I HEART PHI PHI

I’m not sure where I left off in my travels but I guess I will start with my trip to Koh Phi Phi.

If I have learned anything since being in Thailand it is that nothing is ever easy and it is always an adventure. This proves true for my trip to Phi Phi. Phoebe was going to be gone for Thursday and Friday so we planned to meet in Bangkok at 5:30 on Friday. Of course my train was 2 hours late arriving so I was late meeting with Phoebe. By the time I got there we had already missed the first bus to Phi Phi then we were told that ALL the buses for the later time were full and that it was simply impossible for us to get to the island with paying a ton of money for a plane ticket. We of course would not take no for an answer and wandered all around looking for someone to get us there. Eventually a woman sent us to the south end bus station. We got there and ran all around the station searching for the place to buy tickets. When we finally found the booth it was 7:50 pm. The bus left at 8:00 so then we were on a mad dash for gate 34. We made it with a few minutes to spare. We were both starving so I sprinted off the bus to 7 eleven and bought instant noodles, a bag of chips and two waters. Not two minutes after I returned to the bus a man started walking around bringing sandwiches, nuts, juice and water to each passenger. It was one of the “duh” moments when I was just like…if I had been patient for two more seconds. We were soooo excited to have made a bus that we were laughing and goofing off. I may have kicked the seat in front of me profusely, prompting the man sitting in the seat to turn and glare at me, get up and change seats. Eventually everyone moved away from us. They just couldn’t handle us, lol.

There were a few more funny moments/adventures but I doubt they will be as funny or entertaining to you as they were to Phoebe and I, but you get the basic drift. It is always just one thing after another. When we finally got to Krabi (where we would take the ferry to the island) twelve hours later, we sat in the bus station and waited to be taken, by bus, to the pier. The bus turned out to be a pickup truck and we were made to ride in the bed of it lol. We got on the boat and arrived two hours later in Phi Phi where we were instantly hassled about hotel rooms/resorts. We ended up bartering with a guy getting the price of a bungalow down from 700 baht to 500 baht a night which ends up being about $8 a night per person. It was great (the beds ended up being super comfortable, the shower water not too cold although it was extremely hot, the floor was about to cave in and the room was infested with cockroaches and various other insects.) We walked around the island (a very limited amount of space) and met up with Conor at around 3:30 pm. The three of us had dinner that night on the water and we went out to the beach that night where they have parties.

The beach was actually really fun at night. There are a number of bars lining the water and each one is a different scene. The first one we sat at had a bunch of lawn chairs where you could watch Thai men doing tricks with fire and later there was limbo to watch. The next you sat on the beach on little cushions and watched more fire. The third was a hookah bar and the fourth was more of a dance floor. After we bored of this we noticed that the water (the ocean) had receded so where there was normally a foot of water you could walk on the sand. You could actually walk out pretty far. There was a nice breeze out there and this was the first time that I have seen stars in Thailand. The rowdier crowd enjoyed dancing/other activities out there but for me it was just a “wow, I'm really in Thailand right now” moment.

The next morning we woke up and walked around the island some more. At 2:00 we left the island to go on an excursion with five different stops (this all cost us about $6.) The first stop was Monkey Bay…which literally is covered with monkeys. Check out my pics to see them. It was really cool. Then we motored past the Viking Cave where people were mining birds’ nests. Apparently they somehow make a dessert out of these nests. Sounds gross to me. Next stop was a little cove where we were able to jump out and snorkel. The coral was plain colored but there were a bunch of cool fish (rainbow, black and yellow (MOM: A WIZ KHALIFA FISH!), an eel and a bunch of small ones.) We climbed back into our little boat and set off for an even smaller cove where we were able to get out and swim. It was absolutely gorgeous everywhere we went. There were tall cliffs surrounding us and the water was soooo clear and blue. We got back in the boat and set off for the main attraction: Maya Bay. The water was really rough at this point and I was kind of nervous being in such a small boat. The couple next to me (whom we ended up meeting and eating dinner with later) even put on their life jackets. When we got there the man driving the boat told us that there was a storm coming and that the current was too strong for us to take the boats into the bay so instead we were going to anchor on the other side, jump out of the boat into massive waves and swim a ways until we reached this like net/spider web thing which we and about 30 to 40 other people would have to climb to reach Maya Bay. Actually, no, he did not say this, he just told us to jump off and swim. The rest we had to figure out on our own. Lol. So we swam and when we got to the net we held on and waited. Everyone was screaming because the waves were strong and were crashing into us. Then a little Thai man grabbed my arm and told me to come under the rope. He was apparently taking me a faster route…so I went. The waves were so strong crashing against the rock and they kept slamming me into the rocks. I followed him and he lead me through/up through a little hole in the rock and I emerged on the other side shaking in my bikini and thanking God I was alive. I met Phoebe and Conor on the other side…all three of us like “wtf just happened” and we followed the crowd towards Maya Bay. It was gorgeous when we got there and we immediately had to dive into the water because the wind was whipping the sand at us. Once we were in the water the waves were crazy but it was really nice. Getting back to the boats was an even larger adventure. We had to climb back down the spider web/net and jump into the water. The waves were nuts and we had to time it as the water was receding so we wouldn’t get tossed against the waves. Then we had to swim for our lives, quite literally. By the time we got to the boat we were exhausted. The tour guides rewarded us with fresh cut pineapple for the island (seriously wtf!) All I kept thinking the whole time (besides the fact that I might die) was that the stuff we do in Thailand would NEVER be allowed in the states…hence the name of my third Thailand album “We’re not in the states anymore, Todo!”

When we arrived on land we basically kissed the ground and headed out to dinner. We treated ourselves to more expensive Mexican food and the couple we met on the boat joined us. It was by far my favorite meal since I arrived in Thailand aside from Cartoon’s mom’s birthday dinner. It was really nice.

The next day was our last day on the island and it was super sad to say goodbye (although Phoebe and I were glad to be getting out of our bug infested room.) We had breakfast that morning and then just kind of walked around looking at the little shops for the billionth time. I bought a grilled corn on the cob and Phoebe got a Thai pancake (both delicious) then we set off to find somewhere to sit down. We found these extremely comfortable chairs, sat for about 3 seconds, and then were informed we had to rent them. Phoebe was having some reaction to something in her eye so she went to the clinic and Conor and I found a bench to sit on. Big mistake…the bench was covered in water! There was literally nowhere to sit. Blah blah blah…sorry if this is boring.

Then it was goodbye time…Phoebe left for Korea and Conor and I took a boat an hour later to Krabi and then parted ways as I headed back to Bangkok and eventually Ayutthaya. SOOOO SAD L