Oh. My. God.

Wow. A giant, great-big, awe-filled WOW! What a day we’ve had. We can only post a few of our pictures from today, as our time is limited, but wanted to fill you all in on.

We woke just after dawn in our dreamy bungalow on the sea and headed out for an ENORMOUS breakfast. We’re talking eggs, pancakes, rice, noodles, all the mango you can eat, pastries, cereal. Now, as you know, we shun all things Western (cough, cough), but after existing on breakfast that’s only consisted of bread and…noodle soup for 2 weeks, we’re like pigs in you-know-what to be able to gorge ourselves in the morning.

We also decided today would be a perfect day to see the entire island (mostly so we can do nothing but be vegetables in the sun for the rest of our vacation) and we shared a longtail boat with Andy for the day. Longtails are quite cool—they’re really just a wooden canoe with an elongated outboard motor that’s controlled by the driver like a gondola. We could’ve rented a speedboat to do what we did in half the time (like the rest of the guests here) but what’s the fun in that? We truly felt like we got to experience the authenticity of the islands this way.

First out on our journey was Phi Phi Ley, a small, uninhabited island just off the southeast corner of Phi Phi Don (the island we’re staying on.) Phi Phi Ley was made famous from that horrific Leonardo DiCaprio movie “The Beach.” There’s a scene when Leo runs down onto the beach and into some amazing green water upon first discovery of the secret island…that’s this place. And, despite it being filled to the brim with speedboats and tourists, it’s quite a sight to see!

We proceeded to hit about 8 other sights on the island and got the best snorkeling we have EVER had in our lives! Apparently this place has some world-class dive sites, but we’ll have to save that for another trip. You dip your head underwater and below is another world: hundreds of varieties of coral (love the brain coral!), purple and green fluorescent giant clams, millions of fish of all shapes, sizes and colors. This is a far cry from Hawaii and we thought that was as good as it gets! You just don’t want to get out of the water. Best part for Billy was watching David really get into and drop his snorkel to swim into deeper waters to explore the coral up close...it was amazing to see him swim like a fish throughout a wondrous underwater kingdom (not to mention seeing him so free and happy!)

We finished our grand tour after about 6 hours at a site in the middle of the Andaman Sea, just off the coast of where our resort was. This was the best so far.

Headed back in and bid Andy adieu. Washed up and headed out for our favorite new drink: coconut milk and pineapple juice with Malibu Rum (served in a fru-fru coconut shell!) As they say, when in Rome…We met another new friend here—our cocktail waiter/waitress, a ladyboy (Thai people are very accepting of the transgendered lifestyle, as it’s been a part of life for a very long time here) who took quite a shine to us. Call us crazy, but maybe we do stick out like sore thumbs. Guess being the only two guys together out of a sea of honeymooning men and women does make us stand out. She was VERY excited to learn more about us and as soon as we said we were from LA, she was ready to stow away in our bags on our return trip!

Had a lovely dinner again and, of course, an early retirement, only stunted by one small thing. Should we say one BIG thing. A lovely flying cockroach the size of Houston (a least through our eyes) decided to pay us a visit. Being the big, brawling manly men we are, we did what any uber-masculine guy would do: we called the front desk to have it removed!!!!

Editor’s Note: Sorry to do this to you all but we’re signing off until Sunday…we plan to be up early for another day of wonderment and complete and utter happiness! We miss you all so much and can’t believe we’ll be returning home from this magical time in only a few short days. This will most likely be our last blog entry until we see you all in person. We’ve seen so much in these past two weeks and met so many amazing people along the way…and worked hard to keep up our blog. We’re in full honeymoon mode now and are pulling the shades and swimming out to sea for a little more underwater magic.

See you soon and love to all!

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