Monkeying around

---

This afternoon I booked a watertaxi chap to take me out to Monkey Bay and to Maya Bay - The Beach featured in that film with Leo DiCaprio.

It was expensive but I expected that and had checked the price to pay with Jenna at the Adventure Club yesterday. I was chartering a whole boat for myself of course whereas on the snorkelling trip the petrol cost was split between five passengers.

I had thought I was sufficiently monkeyed up after Lopburi but the idea of Monkey Bay was very evocative, reminding me of Monkey Island, the computer game.

The monkeys lived up to their billing, cavorting through the trees on their small bay. I saw one monkey, clinging to a branch, dangle another below him, but the pic doesn't seem to have come out well and I saw baby monkeys being nursed by their mothers.

It was fun watching the monkeys' antics but I was soon monkeyed up agai and asked the boatman to set sail for Maya Bay.

This is on a completely different island - Phi Phi Ley as opposed to Phi Phi Don where I am staying - and the boat trip took a while. The scenery was stupendous with the sea a jigsaw of isolated rocks and rocky islets. The rock formations were incredible, some looking like manmade carvings. I saw one niche, carved out by the sea and winds, that looked like a madonna and child in a church. The cliffs and rocks rose sheer out of the water, often with trees growing from what appeared to be vertical slabs of rock.

The boat man took us safely across the sea to the smaller island, keeping close to the most picturesque sights. To be a boatman here must take great skill and knowledge. The rocks, heavy tide and waves must surely produce underwater currents and there are shallow reefs and submerged rocks to be wary of.

When we reached the Beach he moored the boat alongside a walkway made out of blue and white floats. I got out of the boat and onto that and walked to the Beach. I took my sandals off and walked barefoot, noticing how my footprints as I walked were wiped out by succesive waves. The sand was fine and white but there were a few small stones and pebbles. The view from the Beach. looking out to an almost enclose lagoon was superb.

Some people were sunbathing on the Beach and I think if I come again, I would do that rather than lie on Ton Sai.

The trip back was equally amazing visually and we enjoyed perfect weather until we landed. I went to the Cosmic Restaurant for a snack and watched as the rain teemed down outside, flooding the street about two or three inches deep. But theworst had ended when I left the restaurant to find an internet place . .

---

Photos

Monkeys!
On trees in Monkey Bay

A monkey family
The mum and baby are together and the other one is probably the daddy

More monkeys
And more dramatic scenery

Monkeys looking for food
They know tourists often have bananas. I didn't have any . .

Rock
The sea is littered with rocky islets and isolated rocks

Vertical cliffs
The cliff walls come straight out of the sea

Old city walls?
This dramatic stretch of rocks looked like part of an old city's wall to me

Overhangs
The effect od the tide has worn away the lower parts of most cliffs, leaving overhangs

Crystal clear water
lapping at dramatic rocks

Stalactites?
I don't know what these are, but one looked like the skull of a man and another like a giant sea turtle

Wierd overhanging rock
At end of the Beach

Two Rocky Islets
Were these two once combined?

Distant lands on the horizon
Misty mountains

Clear waters
Navigating through the rocks

Calm lagoon
Beautiful clear water