Upon docking in Tonsai Bay, you are greeted with a sign proclaiming that you must pay 20 Baht “For the sparkling clean on Phi Phi.” Sparkling clean on Phi Phi? No such thing exists.

Koh Phi Phi is a place full of contradictions. It is supremely beautiful but overrun by tourists. It is the most expensive place to visit in Thailand but the locals are riculously poor. One Thai website recently called the island a national travesty.

No more than 10 steps off of the main street, you are in complete slums. Maybe this is the case all over southeast Asia, but as this was my first experience of the sort, I was quite surprised.

Hiking through the jungle was pretty strange as well. There was abandoned construction equipment, half built, broken down houses and tin shacks in the most absurd of places. It was a bizarre experience.

The pictures speak for themselves. After the jump… 

Want to see more? Find all of the photos on my Flickr.