Tom Yum Goong and Phad Thai on Phi Phi

When we arrived at Ko Phi Phi, we had lunch at Jasmine's on Laem Tong beach, where we were surprised with an interesting variation on tom yum goong – it had coconut milk. The food was good, but the addition of coconut milk was a bit unsettling. If you're ever there, try the deep fried banana fritters with honey. Yum.

Dinner was at posh Zeavola's beachfront restaurant, with elegant votive candles and perplexing but delicious octopus ink bread. Steph had a gorgeous glass of strawberry-topped house iced tea. Of course, this luxury came at a price – tom yum goong here cost about four times what it did at Jasmine's. Zeavola's tom yum was a tourist-oriented version, low on chili but made flavorful by galangal and lemongrass. The shrimp were huge!

We had grand plans for the next day. We would work up an appetite snorkeling, have a leisurely lunch at Ruen Thai restaurant up on the hill, and then relax with a massage at Wana Spa. The snorkeling worked fine, but we hit a snag when we disembarked at Phi Phi Island Village and walked up to the bar to make a reservation for Ruen Thai.

"What time would you like to book, ma'am?" the bartender asked, consulting a large reservations book.

"At 12," said Steph.

All she got in reply was a blank, puzzled look.

"12," she repeated, pointing to her watch. "Now. Can we go now?"

It turned out Ruen Thai is only open for dinner. The bartender must have thought we were crazy, wanting to eat at midnight!

So instead we had phad thai and tom yum goong at Marlin restaurant. The food was good enough, but I felt it was overpriced. When the menu quotes you prices in euros along with baht, that's generally not a good sign.


Our next new find was our cheapest, and in my opinion, the best. On our last full day on Ko Phi Phi, we took a longtail boat to see Ko Phi Phi Ley and stopped in Ton Sai on the way back for lunch. The phad thai at Leon restaurant was packed full of flavor and had just the right level of chili for me. Okay, so it's a stretch to call it a restaurant – it's a bunch of folding tables and plastic chairs in the middle of the souvenir market. The place might also have been called Sammy or Mr. Soda – the menus had all three names so I can't be sure what its real name was, but you can't miss it: look for the billboard full of scrawled backpacker recommendations, the large "thank you" sign, and a handwritten sign advertising "the BEST papaya salad!".

The tom yum goong woke us up and cleared our sinuses, a sharp contrast to the cool refreshing fruit shakes. We had a filling meal for three, two perfect fruit shakes and a cool glass of orange juice – for about 50 baht per dish.

Now if I can only find someplace in Singapore that serves great phad thai for 50 baht…

Contact information and more details

• Jasmine is on Laem Tong beach, Ko Phi Phi – sandwiched between Erawan Palms and the Holiday Inn. Price range: 70 to 80 baht per dish. Rating: 3 out of 5, because of the coconut milk in the tom yum.
  
  
• Zeavola is also on Laem Tong beach. Their Tacada restaurant is most definitely a date place. If your budget doesn't extend to dinner at Zeavola, wander over for an after-dinner drink and soak in the ambience. Price range: 300 to 400 baht per dish. Rating: 4 out of 5, for the atmosphere, the excellent service, and the deliciously unusual bread.
  
  
• Marlin and Ruen Thai are at Phi Phi Island Village at Ao Loh Ba-kao. Price range: 350 to 450 baht per dish. Rating: 2 out of 5, didn't think it was worth the price.
  
  
• Leon eatery (or Sammy, or Mr. Soda) is at the open-air market in Ton Sai, a short walk from the pier. Wander among the stalls until you see the big "Thank You" sign. Price range: 50 to 60 baht per dish. Rating: 5 out of 5 – best value and best flavor, how can you beat that?

Read the previous post or check out the rest of this Krabi and Ko Phi Phi trip series.

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Loving Ko Phi Phi's Low Season

With tourism bringing crowds to ever more remote places, low season is today's version of 'the less traveled road'. And it’s a blessing to the cash-strapped - if you don’t mind a little rain now and then, you can enjoy many beautiful parts of the world at very reasonable prices, with no crowds.


May through October marks low season on the Andaman coast. At Ko Phi Phi, we stayed at Phi Phi Erawan Palms resort, which offered double rooms for 1,800 baht (when booked through Sawadee.com) – this goes up to a whopping 4,500 baht at the height of peak season.

We had the beaches at Laem Tong and Ao Loh Ba-Kao all to ourselves.


Hin Klang Reef, Bamboo Island, and Mosquito Island were pretty much deserted when we got there – it was just us, dozens of parrotfish, and a small but menacing community of black sea urchins. Our sole human contact, other than with our boatman, was with a family of three Americans who briefly gushed "beautiful reef, beautiful fish!" before setting off... once again leaving us to the silence of the Andaman sea.

The wind was blowing too strongly for us to see Ao Maya, a magnet for day-trippers from Phuket anxious to see where The Beach was filmed. Ah, the sacrifices one must make to enjoy the low season. We swam for a while in the lagoon at Ao Pileh before distant lightning strikes and arriving day-trippers prompted us to scramble out of the water.


After crossing the inter-island swells in a tiny longtail boat, the ominous grey clouds on the horizon were enough to make us flee to our favorite rainy-day pastimes: eating and shopping. Note to self: low season water travel requires a strong stomach!

