Island Time (Thailand)

After being in Hanoi Vietnam for a couple of days, Aly and I are settling in and finally have had some time to organize a few thoughts about the second half of our Thailand trip... 

Post Chiang Mai, we flew to Phuket for a night (since we missed the days last ferry to Koh Phi Phi).  Phuket town isn't overly large and from what I can tell, people really just pass through on their way to a beach resort in Phuket or to catch the ferry to Koh Phi Phi... we were the later of the two. 

Arriving in Koh Phi Phi Don the following morning, we got settled in to our room quickly, walked the (small) town, and visited one of the gorgeous beaches.  Not sure how many people know much about Koh Phi Phi, but it was wiped out in the 2004 Tsunami and has been subsequently rebuilt and (as far as we could tell) life seems to have returned to normal and the Thai people are as happy and friendly as they come.

I had spent some time researching scuba diving certification on the island before we arrived and after speaking with a few shops, we (Kyla and I) settled on Phi Phi Aquanauts as our dive shop of choice.  I'll be posting some pics from our underwater adventures, but they really don’t do it justice.  After learning some of the basics, it took a total of 5 dives to get our diving licences.  Some of the highlights included seeing a black tipped reef shark, a giant turtle, and swimming through a cave with a school of fish in it.  The course itself took nearly four days to complete, so that took up most of my time on Koh Phi Phi Don.  Aly had a bit more of a chance to explore the island... and also  worked on her tan.

We did, however, manage to find time to hire a long tail boat to take us to Koh Phi Phi Ley (which is a protected national park without permanent inhabitants).  We arrived first thing in the am - definitely a great idea, since we ended up having Maya beach to ourselves (this is the beach made famous by the filming of the movie "the beach").  Getting to the beach was a bit of an adventure though.  After agreeing to a price with a long tail boat driver, we headed off towards Koh Phi Phi Ley.  About half way through the journey, the drive informed us that the water was too choppy to enter the bay of the beach.  So, we had to take the boat to another bay, swim through some pretty choppy waters, climb a series of ropes that were floating in the water, followed by some rickety stairs onto the island, and then we walk across the island to "the beach".

We obviously made it, but the downside was that we couldn't bring our cameras, but enjoying the beach to ourselves in the morning before all the tour boats made their way there, was a welcome trade off.  We also did a little snorkelling afterwards, which was fun (although maybe but not as exciting after all the diving we had done over the previous few days). 

After Phi Phi, we took a ferry to Railay beach, Krabi, where we transferred to a long tail boat and then waded (with our bags) onto the island through a mangrove.  On Railay we finally got a chance to spend a few days relaxing from the hecticness of scuba diving.  While in Railay, we did some kayaking, lounged on the beach a bit, and took it slow for a few days.  The island and beaches are amazing, with karst mountains everywhere. 

The slower pace continued when we flew to the opposite coast to Koh Samui for the last leg of our island time.  Samui is the largest of the Thai islands - it’s really busy, full of resorts, and seems to sort of lack the Thai identity we saw in other places through the country.  Nonetheless, we enjoyed our time there and visited a 5* resort called The Library for some fancy time - a few brightly coloured cocktails and some tapas.  We also spent a few days on the less touristy side of the island, where the beach isn't as spectacular, but contains more locals, better food, and has a more relaxed feel.  

Some of you may know that I've been growing my hair longer these past few months (to Alyson's delight - sarcasm).  I didn't quite realize how long it was until a street vendor called me "Mr. long hair" when he was trying to get my attention.  I'm thinking it might be time for a cut... or at least a trim. 

Our journey back to Bangkok was a long one (consisting of a mini-bus, a large bus, a ferry, another, a taxi, and a shuttle bus) but since it was our final night in Thailand, we were determined to make our dinner a good one.  When we arrived we found a local market and arguably had our best meal in Thailand that night. 

For the equivalent of six dollars Canadian, we had a great green chicken curry, three orders of rice, chicken wings, a squid phad thai, and two large beers.  The phad thai was likely the best phad thai I've had in my life, and it cost me 35 baht, or roughly $1.20 (I don't say this lightly, having eaten phad thai a minimum of once... but generally twice daily... for a month). 

After spending so much time in Thailand, we accumulated a handful of phrases that really helped us out and Alyson even had a couple of Thai people switch to Thai mid conversation with her because they were convinced she spoke Thai.  On one occasion in Samui, after receiving confused looks from both Alyson and I, our server switched back to English and complimented Aly on her pronunciation.  He then asked where we were from, and after hearing we were Canadian, said "Yellowknife?".  Some of you may know that my brother lives in Yellowknife, so this totally caught me off guard.  Half way around the world, and it turns out the show "Ice Road Truckers" is one of his favourites.  Crazy.

As I mentioned before, we've been in Hanoi for a couple of days now and are now starting to work on picking up some phrases in Vietnamese, which seems a LOT more difficult than Thai.  That being said, I have a good feeling that Vietnam might be a new favourite...  more to come soon.