Koh Phi Phi, The Beach Beach and Koh Lanta

Ahhh...beautiful Koh Phi Phi. That's what we have been told at least. Some of it was really nice but the actualy city wasn't that amazing. It was one of the hardest hit places after the tsunami about 4 years ago, but it is bigger now than it was back then. It was supposed to be regulated so that it wouldn't get to be overcrowded, unnatural and cement, but that didn't seem to happen.

It was nice enough though for a quick visit. I was there for 2 nights with Lily. (The only reason we stayed two nights was to go snorkeling the next day.) We watched an "amateur" muai thai fight which was really funny. I say amateur because one round it would be two professional wrestler type fighter falling when they were supposed to and the other rounds it would be two drunk people from the crowd. You get a free bucket if you fight, so I guess that is motivation enough. Buckets cost only 250 baht, which is about 6 dollars, so I thought I would just buy one.

We went snorkeling the next day and it was really, really beautiful. We saw parrot fish, a moray eel, all sorts of little colorful fishes and supposedly, we were swimming with reef sharks. We never saw any because the light was dying. We also saw the beach from the movie "The Beach" with Leo. It was really pretty, but not as nice as in the movies. They did some CGI work to make it look better.

After that, we headed to Koh Lanta, which was a better than Phi Phi. We got there and headed to a really secluded resort down in the south. It was really nice and cheap. Their beach was really cool, because as the tide went out, a little "lake" formed with a "stream" coming out of it. It was really nice to watch as the sun set.

We went for an elephant trek and hike the next day. It was pretty fun to ride an elephant, I haven't done it since my Great Grandma Clark took me to the circus when I was younger. I think that happened. The hike was nice because we had a guide that told us of all the deadly animals in the jungle and a little about his life. We hiked to a waterfall that I took a quick shower in. It was chilly.

After this, we headed to the more popular long beach and got a nice room in a really large resort. We had a lot of sun there and a lot of cards and a lot of food. It was a good "vacation" from the rest of our journey. I felt like we were living the high life, but it really wasn't any more expensive than anywhere else.

For Christmas and New Years, we are heading back to Haad Ton Sai since we liked it so much there.

Haad Ton Sai - Climber's Paradise

The trip to Ao Nang/Railey/Haad Ton Sai was a long one (and without food for nearly 16 hours). But it was worth it. We decided to go to Haad Ton Sai first because it was the cheapest. It also turned out to be the best.

We stayed at Andaman Nature Resort and had a small bungalow and a mosquito net. It was nice though, and the community was awesome! The whole beach is essentially dedicated to rock climbers, so there were a lot of crazy routes on the cliffs. (The beach is surrounded by 100 meter cliffs). We stayed here for a while and are hoping to go back sometime.

We met a few other people while we were there. Some Brits (Bruce, Smitty and Val) some fellow Americans (Nathan and Andy) and we played cards with all of them. Bruce and Smitty were huge into cribbage (and Val was into reading). We played Euchre with Nathan and Andy.

We also checked out Railey beach which is right next to Haad Ton Sai, but you can only walk there in low tide. Railey is more touristy and more expensive, but the beach is huge and is really nice when the tide is in. We did some Kayaking around the small "islands" off of the beach here, which was a lot of fun.

We are off to the famous Koh Phi Phi and Koh Lanta next. They are supposedly paradise. We will see. :)

Koh Phangan - relaxing by the beach

Travelling to Koh Phangan was a lot better than travelling to Koh Tao. The boat ride was smoother, and we were able to stay up top the entire time without being soaked (although we did get a little wet). We got there and headed to Haad Rin Nai/Nok. (Sunrise/Sunset Beach)

There weren't any beaches that we found right away, which was pretty disappointing because of the name, but eventually we did find the sunrise side. It was pretty big, but only when the tide was out. This is where they have the famous Full Moon Party with thousands of people showing up to drink until the sunrise. We didn't end up going to the full moon party because it seemed very overrated and a little bit like a giant frat boy party.

The cities of Rin Nai and Nok were pretty nice, set up for tourists, but cheap tourists like us. We found some cool restaurants (Lazy House!) where we could watch TV shows and movies and eat at the same time. We got to know the two people that work there (Jai and Thun), both nice guys. Thun and I played a couple games of pool, but his rules were a little different.

We also met a nice lady named Mam. She was the receptionist at the place that we were staying (Haad Rin Thai Resort). We took her out to dinner and she taught us some Thai, told us about her life and some other fun stuff. It was a difficult night though, because she didn't speak English very well, and we don't speak Thai much at all. My head hurt at the end of it. :)

I am finally starting to get tan here. Laying on the beach and playing in the waves is a ton of fun. I can't seem to get Lily to play with me in them for very long though. She doesn't like the water as much as I do.

There are tons of stray dogs (and ones that are owned, but run around the towns) out here. We have named several of them, and Goat is my favorite. He looks like a goat surprisingly. I know the doctors told me not to touch them because of Rabies, but I just can't not pet them. If I come home drooling, you'll know why.

Off to Railey Beach next!