23/11/2022
Phi Phi (Thai หมู่เกาะพีพี or Phi Phi according to transcription) are islands off the coast of Thailand, between the mainland and the island of Phuket. Part of the province of Krabi. The Phi Phi Islands consist of two main ones (Phi Phi Don and Phi Phi Le) and 4 tiny islands.
The islands were badly damaged by the tsunami that shook the entire Indian Ocean in December 2004, killing about 2 thousand people (including 1200 still missing). The archipelago is known for being the location of the filming of The Beach, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
The name of the archipelago comes from the Malay language. In the original, it sounded like ‘Pulau Api-Api’ (Malay. Pulau Api-Api), which literally translates as “Burning Island” or “Island of Lights”. Most likely, this name goes back to 'Pokok Api-Api' (Malay. Pokok Api-Api), or "Fire Tree", as the Malays call Avicennia marina, which before, before the catastrophic tsunami, grew on all the islands of the archipelago .
The name of the islands in Thai is rendered using a combination of the letters พ (phophan) and the Phintui diacritics "I", namely, as พีพี, and is pronounced with a noticeable aspiration. It should be borne in mind that in Thai, aspirated consonants stand out especially. In Latin transcription, according to the rules of the Royal Thai General System of Transcription (RTGS), the letter h (eh) is used to denote aspiration, which is clearly reflected in the English name of the island, Phi Phi.