This past weekend Brett and I experienced, in my opinion, the best (and worst) part of our whole Singapore trip thus far. We flew from Singapore to Phuket, Thailand on Friday (the 12th) evening and took a cab to our hotel. After we dropped our stuff off we walked just outside to grab dinner at a Lebanese restaurant and consumed some really tasty taco-esque food. Unfortunately, as we were stuffing our faces it started down-pouring and we were unable to check out the night market. Oh well, Brett and I aren't big shoppers anyway :) We hit the hay and woke the next morning to cloudy skies and a slight drizzle, eliminating and hopes of chilling on the beach for a while. We checked it out anyway, had lunch and then headed to the boat dock to catch our ferry to Koh Phi Phi, an island about 2 hours away via boat. We started the trip sitting in the bottom of the boat but quickly moved to the top for fresh air and a better view of the landscape.
Thailand is a pretty crazy place geographically, there are random cliffs that jut out of the water and create an unexplainable sense of excitement (weird I know, but the boat rides I know best all take place on the Mississippi haha) and great photo opportunities. Arriving in Koh Phi Phi made your realize that this place was made for tourism. Between the two beaches on the northern and southern sides of the island (a short 15 min walk) was a maze of shops, massage parlors, restaurants and quaint hotels all connected by pedestrian paths (there are no cars on the island). Nothing fancy, everything had the 'laid-back-beach' feel to it. We walked for 20 mins across the island to our hotel from the boat, ditched our bags and hit up the beach for a couple hours. From there we had burgers on the beach, hit the showers quick and then stuck our feet in fish tanks (it was a 'fish massage', the fish nibble at your feet and take off all the dead skin; it was a really weird feeling). Then we went back to the bars to see the fire shows that they put on at night. It basically consisted of guys with long hair and afro-ninjas twirling sticks engulfed in flames, throwing said sticks in the air, losing track of the sticks in midair three or four times, watching the sticks somehow gravitate towards the same jumpy Asian man in the front row, and laughing as he flew out of his chair every time a fiery stick came down within feet of him. It was hilarious. After we were done watching the show we hit the hay and woke up the next morning for our 5 hour trip around an island just off of Koh Phi Phi.
We hopped in the longboat with 6 other people, our guide, and headed toward the island. The island was amazing, and hard to describe. Look at the photos! Haha...it was basically all cliffs surrounded by crystal-clear water. Paradise. Our guide had a knack of not really telling us what was going on until the boat stopped all day...so when it did for the first time all he said was, "Anyone want to swim?" So everyone got out in this cove surrounded by cliffs and swam in water where you could see straight to the sand at the bottom, easily the coolest place I will ever swim in my life. After that we drove for a while longer, stopped and our guide said "Anyone want to snorkel?" Of course we said yes. Then he said, "Anyone want to see shark? Follow me." For some weird reason, my adrenaline kicked in and Brett and I followed the guy, and sure enough there were sharks (probably 8 feet long). It was great! The seafloor was 5-10 feet down so we could see all of the colorful fish, corals, sea urchins, and big neon colored clams. After snorkeling we went to the most b-e-a-utiful beach in the world, Maya Beach (also known as "The Beach"). It was the epitome of pristine. In a bay surrounded by cliffs was the clearest water and the whitest sand in the world! We hung out there for an hour before moving on. After driving to the other side of the island we stopped again and heard, "Snorkeling. You want to see big shark? Follow me." So we did. Scariest/most amazing thing ever. This time the ocean floor was probably about 40 feet down, but the sharks were now 15 feet long and traveling in packs. SO COOL. I started getting concerned when the schools of fish started swimming around us to avoid the sharks, but it all worked out :) After that we felt like we could take on the world via cliff jumping, so a few of us did that for a bit and then headed back to the dock.
Unfortunately it was time to leave Koh Phi Phi via boat. Taking the ferry to Krabi, we arrived, found a hotel, and then proceeded to a carnival for dinner. Sounds fun? It was at the time, right up to the point where Brett and I couldn't digest food correctly for a week. Something we ate didn't agree with either of us...it unfortunately left us feeling like crap for the last stretch of the trip. Thankfully we didn't have much planned for the last day, so we simply ended up laying on the beach, soaking up some sun, and taking in the views at Railay Beach. From there we took the boat back to Phuket, stayed in a hostel and headed back to Singapore the next morning. Overall the trip consisted of my favorite and least favorite parts of this whole adventure thus far. Koh Phi Phi was paradise, and being sick for a week was not. Either way, it was a great experience :) Check out all of the Thailand photos
here.
