day 6: koh phi phi don

we were able to stash our luggage at our guest house for our days on the islands (thank goodness!) and so we headed down to the pier in the morning feeling footloose and fancy free.  we bought our ticket and waited thinking that we would board a boat there but all of sudden they loaded us in a truck and took us to another pier (the new one i guess, it looked pretty fancy).  it was a stellar ride out to koh phi phi don passing by all the limestone rock formations jutting out of the sea.  some of the more famous ones are railay and koh phi phi leh (where they filmed 'the beach').  michael, the ever ready traveller, whipped out his little binoculars so we could have a closer look at some of the caves etched out by the waves.  tong sai the main village on koh phi phi don (where the tsunami did a lot of damage because waves went crashing from one bay all the way across to the other and attracted a lot of international attention) was too busy for our taste (everything is back up and running, which is so good for their economy) so we started walking around looking for the trail to runtee beach on the other side of the island.  there are no roads on the island so it feels very rugged once you leave the main town.  we ended up basically scaling the jungle hill to make our way to the trail and up to the scenic viewpoint at the top.  the view was breathtaking and so dramatic with two bays coming in to kiss eachother over just a bit of sand and buildings and  being hugged by amazing limestone cliffs.  we descended the peak we were on to the other side of the island and a very deserted beach with just a few bungalows and one restaurant.  our bungalow even had a salt water shower (that's even a bit rustic for me!).  of course the first thing we do when we hit a new beach is check out whats going on under the sea so we donned our snorkel masks and went out into the waves.  we had some really awesome luck and spotted two seahorses swimming around the coral.  they blended in so well with their sandy color and delicate features but we certainly floated over them for quite a while watching their every move.  that night we were hanging out at the only restaurant of the beach and made our first thai friend.  his name was Am and he was a really sweet young guy that had been studying to be a monk up north and was now living on this quiet beach because he loved the outdoors.  he showed us a bunch of pictures of all his expeditions into the wilds of thailand.  he was an amazing nature photographer and we really enjoyed hearing about all his backpacking adventures.  most of the thai people dont do the nature thing so much so we were saying he would really fit in in the northwest.  we heard they had been fishing that day so we decided to splurge (plus luck had brought us 600 baht on the beach in tong sai) and have another fresh fish feast.  it was incredible and we ate the whole big fish (we left the head and the tail on the plate of course).  :)