Koh Phi Phi

After Katie and I left Indonesia we stopped over in Phuket, Thailand for one day only because of our flight. During the day, the town was crowded with white, tattooed biker dudes hitting on local Thai girls, and by night converted to young white backpackers also hitting on local girls. As we walked the main strip at night, we were bombarded with lizards being shoved into our arms as well as little bear-like animals (which were actually adorable), but knew that petting or holding these animals never comes without a cost. I’m happy to have experienced Phuket but was even more happy to only be staying the day. We struggled figuring out our next move as it is monsoon season in the western Thai islands, but didn’t want to make our way over to the east just yet as that would mean not seeing the west at all. The online weather forecasts claimed 100% chance of rain for the next several days on Koh Phi Phi but we figured we would give it a shot. We spent 3 days in Koh Phi Phi and experienced only clear, blue skies and no rain. We booked a tour to see a variety of sites, of which the main attraction was Maya Bay, where the film ‘The Beach’ with Leonardo DiCaprio was filmed. We had assumed that our long tail boat would float right up to the beach but instead we stopped on the opposite end of the island, and were told to get out of the boat. We weren’t sure if this was the snorkelling portion of the trip or if we were going for a mid-day swim, but we got out anyways, only to be led through a ropes course of sorts, barely touching the sharp rocks beneath us, and with each wave, being pushed into the rock wall beside us. If nothing else, it was a bonding experience for everyone on the boat. We have also fallen in love with a family of kittens, no older than 6 weeks, living under the stairs at our hostel. We check on them each time we walk by, making sure they are all accounted for.