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Holiday Inn Phi Phi Island Part V -leaving the island
One piece of happy news for us was that, towards the end of our stay, we came across a worthy recipient for the cat food we'd transported to the island -the owner thought we were mad (we were out in the midday sun after all) but was extremely grateful for the food, as was the cat we hope!
Posing Purring Pregnant Phi Phi Pussycat
A final evening shot of nickbot and friends from the hotel (not sure why we're strangely leaning to the RHS,...perhaps the island was tilting!)
Our five day stay had passed by incredibly quickly, and it was soon our final morning -initially, we had booked on the early morning ferry back to Phuket, meaning that whilst we'd get back to Patong for around 1 pm, we'd have to leave the hotel at around 7 am. We decided to elongate our stay slightly and re-arrange to catch the early afternoon ferry, affording us a few extra hours of poolside time before we had to leave. We packed up all of our bags and just took hand luggage to the pool with us (there are showers near the pool), so that housekeeping could clean our room for the next occupants.
Unfortunately, leaving time comes around only too soon, and this is always signalled by the hotel staff performing as little musical ritual that one tends to hear two or three times a day (always nice to hear whilst one relaxes beside the pool and think "thank goodness it's not me that's leaving today!") Sadly, the music today was for us, and we made our way towards the beach for the last time on this trip...
Hotel staff performing on drums and cymbals for departing guests
Assisted by hotel staff, we and other guests boarded the longtail boat that would take us on the short hop out into the bay to rendevous with the slightly larger boat that takes you onwards to Ton Sai Bay
Boarding the longtail boat to leave
Leaving the Holiday Inn Phi Phi for another year
Our longtail boat driver
That brings to a close another memorable stay at the Holiday Inn Phi Phi Island -as you can probably tell from what I have written, this didn't rank at the top of our previous experiences at the hotel, but it was by no means an unpleasant stay and I can wholeheartedly recommend the hotel to others. I made sure to complete the guest comments sheet in a constructive and comprehensive manner, and hope that other repeat guests who have seen just how good the experience can be would do the same. If anyone is considering a trip to Phi Phi, I'd be only too happy to offer advice in future, as I'm conscious that this hasn't been a particularly in-depth review of the hotel!
The transfer back to Phuket is pretty much exactly the reverse of the journey I described in post #251; it starts with a relatively quiet trip to Ton Sai Bay on a smaller ferry that collects pax from northerly hotels on the island, then once at Ton Sai, one transfers to a much larger boat and joins the bulk of other pax from the island. There's enough time at this point to pop ashore and buy supplies for the ferry journey if required, but instead we decided to stake out some great top deck seats once again!
Approaching Ton Sai ferry terminal
Hoardes of people joining the boat at Ton Sai Bay
It was at about this point that I started to feel a little unwell (I think I can trace it back to a meal we'd eaten the previous night),...nothing too serious at this stage, but unfortunately my condition was to worsen over the forthcoming days and continue for the rest of the trip
Thankfully, the ferry journey to Phuket was bright and sunny this time -the only rain we encountered during our stay on the island was during the trip out, so for that we were extremely thankful!
One piece of happy news for us was that, towards the end of our stay, we came across a worthy recipient for the cat food we'd transported to the island -the owner thought we were mad (we were out in the midday sun after all) but was extremely grateful for the food, as was the cat we hope!
Posing Purring Pregnant Phi Phi Pussycat
A final evening shot of nickbot and friends from the hotel (not sure why we're strangely leaning to the RHS,...perhaps the island was tilting!)
Our five day stay had passed by incredibly quickly, and it was soon our final morning -initially, we had booked on the early morning ferry back to Phuket, meaning that whilst we'd get back to Patong for around 1 pm, we'd have to leave the hotel at around 7 am. We decided to elongate our stay slightly and re-arrange to catch the early afternoon ferry, affording us a few extra hours of poolside time before we had to leave. We packed up all of our bags and just took hand luggage to the pool with us (there are showers near the pool), so that housekeeping could clean our room for the next occupants.
Unfortunately, leaving time comes around only too soon, and this is always signalled by the hotel staff performing as little musical ritual that one tends to hear two or three times a day (always nice to hear whilst one relaxes beside the pool and think "thank goodness it's not me that's leaving today!") Sadly, the music today was for us, and we made our way towards the beach for the last time on this trip...
Hotel staff performing on drums and cymbals for departing guests
Assisted by hotel staff, we and other guests boarded the longtail boat that would take us on the short hop out into the bay to rendevous with the slightly larger boat that takes you onwards to Ton Sai Bay
Boarding the longtail boat to leave
Leaving the Holiday Inn Phi Phi for another year
Our longtail boat driver
That brings to a close another memorable stay at the Holiday Inn Phi Phi Island -as you can probably tell from what I have written, this didn't rank at the top of our previous experiences at the hotel, but it was by no means an unpleasant stay and I can wholeheartedly recommend the hotel to others. I made sure to complete the guest comments sheet in a constructive and comprehensive manner, and hope that other repeat guests who have seen just how good the experience can be would do the same. If anyone is considering a trip to Phi Phi, I'd be only too happy to offer advice in future, as I'm conscious that this hasn't been a particularly in-depth review of the hotel!
The transfer back to Phuket is pretty much exactly the reverse of the journey I described in post #251; it starts with a relatively quiet trip to Ton Sai Bay on a smaller ferry that collects pax from northerly hotels on the island, then once at Ton Sai, one transfers to a much larger boat and joins the bulk of other pax from the island. There's enough time at this point to pop ashore and buy supplies for the ferry journey if required, but instead we decided to stake out some great top deck seats once again!
Approaching Ton Sai ferry terminal
Hoardes of people joining the boat at Ton Sai Bay
It was at about this point that I started to feel a little unwell (I think I can trace it back to a meal we'd eaten the previous night),...nothing too serious at this stage, but unfortunately my condition was to worsen over the forthcoming days and continue for the rest of the trip
Thankfully, the ferry journey to Phuket was bright and sunny this time -the only rain we encountered during our stay on the island was during the trip out, so for that we were extremely thankful!
Home is where your heart is.
I mentioned my concerns at this point, to which she replied "We've upgraded you to a sea front room". I decided to reserve judgement until we saw the room, but to me the main wing=noisy
) Ahh well, only a two night stay, and hopefully by next time the nickbots can retreat to the calm oasis of the poolside villas once the renovation programme is complete.
Despite our very nice room, I wholeheartedly stand by my recommendation to others considering this hotel to stay in the Busakorn Wing if at all possible, and specifically in the pool access villa rooms (that is, of course, unless you're paying 1 THB per night, then you take what you're given folks!)
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