi Phi Le. In contrast to phi Phi Don, Phi Phi Le remains uninhabited. This area is the main reason why I wanted to have a tour to Phi Phi. I just want to know what the fuss is all about. When we got there, it was already crowded. (This early? Do these people camp here or something? well maybe they do).

Maya Bay terdiri atas tiga sisi tebing. Di dalamnya ada beberapa pantai kecil, tapi pantai utamanya, yang paling depan kurang lebih sepanjang 250 meter dengan pasir putih dan air dangkal yang warnanya jerniihhh deh. Enak buat di liatin dan di renangin. Malesnya ya karena banyak orang doang. Gue beruntung dapet spot sendiri untuk bisa bengong sambil duduk-duduk beberapa jam, menikmati the famous MAYA Bay.

It’s a stunning bay with high cliffs on 3 sides of it. Inside the bay there are several beaches, most are small and some only exist at low tide. The main one is around 250 meters long with soft white sand and Chrystal water. Inside the bay, i had a nice walk through the ‘jungle’ area up to a big rope ladder where people can climb down to the water. Had a moment of relaxing also on a hammock there, and carved our names on a ‘names tree’ we found. It was quite nice. Spending a few hours there, we decided to take off.

 

 

 

Waktu kita akhirnya cabut, kapal-kapal lain mulai berdatangan. Banyak banget, baik kapal layar pribadi mauapun kapal rental umum. Wih, untung kita udahan. Menengok kebelakang melihat Maya Bay yang cantik semakin lama semakin kecil.

Tempat yang indah, sayang terlalu ramai. Kebayang sih kalo sepi gitu.. atau dikit turisnya.. wih surga banget pasti.

Buat yang mau kesini, pastiin lagi low season ya, supaya bisa bener-bener enjoy the place.’

When we finally left, wow, there were hundreds more tourists just arrived with their speedboats and ferries. Phew. Thank goodness we’re done. It’s a lovely beach with such remarkable view but JUST TOO many people. Not secluded whatsoever. One time visit to satisfy my curiosity I guess is enough. I suggest you visit in the lowest season to get a truly authentic feel for the area, or maybe just simply re-watch the movie. 😀

Until next time, Phi-Phi Island!

 

I am sort of addicted to this thing called Traveling –

olivelatuputty.com/blog –@shiningliv