Living the Life on Koh Phi Phi... Maybe we will just stay here!

---

---

Our first full day on Koh Phi Phi

We are just loving life on Koh Phi Phi Don. We woke up in our beautiful pool side room, and got all ready to enjoy the sunshine. Except it was pouring monsoon-like rain. So we went for breakfast and hope it cleared by the time we were done. It rained hard but fortunately it did clear and we were on our way to explore the island! On our way to the beach, we walked by a custom suit store, which had Mike's eyes wide and glowing with excitement. He wanted to buy some suits to start his articling year off, but didn't intend on buying them on Phi Phi. Mike got to talking to the guy and next thing you know, he's buying 4 suits and 5 shirts. Unfortunately this took away a bit from our exploring time, but the cost savings is enormous, and is too good to pass up. This is good news for Elysia, because now she can go shopping and spend more money, and Mike can't say a single thing about it!!

After Mike ordered his suits (he'll try them on in 2 days and then get them shipped back to Canada), we went to explore. We wanted to go up and see the viewpoint and since there were signs around town pointing to it, we figured it couldn't be too far away. So off we went in our flip flops and beach clothes, only it turned out to be more of a hike than we had expected.

We didn't really know where we were going, but the island town is small enough that we figured that it didn't matter. All we knew was the general direction and that it was actually off the map of the town (which stupidly should have been a sign for us). Anyways we walked and followed the occasional sign that pointed us in the right direction. At first the route was through the town, but then it became more of a locals area and finally we started climbing straight up a narrow road. At the bottom was a sign saying taxi to the view point, so that should have been sign #2, but we continued anyways. The steep road eventually gave way to a dirt path through the jungle. By then we were thinking that we had not been properly prepared for this at all. We should have had runners, some water and maybe some other supplies. But we only had towels and flip flops we had come too far to turn around so we kept walking. We didn't really see anyone except the occasional tourist, but not wearing flip flops like us. Eventually the dirt path came out to some other paths and we were certain that we had come to the right spot. There were multiple viewpoints so we thought we'd follow the path to #1. Also, we saw a path (a different one) that led back down to town, and we realized that we had taken the back way up to the view point.

When we finally reached the place, it had been worth all the hike (except we didn't bring our good camera because we thought we were just going to the beach!). The view was a panoramic 360 degree view from the top of a cliff over looking the entire Island. You can see both bays from up there, as well as the town in between them. It was just a beautiful surprise! There weren't all that many people up there either, which was nice. We took some photos and then lay on the hammock and then went back toward viewpoint #2 to see what it looked like from there. To our amazement, we had to pay 20 baht to see the view from there! Luckily we had brought money, although in the end we actually thought #1 was better because it was more panoramic. It sucks to have to pay money for a view, but obviously if you took the backroad like we did and just got to #1 you don't have to pay. We heard of people later on who got turned around because they didn't bring the money with them! Viewpoint 2 was beautiful too, but you can't see around as much, but it was a closer view (but lots of people were there- perhaps they stop there and don't go up to the next viewpoint). We then took the road back down from that viewpoint to the village and instead of taking an hour (or so) as it did to get to VP1, it took us 15 minutes to get back to town via VP2. This was obviously the much easier way to go! I guess you can say that we saw more of the island though.

Back in town, the tide was already so low so we couldn't really swim at the beach, so we had a dunk in the pool before we had a late lunch near the beach. Afterwards, we headed back to the pool and stayed in there until monsoon-like rains came through (which was refreshing at first but after awhile we thought it might be a good opportunity to go and shower and get ready for the evening).

In the evening it was still pouring and Mike's feet were feeling a little unpolished (lots of dead skin and blisters from all of our travels), so we decided to give one of fish spas a try. Have you seen one of those before? Basically, you put your feet into an aquarium of little fishes and they nibble on your dead skin. Supposed to rejuvenate your feet. This is pretty much the same as when we were at the waterfall in Brunei, except there were much fewer fish and they were bigger in Brunei. If you remember in our Brunei blog (July 18), Elysia wouldn't stand in that water because it was just too weird of a feeling to have these fish come and nibble. Well we decided to give it a proper try.

First they had to wash our feet (I guess so we don't transfer our feet germs into the aquarium). That was also a weird experience because they took us to a washroom one at a time and made us sit down on the toilet while a lady sat on a stool with a hose (you know, the one they equip toilet stalls with to hose yourself down after using the toilet) and then soaped down our feet. Then when we were sufficiently clean, we went to put our feet in the aquarium of fish. This was also extremely strange. There were a ton of little fish swimming in there, and the instant that you put your feet in the water, they swarm all over them and begin chewing. You look down and all you see is a blanket of fish all over your feet. Some start to chew up your leg too. In the first few minutes it feels like a surreal experience. Elysia was laughing and screaming at the same time, and these Chinese tourists that had been doing the same started to video and photograph her. They thought it was funny; they probably do this all the time. Nonetheless, both of us felt like it was a little weird, but you get used to it (except when you look down at your feet, you almost feel like you have a ton of leeches on you!). We had enough of this after 20 minutes and we went on to find dinner.

The look on Elysia's face sums up the experience pretty well!

We ate at a pirates restaurant in the town, and as usual had some amazing Thai food for cheap and some fancy piña colada type drinks. After dinner we were looking for something to do, so at about 9:30, we decided to go for a cheap massage. When in Thailand, you owe it to yourself to get a massage wherever you can because its so cheap and easy to come by. For a neck, back and shoulder massage, we paid 200 baht each (less than $10) for an hour. We can't get anything close to that at home! So we went to this massage place and they take us to their upstairs (like an attic), where they have laid out beds on the floor. There were 5 beds there and 3 girls were already there getting a massage. You see, in Thailand, massages are not private like they are in Canada. They don't even separate the guys from the girls. For back massages they make you take off your shirt too. They do give you a sheet to cover up with, but you have to be talented enough to take off your clothes without being seen. So Mike ends up in this room with 4 half naked women. The massages were actually pretty crazy too. They move you into some pretty weird positions and do some weird maneuvers. Elysia's person stepped on her back and hamstrings, massaged her while sitting on her back, and worked a lot on her arms, which is funny because it wasn't an arm massage. Then they do these funny clap things all over the part that they're massaging. Not sure what that's about. Mike is more ticklish and kept laughing which made his masseuse giggle too. She did some weird things like focusing on his right shoulder (it wasn't hurting before hand but it sure was after!), and tried to crack his back and couldn't (she even intertwined her legs with his to get leverage but still couldn't). Just some strange maneuvers, but they still were really good massages! It was almost 11 by the time that we were done at the massage parlour, which made us nice and relaxed and ready to sleep.

---