As we walked past the restaurant, it looked too familiar. We looked down and saw it: the same damn turtle.
It was pushing five in the morning and we just wanted to get get back to our bungalow. It had been a long day of travel from Koh Pha-ngang to Kho Phi Phi (pronounced pee-pee. It never gets old). After two days of bucket drinking (a plastic bucket one flask of vodka or whiskey, one coke, and one super-concentrated Red Bull with about 10 straws - so tasty, but so dangerous) on the beach in Pha-ngang and an attempt to stay up all night we woke up at 5:50 just in time to catch our bus. A bus, a ferry, another bus, another ferry, and a longtail water taxi, we checked into the bungalow.
Our beach, Long Beach, was a nice secluded beach. Beautiful and quiet, it unfortunately is separated from the main part of town by a 15 minute taxi boat ride. Of course we had to experience the nightlife of Koh Phi Phi, so we headed into town. Several hours, several beers, and several beautiful Norwegian girls later we realized it was four in the morning and we were ready to crash.
But, the tide was out and the taxi boats were no longer running. Our options were to sleep on the beach for two or three hours until the boats started running again or to take what Lonely Planet described as “a 45 minute walk.” We figured that sounded OK and we asked one of the local late night food servers directions.
It was not a road, it was not even really a walk. It was a trek through the jungle. There was a path to follow, not always well marked, but we had been prepared and brough a flashlight with us. We climbed up 45 degree hills. Climbed over boulders near the beach.
As we passed a small beach with a couple bungalows, a French guy called to us asking if we were going to Long Beach. He and his girlfriend were also trying to get back. She was very upset, crying and scared. She didn’t want to go through the woods with only two people. The four of us set out on the second half of our adventure.
The next beach down we passed a restaurant with a stone turtle out front. We continued up the hill. Ten to fifteen minutes later as we came down the hill, we saw some tiki torches that looked a little familiar. The girl began crying again as she saw we had somehow gone in a circle. We couldn’t believe it and continued on. Then we saw the turtle. It was Blair Witch Project in the middle of Thailand. That turtle freaked me out a little, but nothing compared the the girl.
Because the tide was low, I was able to walk out a little ways and climb on some rocks to see our beach was very close, we just had to make it over the hill (or scale incredibly slippery rocks).
Finally we got up the courage and continued on. A Thai couple heard us from one of the bungalows and led us on the correct path. We had gone the right way, but at one point there was a large path going up and a small obscure path going down. We had gone up. We went down and two minutes later were on our beach.
The next morning we moved into town.
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