Day 5 speed boat to phi phi

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Sunday morning we were picked up from our deserted hotel and driven to Ao Nang. We had reserved a speed boat trip for the day to see 4 different southern islands that we wouldn't have been able to see on our own, with the little amount of time that we had. We went to Bamboo Island, Maya Bay, Viking Cave, and Koh Phi Phi.

We had quite an interesting group of people on our speedboat, including males, females, and a couple who were in between. Our tour guide was a friendly, funny, young Thai guy. A number of different languages were being spoken all day. Needless to say it was an entertaining day!

We departed from Ao Nang to Railay to pick up some of the other tourists. The first sight of Railay was gorgeous and exactly what I had been expecting from Thailand (see first picture). We were excited because that was where we would be staying the next two nights! After picking them up we took off for Bamboo Island but first we passed Chicken Island, which, clearly...looks like a chicken. We arrived at Bamboo Island and could see a huge layer of thick, black, clouds in the distance. The water surrounding the island was beautiful and we had the option of swimming, snorkeling, or just hanging out on the beach. We got in the water for a few minutes before the rain started pouring down. There were tons of speedboats full of tourists and none of them wanted to leave in the middle of the downpour, so most of us stood under trees and tried to stay dry. It was quite chilly waiting in the rain for 20 minutes! Finally, we got on the boat and headed to the next place. The rain stayed with us off and on all day. It didn't ruin anything though, we got to do everything that was planned. It was just uncomfortably cold speeding around in a speed boat, soaking wet with rain flying in your face! ha ha but it was really fun!

Next, we went to Viking Cave, which is a huge cave full of birds nests. It was apparently visited by vikings in the past and has some ancient drawings in it. I'm afraid I can't tell you much else about it. The water was gorgeous though and the surrounding cliffs, trees, and rocks were incredible! The pictures just don't do it justice!

After this we went inside a beautiful bay area and we got to snorkel for a while. I love snorkeling and want to do it more often! It was great except for when the guide kept throwing pieces of bread on me and then fish surrounded me and FLAPPED against my SKIN!!!! AHHH YUCK!!! I do not love the idea of fish touching me, I just want to look at them from a distance! It was funny though! I sat in the water and screamed like a sissy.

I can't remember which came next but at some point we made it to Koh Phi Phi. This is one of the most popular southern islands for tourists to visit. We only got to spend about an hour there for lunch but it was beautiful. We didn't get to see the less tourist-y parts of the island. A lot of this island was destroyed in the tsunami in December 2004, and they are still recovering. We had a cafeteria-like lunch which was included in our trip and then we walked around until we found more Magnum Ice Cream Bars. Yum. Also worth mentioning: I left my wonderful, purple, sunglasses from my mom on this island.

We also went to Maya Bay, the popular beach that was used to film the movie by the same name. The BEACH- with Leonardo DiCaprio. The movie was not my favorite but it definitely shows incredible views of the area and also some of Khaosan Road in Bangkok. The waves were MASSIVE when we were trying to get there. Our tour guide kept asking if we were sure we wanted to go there because it could be very dangerous and the waves were too high. We, of course, kept saying YES, we paid for this, of course we want to go. And he kept saying "you are lucky we have the best captain, other drivers will not take you there in this weather." I had a feeling that it wasn't the first time he pulled this act with a bunch of tourists. The waves were huge, and yes, we flew out of our seats a few times BUT we made it! It was incredible! If you want to see Maya Bay just google it. It is really pretty unbelievable. It's a long white beach surrounded by rock and cliffs, and almost enclosed, like it's own little swimming pool. It rained the whole time we were at Maya Bay...I hid under some cliffs to stay warm while Jake went swimming in the rain. The island is full of thick, bright green, beautiful jungle. I feel like I got to see one of the most beautiful places in the world!

After Maya Bay, we went snorkeling again. This was in darker water and the reef was all gray and brown because it was destroyed in the tsunami. I've obviously had zero experience with tsunami's and I had never even thought about the effect they'd have on the shallow parts of the ocean. We always hear about the effects on the land, not the sea. We got to see some beautiful fish and huge clams though. Jake and I both enjoyed diving down as far as we could and trying to touch things. The ocean is awesome and I enjoyed every part of our speedboat adventure.

When we got back to Ao Nang we had to get a water taxi, which was a long tail boat, back to Railay. We had to wait for a couple other people to join our taxi before we could leave but it didn't take long. The long tail boat ride was about 15 minutes and then we were at our next home for 2 days. There are two different beaches at Railay: East and West. The west one is beautiful and has many expensive resorts. If you walk 5 minutes to Railay East the cost of food and hotels literally drops in half. You cannot swim on Railay East. It is really swampy and full of stumps. It is still beautiful though! We stayed here and really like the laid back and friendly atmosphere. I'd like to go back and stay for a month! It was wonderful!

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Comments

[Jeanne]

Great adventure Bet!! Thanks for letting me in on your trip! I miss you guys so much it hurts!! I'm so glad you had such a good time and saw so much. You are an inspiration!! Love you!