White Sands

Flowers and Ko Phi Phi Lei

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So, we finished up our time in Ko Lanta.  We loved being in a chilled out resort... nothing happened ever, but that is nice sometimes.  We jumped in the back of a truck, which is how tourists are carted around here.  The drivers have put a roof and benches in the back.  I would guess its not safe, but our options are zero.  We took a pretty tame ferry across to Ko Phi Phi.  There are two Phi Phi islands and we are staying on Don, the largest of the two.  We met an American couple and together ventured to Long Beach to look for accommodation.  It is only accessible by a 45 min walk from the main town or a wood long-boat ride.  We found a great little resort to stay at.. and it was pretty cheap.  We spent the rest of the day hanging out and touring around the town.  Phi Phi is really touristy mainly with European vacationers here for some cheap sun.  We had a few drinks with Eric and Janelle (our American friends) and then went to bed.

Lifejackets

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In the morning we met up with them again and agreed to pay a long boat driver to take us to the smaller Phi Phi Lei.  It was a little slower but a lot cheaper than doing a tour.  Well.. the water was ROUGH.  We heard that many boats were not going... but for some reason that didn't slow us down.  It took forever to even board the boat because the water was chest high at the start of the dock... and we were carrying stuff.  Eventually we set off... Our driver appeared confident.. but we were not.  Half way across we put on the emergency life jackets because it was really bad.  Krystal and I were facing backwards.. and watching Eric and Janelle's face as the boat ramped off the waves made us nervous to say the least. The worse part was that no other boats were around at all.  We were doubting our decision... but in the end we made it. 

Swimming

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The trip ended up being worth it.  We swam in beautiful blue water and saw a lot of fish as we toured a few bays.  The movie "The Beach" was shot here at Maya Bay but it was too rough to venture to the other side of the island.  We headed back and made a stop at Monkey Island before a little more snorkeling (Eric and Janelle saw a reef shark - harmless but cool) before we made it back.  It was a great trip even though at some spots there were a million other boats doing the same thing.  At one point about 100 Thai vacationers got off one over packed ferry and started floating into shore.  As mentioned before none of them could swim so they were all wearing life jackets.  It was like the Titanic had sunk.. so many people floating around.  There was also a lot of garbage washed up which seems common.. too bad.

We toured around town and checked out the other side of the island.. deciding that Long Beach was the best.  Then Krystal and I both got a massage.  Krystal is addicted to the cheap massages here... this was her 3rd in a week.  For around 10 dollars an hour.. you can't go wrong.  For some reason a Thai man did mine.. despite there being about 3483948 woman available.  He pushed the legal limits of massage territory.. but overall did a great job.. even though it was my inner inner inner thigh..

We had drinks with Eric and Janelle again that night.. then got up early to take the ferry to Phuket.  We are meeting Ashleigh and Mick from Sydney who are on vacation there.