THAILAND!

So we arrived in Phuket pretty late and got to our hotel around midnight. The hotel wasn't exactly Manila standards. In fact, it wasn't even close. I think what bothered me the most was the cockroaches...the others didn't seem to mind but Santiago and I weren't pleased. We did some research and decided to that we were going to head off for Koh Phi Phi in the morning. After a long two hour nap, I took a quick shower and headed for the taxi at seven am to make the 8:30 ferry. We could already tell we made a good decision from the ferry ride:

Pure relaxation:

The dock:

On the ferry, we had already decided that we weren't going back to Phuket...Hence, when we reached Koh Phi Phi we had to find a place to stay. There were tons and tons of choices; we requested the places that were clean & quiet. We wanted a nice relaxing place away from anything too noisy. We chose a hotel a little bit off the beaten path that actually housed a Muy Thai boxing arena. We also got to pass the "poo farm" everyday. It smelled fantastic!

Apparently there was a big event the weekend before, so I was bummed about that. I think it would've been really cool to see a match, despite the fact that I know nothing about boxing.

It was so hot I wasn't hungry, despite the fact that the only thing I ate all day was an apple and cereal bar. Nevertheless, once we settled in, we found a small restaurant to get lunch. Everything on the menu looked fantastic, but we chose a red curry and a dish with pineapple and shrimp. We also got steamed rice on the side. The bill came to around 200Baht, so it was kind of expensive at $7USD.

For dessert, we each got ice cream. I was intrigued by the taro flavored option. I believe I made a good choice.

Sorry I'm not sorry:

I have never been to a beach where the water was so clear. It was truly a sight to see:

We walked around the island for a bit and after finding the USC kids (who made a pit stop on the way to the full moon party) decided to join them and go kayaking over to monkey beach.

I thought monkey beach was just a name, but there were actually monkeys on the beach.

We snorkeled for a bit. A bit meaning not very long. I had some issues with the mask, so I literally felt like I was drowning. The tide was also very low so a lot of the rocks were exposed due to the shallow water. Luckily, sea urchins were very common in this area. Long story short, I stepped on one of the adorable, spiky, purple creatures. It hurt some at first, but it really wasn't bad at all. Regardless, two of the USC boys kayaked me back to the beach, where I was carried by 4 different people.

After my foot received a nice lime shower, the lovely Robbie proceeded to try to pluck out the sea urchin's needles with tweezer. Little bits were still stuck in my foot, however. My foot then received another vinegar bath. The Thai man who rented us the kayaks went to his little hut and brought back a small bottle. He lifted my foot and extended his arm so as to start beating me. I may or may not have immediately pulled back and screamed, fearing for the safety of my foot. The Thai man then explained to me that he needed to beat my foot to help the needles come out. Figuring he knew what he was doing, I proceeded to watch as he repeatedly beat my foot with a tiny bottle to supposedly help get the needles out... Keep in mind everyone in the surrounding area was watching this whole ridiculous scene; I was basically a celebrity. After that ridiculous adventure, Santiago and I headed home. Not quite hungry yet for dinner, we decided to stop at one of the thousand massage places. It was a glorious hour for only 200Baht.

This is just a random picture of what some of the snacks look like:

I talked about in my Philippines blog how the locals exhausted me, always harassing you to buy something. I saw this shirt at one of the street shops. It sums my Manila experience. I don't think Thailand was an appropriate place to buy it, though. One amazing thing about Koh Phi Phi was that everything was still super cheap, but the locals wouldn't whine at you 24/7 despite how uninterested you look.

After going back to the room and cleaning up a bit, we got dinner at another restaurant. Pineapple fried rice and pad thai. It was probably our worse dinner. The rice was very greasy and not what I expected (any other times its served in a pineapple and just overall looks better) and neither of us are the biggest fans of pad thai. We figured we should get it since its the American favorite, though. In total, dinner was 135 Baht.

Exhausted, we walked around for a bit, signed up for a boat tour for the next day, and called it a night.

I started off the second day with some muesli (essentially granola) with yogurt and fresh fruit. Yummy.

Then we headed off on our boat tour. I wish they would've announced which parts of the islands we stopped at, but unfortunately they didn't so I'm stuck with lots of beautiful places without names. The first photo is of a small island we stopped at to have lunch. It was probably my favorite stop all day. I feel like a broken record, but the views were spectacular.

We essentially toured the Koh Phi Phi islands, stopping to snorkel and walk on a few beaches.

The rock formations were crazy.

Viking Cave - I think Golem can currently be found there.

The entrance to Maya Bay, the famous beach that the movie The Beach was filmed on. I've never seen the movie but Leonardo DiCaprio starred in it so it must be good. Because of the distant entrance, we didn't take our cameras. Santiago was pretty upset; it was his trip goal. At least he made it to the beach.

Our boat had some issues, which means that it stopped roughly 8 times throughout the day for some unknown reason (perhaps oil issues?), so we didn't get back until sundown. We were forced to suffer:

The third day was a pretty busy day. More spectacular views were seen.

The clear, warm, shallow water was swam through.

Tasty kebabs that street vendors were selling were devoured.

Coconuts were drank.

And a lot of layout out was done. Needless to say, it was a pretty hectic and stressful day; sorry I'm not sorry. :)

Even beautiful beaches can't stop me from being a nerd.

After spending the entire day relaxing, we headed to the View Point to get an amazing view of the island at sunset. Note on the right beach side how the water recedes completely during low tide.

After another delicious curry dinner, we headed to the shops to try to spend the rest of our Baht. I got a tank top with drunk puppies, a bracelet, a belt, a dress, and a pair of jean shorts for myself. I also got Kayla a shirt with a fat naked woman and 2 novelty pins for Mary.
There were little stands everywhere that sold Thai pancakes; they were essentially crepes that could be made with anything you want: coconut, banana, nutella, even meat! Apparently the nutella banana ones are the best, so we figured we should try one on our last night on the island.

We weren't disappointed. 

After a long day, we headed back, washed up, and packed for our departure. The next morning, we enjoyed the free breakfast then headed back to the dock to make our 9:30 ferry back to Phuket. From there, we took a bus to the airport and encountered the most ridiculous immigration line ever. We were several hours early, so luckily we had no issues. We were, however, very sad to leave such an amazing place.