Island hopping in Thailand - Part 1

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Where do i begin? It has been another incredible couple of weeks...time to do some mega catching up!

I should probably begin where i last left off...leaving Malaysia. We got up early (for once) that morning to catch the 8 AM boat back to the main land from Kecil Island. Once there, we hopped in a taxi with two English guys we met on the boat and headed to the Malaysia-Thailand border. I'm not sure what news you've been getting over there, but apparently there was some "danger" around that particular border crossing in recent times. A bit of extremist/government friction involving bombs, actually. We decided to take our chances and cross - figuring the likelihood of us getting into a car accident was much greater than encountering any terrorist activity. Our taxi driver almost proved us right in fact - but luckily no crashes! We literally walked across the border without incident (don't worry, Mom!) and enjoyed our first taste of Thai food soon after.

A couple hours later we were piled into a bus with about 234 other people (the aisles were packed with people standing) and on our way to Krabi. It was a pretty uncomfortable ride as it was but then the A/C broke and we had to pull off at a gas station at around 2 AM and wait for another bus. We got our first real taste of the monsoon season during a downpour as we unloaded our bags from bus #1. Crazy! We managed to arrive in Krabi only a couple hours late - at around 3:30 AM. Luckily, the bus dropped us off infront of an open 7-11 and a really nice man took us all to a nearby hotel (he earned and deserved his commission!). It was a SUPER nice and cheap place - the shower was heaven, as was the A/C and the 6 hours of precious sleep we got there. The next morning we were off to the jetty to catch a ferry to Koh Phi Phi.

We arrived on Phi Phi late in the afternoon and were of course bombarded by hotel and hostel people. We decided on one and then the watches came off once again (we only wear watches on travel days). We met some more amazing people that first night and the days flew by. We ended up on Phi Phi almost a week. Like everywhere we go, we wanted to stay much longer than planned! Highlights of Koh Phi Phi included: buckets, buckets, and more buckets. Melissa and I decided that vodka, Redbull and Sprite makes the best combination. Needless to say, there were a few hungover days here. But we had some pretty fun party mates - Jared from South Africa and Grant from Australia. The four of us became joined at the hip - such great guys. They even convinced us to go with them to Koh Samui - a place we had planned to avoid. But more on that later! Aside from partying at the Apache Bar, Hippies, and our fav The Rolling Stoned - we did some quality beaching and even tossed the disc around a bit. Frisbee here consisted of lying in the water and trying to catch the disc with our feet. Such lazy bums!

On our last day on Phi Phi, Melissa and I decided to do all of the things that we just hadn't gotten around to doing yet (or that we were too hung over to do...sorry Mom!). First up was an incredible Thai massage overlooking the beach, followed by a pedicure. Then we hired a longtail boat to take us to Maya Bay, the famous place where "The Beach" was filmed. The ride over was a little scary to say the least, with swells much larger than i'm used to! At one point we got so much air that we were certan the little wooden boat was going to snap in two...but luckily it didn't. Once ashore, our boat driver turned local guide (clad in only turquoise gitch or "briefs") was kind enough to lead us to the bay, through tiny crevices and caves as waves crashed in on us. When we returned to the boat a different way, we realized that the original route was purely an excuse for the man to "help" us climb...a.k.a. grab us by our T&As for leverage. Too funny...It was a cloudy day, but still quite nice there. And we made it back to Phi Phi before the big storm hit...thank the lord!

All in all, Phi Phi is right up there with the Perhentians in terms of fav places. We decided to do it up right for our last night there. It began with a lovely dinner of sail fish - which Jared actually caught on a fishing trip that day. This thing was HUGE - we're talking over 50 lbs. and it looked like a sword fish with a long sharp (for lack of a better word) snout. Eon - you would have loved it! It was delicious! Then of course the buckets came out...and it was game over. The next morning, we were off with the boys on a ferry back to Krabi, then on another boat to Koh Samui. More on Samui and Koh Phangan in the next installment...

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Comments

[jealous sarah]

wow
I love how you write, so we can all visualize what its like!!! Sounds like QUITE the adventures you girls are having....getting "sucked into" the islands is easy....keep the stories comin'... love it!