Koh Phi Phi

After a crazy first week at work, Nancy and I decided to take a little weekend trip to get off this big island and go to a different one.  We picked Koh Phi Phi because we had heard great things about it (and it was on my Thailand bucket list) and it wasn’t going to cost us an arm and a leg.  Koh Phi Phi is an island off the southeast coast of Phuket and is between Phuket and the Thailand mainland on the other side.  We left our house at 7am (though we almost missed our van because neither of our alarms went off and Nancy just happened to wake up at 6:56am), took an hour van ride and a two hour ferry and we were there.  It was just like I pictured - it was beautiful and surprisingly not crowded so that was also nice.  Koh Phi Phi was completely flattened and destroyed by the tsunami and the whole time I just kept thinking how scary it must have been for people to see the water coming and have nowhere to go on this little island.  We found a local that we paid to take us on a three hour boat tour of the main island we were on, Phi Phi Don, and its sister island, Phi Phi Lay.  We went to “Viking Cove”, which we still aren’t too sure of why it was called that, a lagoon that I couldn’t understand the name when our guide said it, and stopped to snorkel and saw some really awesome fish and coral. 

Viking Cove

The Lagoon and our guide

We then boated over to Maya Bay, which is where the movie “The Beach” was filmed and explored there a little before heading to Monkey Beach where we saw lots of monkeys and ate some yummy corn some guy was selling. 

Maya Bay

Monkey Bay

Monkey Bay - I would hang out there too if I got fed all day

  Then it was back to the mainland to enjoy the rest of the day on the beach (well mostly just laying in the water because the beach was too hot) and shopping around the many little shops and food stands.   Ate an interesting crab cabob and some pad thai that was so spicy I literally couldn’t breathe after.  Spent the night out at a beach bar called “Slinkys” where we watched fire throwers on the beach and a tightrope walker that was twirling a fire stick while drinking a beer and walking across the tightrope over the dance floor where there were tons of people dancing and jumping double dutch with glow-in-the-dark ropes.  I’m telling you, you can literally do whatever you want in this country and it’s considered normal.   

Sunday was another day on the island and we headed back to Phuket in time for dinner.   It was a good weekend and I’m glad I was able to see the beautiful Thailand that I’ve always heard about and we are definitely going to plan more island weekend trips as long as my bank account allows me. 

Main Beach at Phi Phi Don

Four more days of school this weekend and then my friend Peem and his dad are coming down from Bangkok!!  Excited to see some familiar faces!

P.S.  For those that were wondering, on Thursday, the children were wearing brightly colored patterned parachute pants and peasant tops.  I didn’t have school on Friday because of teachers meetings so we’ll have to wait and see until this week to see what Friday’s attire is.  Who knows.