Thailand Phuket Part 3 – Phi Phi Island and Khai Island

Hermit crab spotted at one of the three Khai Islands

I’ve decided to take a little break and update this blog of mine. Pretty brain-dead by now, so I’m gonna let the photos do more of the talking this time round (:

Also, you might want to read Phuket Part 1 (Chao Fah Variety Market) and Phuket Part 2 (Thai Zhi Char) (:

Note! This is a really, really late post, I went this trip during July and now then I’ve finally gotten around uploading it! Oh god, what a lazy bum I am…

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Disclaimer: The information provided are based on my personal experience and hence the prices and details are true at that time I experienced them. Therefore I cannot guarantee that they are 100% complete, comprehensive, accurate or updated. Also, everyone have differing views and opinions so what I like may not be what you fancy, be adventurous and give everything a try, and share with me whether you like/dislike them as much as I do! (:

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When tourists visit Phuket, they will often look for mini tour packages that bring them out onto small islands located around Phuket. That was also what we did. We managed to go to two islands during our trip, namely Phi Phi Island and Khai Island.

Clockwise from top-left:

• Fish-feeding while on the speedboat, there are a lot of fishes in the waters of Phi Phi Island;
• Viking Cave, once a place for the vikings to live and hide in, it’s now the swallows’ residence. The cave has been bought over by private companies to harvest the expensive bird’s nest, aka bird’s saliva;
• The entrance to Maya Bay, very over-populated by tourists, a good place for sight-seeing, but not a place to stay for long. The waters near the beach are not clear and personally, I don’t advise swimming in it because it’s pretty dirty.
• Amazing thing about the waters of the Phi Phi Island is that the colour will change, an interesting phenomenon

Monkey Island – you can buy peanuts and small bottles of Pepsi beforehand and feed them to the monkeys. They quite like them. But they may turn aggressive without one knowing, so it’s best to exercise caution when approaching them.

Clockwise from top-left:

• Khai Nok Island, normally the last stop for most Phi Phi Island Tours and Khai Island half day tours. Tourists like to sunbathe there and locals there will walk around selling drinks and ice creams;
• People like to snorkel and swim around the shallow waters of Khai Nok Island;
• If not interested in swimming, one can opt for fish feeding;
• The evening approaches, and one can see the closed umbrellas and the empty chairs;
• Another view on Khai Island

Details about most of the Phi Phi Island tours available

Mode of transport: Transfer (to and fro) and speedboat
Type: Full-day tour
Price: THB1,000 (S$43.57) – non-peak season

Rough itinerary (order may not be accurate):

• Sightseeing at Pileh Cove and Viking Cave
• Visiting Phi Phi Ley Island for swimming and sighseeing at Maya Bay
• Snorkeling and fish feeding at Loh Samah Bay
• Visting Monkey Island and feeding monkeys peanuts and Pepsi
• Buffet lunch
• Depart for Khai Nok Island for the rest of the day for swimming, snorkelling, sunbathing, fish feeding and some other water sports provided, like canoe (must enquire what water sports are provided)

Verdict: We tried to find a tour that offers just Phi Phi Islands but no company seem to offer this package. Almost all packages will include a tour to Khai Island, unless you take the cruise tour, which X and I feel is a waste of time. Nevertheless, X and I liked this trip because the tour guide was very friendly and Phi Phi Islands are really very pretty. What I loved the most is the waters. The colour is simply amazing. The photos just don’t do justice to them! Though I didn’t really like the Maya Bay part because it’s over-crowded (and this is already non-peak season! Can you imagine if it’s peak season?) and the waters aren’t clean, overall Phi Phi Islands are still worth visiting. If I get to go Phuket again, I would love to stay one night at Phi Phi Island and enjoy the scenery there. (:

Details about most of the Khai Island tours available

Company:
Mode of transport: Transfer (to and fro) and speedboat
Type: Half-day tour (afternoon trip)
Price: THB550 (S$23.96) – non-peak season

Rough itinerary (order may not be accurate):

• Khai Nai Island – swimming, snorkelling or relaxing on the beach (sunbathing)
• Khai Nui Island – snorkelling and fish feeding (a lot of sea urchins underneath! Be careful!)
• Khai Nok Island – swimming, snorkelling, relaxing on the beach (sunbathing) and fish feeding

Verdict: X and I didn’t really like the tour company. The islands are okay to visit, but didn’t really leave a very deep impression in me. Phi Phi Islands are still more interesting to me, unless you really like the idea of sunbathing, Khai Island may appeal to you more because of the huge number of sunbathing chairs available.

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X and I also did a full day activity at

Update: I’ve removed all details regarding our day trip activity as I no longer want to support a company that allows people to abuse animals.