Ton Sai was backpacker central even in the off season; I can just imagine how packed it must be during peak. I stood for ten minutes on the main alley and watched wave after wave of Caucasian shoppers and backpackers walk by, with few Thais or even other Asian tourists in the mix. While cheap rooms were available in Ton Sai for a fraction of what we were paying at Erawan Palms, the hustle and bustle of "downtown" just didn't fit with our idea of a relaxing vacation.


Back at Laem Tong, we scouted around for evening activities. Even at low season prices, I can’t afford to stay at luxury resorts like Zeavola, with rates ranging from 5,500 to 11,000 baht a night. But for the price of a cold cocktail, we were able to indulge ourselves, lounging on cushioned beach beds that would otherwise go unused. Staff are at their friendliest when there’s no one else waiting to be served, and instead of rushing us at dinner they cheerfully brought us a second serving of their delicious octopus ink bread and let us soak in the relaxed ambience of their romantic beachfront restaurant. If we weren’t so perplexed by the bread’s color, I would never have guessed its ingredients included anything more exotic than toasted cheese.

The other benefit of low season is discounts on the ultimate in pampering – spa treatments. At Wana Spa at Phi Phi Island Village, we booked a two-and-a-half hour package that included a milky jacuzzi soak, a scented body scrub, and a relaxing aromatherapy massage for about 2,700 baht per person. Okay, so it was an indulgence that was over ten times more expensive than the humble Thai massage we got in Krabi town for 250 baht, but I consoled myself with the thought that the same spa package in Singapore would probably set me back at least 6,000 baht, if not more.

Tourism authorities all over the world are doing their darnedest to market rainy season tourism, quoting euphemisms like "fruit season" or "green season" to dress up the cold, wet truth. I’m half-hoping they’re unsuccessful, so that we can keep low season the exclusive province of knowing travelers with a penchant for cut-rate trips.

Low season optimists know that weather forecasts that predict a 50% chance of rain can be flipped around and read as a 50% chance of, well, no rain. Here’s hoping we continue to stay lucky.

Contact information and more details

• Sawadee.com hotel reviews and bookings - www.sawadee.com
  
• Phi Phi Erawan Palms resort - www.pperawanpalms.com
  
• Phi Phi Island Village resort - www.ppisland.com
  
• Zeavola resort - www.zeavola.com
  
• Longtail boats can be booked by trip or by the hour with the Chao Ley (sea gypsy) cooperative, which sets standard fees. You can also book through resorts at a slightly higher rate.

Read more about Ko Phi Phi

• "swam for 45 minutes with three 15-20ft manta rays swooping around us" - Schiavoni Files
  
• "tonnes of farangs running around but somehow, the whole place doesn't seem as shamelessly touristy as say Patong" - unkster
  
• Rock climbing at Ton Sai tower: "At the top of the routes, you overlook Ao Ton Sai and Ao Lo Dalam, which are the two bays in the skinny part of Ko Phi Phi." - All Thai-ed Up
  
• Post-tsunami cleanup report by Project Aware

Read the previous entry or check out the rest of this Krabi and Ko Phi Phi trip series.

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Singapore to Krabi for 20 SGD

Where would we be without budget airlines? Stuck at home, probably. Last Saturday, we flew Tiger Airways to Krabi for a round-trip fare of about 20 SGD, not much more than the cost of a taxi to Changi airport. Plus airport taxes and various fees, of course, of about 100 SGD – still cheap.

Having just spent the last eight weeks working days, nights, and weekends, Steph and I were sorely in need of a break. The call of Tiger’s low-cost fares proved irresistible. John carved a few days’ vacation out of his busy schedule and we booked the night flight to Krabi.

Fares below ten dollars are usually only available if you book several weeks to three months in advance, but because it’s low season we were able to snag cheap flights just five days ahead of time.

Tiger’s stopped doing free-for-all seating. They now offer seat selection (for 5 SGD) or automatically selected seats. They also offer exit row seats with more leg room (for 25 SGD), extra baggage allowance (for a fee), and special arrangements for oversized sports equipment (you guessed it, for a fee).

Passengers are not allowed to bring their own food. Tiger Airways claims this primarily is out of concern for the delicate sensibilities of passengers who may not be thrilled about durian or curry scents wafting about in an enclosed space, but at least they’re honest about pushing up revenues from chips and cup noodles ("Please don’t deprive our cabin crew of commissions..."). Rebel that I am, I discreetly snacked on my barbeque-flavored Pringles while leafing through the in-flight magazine (which is still free – so far).

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong flew Tiger Airways back from Hanoi last November. I wonder how much he paid for his fare, if he ordered any of those cup noodles, and whether he paid to request more leg room. Not that he would have had to worry about depleting government funds by opting for an exit row seat - Temasek Holdings, the Singapore Government’s investment arm, owns 11% of Tiger Airways.

Tiger travelers may pay humble fares, but we’re in prestigious company.

Information and Contact Details

• Tiger Airways is at www.tigerairways.com
  
• Phone: +65 653-TIGER (9 am to 9 pm daily)
  
• Partner Octopus Travel offers special hotel rates for Tiger passengers
  
• Hostelworld.com does the same for hostel bookings

What others are blogging about Tiger Airways

• The Tiger Airways Australia blog at Wordpress is tracking Tiger’s progress towards launching Australian domestic flights in December 2007. I’m looking forward to seeing those 119.99 SGD one-way flights to Melbourne.
  
• Don’t expect Changi’s regular conveniences, as there's "nothing much you can do inside the budget terminal" - Life Snapshot
  
• "Yes, you do pay less than half the normal fare... but no food????!!!!" - wagg
  

Check out the rest of this Krabi and Ko Phi Phi trip series.

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