THAILAND TIME!!!!

Sorry it has been so long since my last post it has been a crazy two weeks! Not much to comment on, just had my first quiz/test last week for my classes. Here the quizzes are worth 20% of your grade and then the final is 60%, so a lot rides on one test. Anyways this weekend was probably the best trip of my life. Kara and I planned a trip to the lovely island of Koh Phi Phi Don in the Andaman Sea off of Thailand. (that is a mouthful!) We started our great adventure at 5:30 in the morning on friday ughhh. The traveling was quite long and extensive but so worth it. We took the first bus from our campus at 6 am and headed to the mrt station. Our stop at NTU is the second to last stop on the red line and we were going to the last stop in the opposite direction. We just napped for the hour long trip which brought us right to the bottom of the airport.  We arrived with perfect timing and made it through security and immigration easily. Our flight left at 8:35 am and arrived in Phuket Thailand at 9:10 am (due to the time difference) Next up came the 35 minute taxi trip to the ferry. Driving through Phuket was very interesting, it is not the nicest area where we were driving. There is a resort area along the other coast that apparently is more established. Everything was pretty run down with the exception of some very elaborate Thai temples and cultural things. It was such a contrast to see shacks surrounded by elaborate statues and walls. We made it to the ferry pier in perfect timing and boarded our little rickety ferry. It was so hilarious because there were so many people and bags packed onto this little boat but we made it! We thought it was a great idea to sit outside along side the boat, but it ended up we had a constant spray from the ocean for two hours, so by the time that we arrived we were soaked. 

Ferry Ride

The phi phi islands are comprised of a few scattered smaller islands and one larger island phi phi don, which is the only one that is established and has inhabitants. It was 1 pm when we officially arrived after a long day of travels. We headed off the ferry in search of some well needed food and we stumbled upon a restaurant called Mr. Tees. I am so happy we found his hole in the wall, of course in Thailand I would order the Pad Thai, but this was the most delicious Pad Thai I have ever tasted. It was the best start to our day in Phi Phi. 

Thai Fanta

Small Shop Best Shop

Pad Thai!!!

The island is actually quite small and there are no cars at all. You have two options: walking, or taking long boats to where you need to go. Our hotel was in walking distance even though it was on the opposite side of the island. We stayed at the lovely Twin Palms Bungalow. It was about ten steps to the beach and ten steps to restaurants and shops. We had to rough it a little bit in order to be in such a fabulous location. The bungalow had no outlets, tv, radio, or anything modern. On top of that it was equipped with mosquito nets for all the bugs and of course no A/C so we had one fan. I think the entire trip that I was in Thailand I was some degree of hot. The water was warm so not refreshing, the nights were hot, the days were hotter... so you get the point. 

Our Bungalow

Beds with Mosquito Nets

Modern Bathroom...

Ten steps to beach

After our inspection of our bungalow we just relaxed at the perfect beach for the rest of the day. That night we met up with some other friends from NTU and we went to a place called Banana Bar. It is set on a rooftop with little bungalows all around it. There are black lights everywhere and of course they gave us glow in the dark paint to use. The next morning I headed straight to the beach and reserved Kara and I two prime beach chairs. Along the beach right near our hotel there are a bunch of food stands. At first I was wary but I watched them cook everything so we decided to try it.  ( We were warned not to eat anything raw in Thailand-which means we didn't eat the wonderful pineapple, we said we would rather be safe) I had the most delicious spring rolls and corn, yes a huge ear of delicious thailand corn. We were hooked yet again on another place to eat. 

Our Beach!

Spring Rolls and Prawns

Amazing corn haha

Later in the day we decided to go hike up the the pee pee viewpoint. we thought, well the island is not so big so it shouldn't take too long.... we we're wrong. We were probably climbing stairs for forty-five minutes in the dead heat. By the time we reached the last viewpoint we were covered in sweat and missed the sunset. Yet, it was still so breathtaking. The viewpoint showed the  entire island of phi phi don and all the boats in the harbor. The photos I took did not do it justice. That night we wandered around town with our friends from NTU and had a great time. We tried this food called a thailand pancake. It was great, maybe because I ordered it with nutella, but either way it was great.

Lots of Steps

Pee Pee Viewpoint

Gorgeous

 The next morning we had our cruise with Captain Bob at noon. We headed to Mr. Tee's for some pad thai and then went to the pier. When we were waiting we met four people from Canada on our cruise and we all hit it off well. Captain Bob's boat is a small I would say 25-30 foot sailboat, which he sailed from Canada himself. At first the boat seemed a tad to small for everyone but it actually worked out perfectly. The group was Kara and I the sole Americans for a great majority of our trip in Thailand, the four Canadians, two swedish guys, and one Australian man. By the end of the trip we were all so close, including Captain Bob. On our tour we stopped at Monkey Beach first, to of course see the monkeys that live on a small beach in Phi Phi Don. I was wary of the monkeys before we got to the beach and Captain Bob warned us they were a little vicious. Lucky I kept my distance because there were many other tourists there taunting the animals and they went after a few people. No one got hurt but I was happy with my photo from afar. 

Sailboat

Momma and Baby

The next part of our journey is we sailed over to Phi Phi Leh. This island has a sacred cave called viking cave, which has historical cave paintings from the Chinese. The Thai actually believe that the Chinese discovered North America first due to the depictions in these cave paintings. We were not allowed to go into these caves because from Dec.-May it is breeding season for Thailand's sacred bird. These birds make nests with their won saliva and apparently if a human eats this saliva it will help them to live longer and prosper. Therefore they are in great demand and are highly sacred. One small nest is valued at about one thousand US dollars. Now these nests are protected by the government, but Captain Bob said that there used to be a mafia that ran Phi Phi Leh up until about five years ago. Phi Phi Leh is actually uninhabited besides a few government men protecting the nests, and they live in very primitive bungalows in the cliffs. 

Cliffs

People live here...

Next stop is famous Maya Bay. Our boat anchored on the other side of the island so we could enjoy some non touristy snorkeling. The water was so clear with thousand of these turquoise and yellow fish brighter than the water. We walked through the island to Maya Bay which is known from the movie "The Beach" with Leonardo Dicaprio. It truly was breathtaking, the sand was so incredibly fine and soft and the water was perfect. We basked in the water for awhile and then snorkeled back to Captain Bob. Our next stop was a cave on our way back. We got to do some small cliff jumps and exploring in the sunset. The sailboat had two kayaks being pulled in the back of the boat so in the sunset all the girls climbed into the kayaks and just took in the sun. I have to say it was one of the most beautiful moments of my life. We were in between islands and all we could see was vast ocean around us, no boats, no tourists, just us, the sunset, and the water. We were all reluctant to leave Captain Bob so we all went out to dinner together. 

Snorkeling

Getting Ready...

Maya Bay!

Me at Maya Bay!

Yoga time in Maya Bay Cave

Little Cliff Jump

The whole Crew!

This drew to our last day in Phi Phi, we took in all the sun we could, did alittle gift shopping and parted the island at 230 pm.  We did a long haul of traveling and got back to our little room in Singapore at 2 am. It was worth the exhaustion. This was the most beautiful and perfect place I have ever been. All I can say is pictures do not do it justice. Until next time...

xoxo

Leah