... maat ventures ....: Add this one to your bucket list: Phi Phi Island, Thailand

I decided that this post was going to be mostly photos, rather than words, as I think they will pretty much speak for themselves. Southern Thailand is simply breathtaking. The majority of the time we were there, I kept thinking that it was surreal and everything around me was fake. It's so picturesque that I told my mom I felt like I was living and breathing in a computer screensaver or desktop background. The water is so blue and clear that you can see the bottom in 15 feet deep water and it's also refreshingly warm. Southern Thailand, or Phi Phi Island to be more specific, is definitely a place to add to your list of places to see before you die!

We arrived in Phuket in the early afternoon and immediately took a taxi to our brand new hotel, the Westin Siray Bay. It had it's grand opening in the beginning of August so we ended up getting a really good deal on our room. The hotel was immaculate and the view exquisite. At this point in our trip, we were more than ready for a little R and R and spent the afternoon and early evening basking in the sun and soaking up the view. This was one of the many times in our trip when we looked at each other and said, "think about where we are right now - this is awesome!" As we were traveling, it was easy to get caught up with where we were and not really take the time to actually put ourselves on a map in the world and think about where we were. However, it was pretty cool when we did. We had our first lazy day of the whole trip and topped the evening off by ordering room service for dinner.

At 7:30 the next morning we were checked out of our hotel and on a mini bus taking us to the pier a few kilometers away. Since the ferry company picked us up, we were quite early and had our choice of where we wanted to sit on the boat. There were several levels, both inside and out, and I'm pretty sure the biggest decision we made that day was whether to sit on the left or the right side of the boat. We, obviously, chose to sit on the top level of the boat and even ended up choosing the correct side to sit on (for taking pictures of the islands later). We were served coffee and croissants and I don't think either of us could wipe the smirks off our faces as we glided through the Andaman Sea with the most perfect weather imaginable. We arrived at Phi Phi Don (the main part of the larger island - there are two: one inhabited, but without cars, and one that isn't inhabited). We dropped off the folks who were just on the boat for the ferry service to the island and continued on a tour of Phi Phi Le, which is the smaller of the two islands and is where the movie The Beach was filmed (with Leo). It was glorious. After cruising around for a while, we took a long boat (with all of our luggage!) to the beach where we would be having lunch. Before lunch, however, we climbed back into the long tail boat to head out to the reef for snorkeling. Now those of you who know me, know that I'm not the biggest snorkeling fan and I usually prefer to stay on the catamarans that take me there. (I don't know what it is, I just don't like putting those things in my mouth when I don't know where they've been and I feel like when you snorkel in one place, it's all pretty much the same). HOWEVER, I sucked it up and realized that I would probably never have another opportunity to snorkel off the coast of Phi Phi Island and I'd go for it. There was even lipstick on the outside of my snorkel and I still went for it :). After snorkeling, we went back to the beach for lunch and spent some time relaxing on the beautiful beach. In the mid afternoon, a long tail boat (basically the island's version of a taxi) took us back to the main island of Phi Phi Don and we found our hotel. We had another relaxing afternoon exploring our hotel and the island a bit and I even had a traditional Thai massage (one hour for about $12 USD!) We had a fabulous stay in Phi Phi.

The next morning we were a little worried about everything that had to fall into place, but it couldn't have worked out more perfectly if we tried! We took the 10:30 am ferry to Krabi, which was supposed to arrive at noon, but didn't until 12:30. Thankfully, as we were checking in with our tickets before leaving Phi Phi, we asked the ferry workers about the likelihood of there being taxis waiting at the Krabi Pier. They told us that they happen to also offer taxi services so we booked one through them, they made a call, and there was one waiting for us as we got off the ferry. It was perfect. As we drove away (the first ones to leave the pier from our ferry) we didn't see any other taxis, but there was a phone number to call if you wanted one. Since our flight was scheduled for 2:00pm, and it was now about 12:45, we were extremely grateful for our previously made arrangements! We arrived at the airport around 1:15, checked-in with no trouble, didn't have to wait in line at immigration (this is a BIG plus), and even had time to enjoy a coffee before boarding our flight to Kuala Lumpur!

I guess there were still a lot of words in this post, but it was so fabulous that I had to tell you all about it. EVERYONE SHOULD VISIT THAILAND! I will now leave you with some photos:

soaking it all in while Aar checks us in