Thailand Nov 2 2013

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Nov 2 2013
Today we headed out to our next destination, the island of Koh Phi Phi Don. To get to Phi Phi Don we had to take a long tail boat off the beach to a larger boat off shore that took us to all the way to Phi Phi Don. The boat ride took about an hour and a half and was very pleasant, enough for Sam P. to take a little bit of a nap. There were so many people on the boat and the only place that we were able to sit down was on the side deck with our feet hanging off the side of the boat. Luckily we were on the shady side of the boat, so we kept fairly cool. We were a little skeptical about coming to Phi Phi Don because we heard it was a huge party scene and we did not really want crowds of drunk people and loud parties. Really the only reason we came is because there is rock climbing, and we were wanting to see something new as well. Upon arriving on Phi Phi we were surprised by all the people and how close together all the shops, restaurants and businesses were. At first the town of Phi Phi seemed like a maze of streets, but as we spent more and more time walking around we got our bearings. There are no cars on Phi Phi, so either you have to walk with all your gear to your hotel or hostel or hire a local with their metal framed cart to lung your gear. So the streets of Phi Phi are of course pretty small since there are no cars on the island, and like I said earlier the streets are lined with shops and restaurants. After dropping our stuff at our hotel we walked around the small town to see the shops and see what food we could eat. We also took a walk to the far end of town and the beach to check out the climbing wall called Tonsai Tower, where we will be doing all of our climbing. Tonsai Tower I believe is the only climbing wall here on Phi Phi that we can get to on foot. All the other walls you have to access by boat and those walls all contain routes a bit out of our skill level. Just looking through the guide book, Tonsai Tower will be great for us. There are some lower grade routes that Sam R. can lead and routes that Sam P. can get on to concur his fear of heights. There are also some routes that I can get on to push me to my limits.

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