Ko Phi Phi, Thailand - Paradise Found

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Day 22-March 27th continued: Jessie and I settled into our room and walked around the village. The island of Ko Phi Phi Don is very small and the village is the business hub and the rest is beaches and jungle. We walked through the village to the other side of the island and sat down to have a drink and watch the sunset. There was a random guy we met briefly at Friendly's in Ko Phangan at the table next to us! The sunset behind a hill/cliff and the boats and the low tide and the... well, I took a lot of photos needless to say!

After sunset, I went into the village for some cheap eats. I had some yummy vegetable curry. Then it was time for a shower and internet and walking around town some more. Jessie and I had drinks at the Irish Pub - go figure! those Irish will set up shop anywhere and everywhere! 😊 Then it was on to Tiger Bar and the Rolling Stoned Bar next door. There was drinking and dancing and we met some nice Euros - one Pole and one Spaniard who live in London. We finally crashed/passed out late, around 3 AM I think? A fun first night getting our groove on to the techno beats that seem to be the theme music of the island circuit!

Day 23-March 28th: We got up groggy and hungover and tired and had to get ready for our 10:45 AM pick-up at our hostel for our half day tour. We signed up for a snorkeling/sunset/island hopping tour on a longtail boat, the boat of choice around these islands for generations. What a day!

First we went snorkeling at the reef just off the coast of the island, near Long Beach. Very cool! Then we were off to Bamboo Island for an hour lunch break. Bamboo huts and swimming and lounging around in the sun and shade.

Next stop was Monkey Beach on Ko Phi Phi Don - the main island of the area. There are sometimes monkeys frolicking on the beach, but we didn't see any.

The next part of our tour took us to Ko Phi Phi Ley and Viking Cave. There are large cliffs covered in jungle but along the bottom by the sea there are cave and stalagmites and stalagtites. Very cool rock formations!

We circled around to the "inside" of the island to Pi-leh Bay for more snorkeling. Much of the bay is shaded in the afternoon, we were near some shade and some sun. Where the sun hit the water it was amazing! The rays of sunshine lit up the reef and we saw some cool fish and coral and it was pretty deep there!

We cruised around to Loh Sameh Bay and saw bats hanging in the trees along the cliffs.

Finally we ended up at Maya Bay, better known as "The Beach" - this is where they filmed the movie "The Beach" with Leonardo DiCaprio. I've only seen parts of the movie, but now I want to see it to see the scenery! The beach was amazing! The sand is so fine, so white, the water is so turquoise, amazing! Fish swim around you if you venture into the water. I suppose I could've walked into the jungle on the island to see more scenery from the movie, but I just stayed put on the most beautiful beach I've ever seen. This is paradise! There were, of course, lots of boats and other tourists checking out the famous Maya Beach, but that didn't detract from the beauty of the place. You must go sometime!

The final half hour of the tour was us watching the sunset from the boat "parked" in the Andaman Sea, between Ko Phi Phi Don and Ko Phi Phi Ley. We just chilled and watched the sun drop into the sea. Wow! The boat captain took us safely back to shore in the village and we tiredly made our way back to our room.

We freshened up and were prepared to have an early night. However, Jessie got in touch with Mike, the guy we met in Krabi, and so the three of us met up and went to Hippie's Bar on the waterfront, just up from the village towards the resorts. We sat on the beach and sipped tropical cocktails and watched the fire-throwing show, one of the typical entertainment shows on the southern islands. Next we headed to Tiger Bar and Rolling Stoned Bar for more cocktails before finally calling it a night. So much for an early one!

Day 24-March 29th: Jessie and I made ourselves get up "early" today - around 9:30/10:00 AM- for one last day at the beach. We figured we could catch up on sleep at the beach! We took a longtail boat taxi to Long Beach, the best beach on the island, not far from the village but further than we wanted to trek. We set up camp under a tree, I claimed a hammock hanging there and Jessie sprawled on the shady part of the beach. She was feeling ants biting her, so she walked further down the beach to where there were some chairs. I was perfectly content chilling in the hammock all day!

After about 5 hours of lazing, reading, dozing, swimming, relaxing, meditating on this tropical paradise called Ko Phi Phi, I went down the beach to find Jessie. She had slept most of the day, unfortunately without putting sunscreen on first, so was feeling sunburnt. She and I took the boat back to the village and did some shopping. Then it was internet time, and phone call time, and dinner time. I talked to my college friends that were gathered for the weekend in St. Louis. It was so great to talk to them! We had some street spring rolls - yummy! Jessie was very sunburnt, it turned out, so we didn't have a night out tonight for a change. I told her that the white sand and water are giant mirrors reflecting the suns rays, so even if you are in the shade, you need to wear sunscreen. Too little, too late for her. A good night's sleep was definitely in order! Tomorrow we are off to Phuket.

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