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Published: February 6th 2007
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When we left Thailand at the end of our big 10 month trip, I somehow knew we'd be back soon!
Although we only had a week, it seemed surprisingly a lot longer. The trip there was quite brutal, leaving home at 7am on Friday and not arriving on Phi Phi until Sunday at 5pm, Christmas Eve. As the ferry lumbered into the dock, we waited for the majority of people to get off, knowing that our bags were right at the very bottom of a very large pile of backpacks. Mum and dad were anxiously waiting for us, wondering why everyone had streamed off the boat and STILL we were not there!
We walked through the familiar streets with them to our pre-booked accommodation at PP Casitas. Already we were seeing changes from a year prior, with large buildings springing up everywhere.
After dumping our backpacks, we changed into shorts and headed to a beach for a welcome-banana-milkshake. It wasn't long before we felt like we were "travellers" again! It was hard to believe that we were only on a week trip as we so quickly slipped back into our old backpacker lifestyle.
On Christmas day we
walked up to the viewpoint to get spectacular views of the island before continuing on to Rantee beach for some great snorkelling and some serious lazing around. On the return trip, we wimped out of the hike, instead taking a longtail boat back to the town. That night we ate Christmas dinner (Thai curry!) in a beachside restaurant, and my mum brought Christmas crackers and some after-eight mints, although they were quite melted with the heat!
On many days, we headed to Long Beach to snorkel at Shark Point. My dad had never seen sharks before, but his first time he spotted four! We also did a snorkel trip one day around Phi Phi Leh to visit the famous beach from the movie "The Beach". Scott and I finally dived Hin Muang and Hin Daeng, the most famous sites in the area. They were really pretty, with sheer rock walls completely encrusted with hard and soft corals.
The nightlife on Phi Phi is also great. At the time, there was a fire show contest going on to decide which fire-twirler would go on to compete in the national championships to win 100,000 Thai baht (over US$2000). I was
Rantee Beach
It takes a bit of effort to get over the viewpoint, but as you can see, it was worth it! glad we watched it from the bamboo balcony an not the front row on the beach as lets just say that some of them were trying a little too hard and dropping their fire on the audience! Still, they were all great and very talented. You can't go wrong in a country that has a national fire-twirling competition!!! Another night we watched foreigners and Thais alike battering each other in the Thai boxing ring in Tiger Bar. The next day we recognized some of the guys from the night before, limping along on their injured feet!
Unfortunately, we had to leave right before New Year to get our flight back to California on the 31st. Mum and Dad came to the mainland with us the day before and we spent the night in Ao Nang, staying in a little hut which was surrounded by jungle noises at night, making the busy town seem a world away. We spent a day on the beautiful but crowded beach at Railay.
Our flight home went via Hong Kong and Taipei. We left Taipei at 11:30pm on New Year's Eve and saw fireworks as we took off. Thirty minutes later, an announcement
The usual Christmas dinner shot...
...with a bit of a twist this year! (Is that a pineapple I see for Christmas dinner?!) came on in Chinese that we couldn't understand and everyone started clapping and cheering - obviously it was New Year! I was a little disappointed that they didn't bring bubbly around though!
We landed in Los Angeles at 6pm and by the time we cleared customs, got the shuttle bus to our car etc, we didn't arrive back in Santa Barbara until about 10:30pm, just in time to write a few quick emails at Tom and Wanda's before heading down State Street to see the parties. We thought about stopping for a drink at midnight somewhere but I don't think we would have blended in very well with all of the dressed up people! Instead, we headed home and popped a bottle of wine. Cheers to another great time in Thailand and Happy New Year!
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