Ko Phi Phi, Days One and Two

Our trip has taken an unexpected turn since I last posted to this blog. Late on Saturday night (actually early Sunday morning), Sanjana decided that it would be a fun idea to play on the roof of the building next to our 4th floor terrace. As a result, she fell through the roof and into somebody's living room. After a series of events which involved stiches to her ankle, neighbors following a trail of blood to her room, and Thai police coming at 7am demanding 3000 baht for damages, we managed to leave Krabi for the Ko Phi Phi islands. We rented a luggage cart for a couple days here and use it to cart Sanjana around the island, which is faster than her using crutches.

The island we are on, Ko Phi Phi Don, is larger and much more developed than Railay. That has its downsides, of course, but it also means that it has a good party scene. Last night we went to a bar on the beach and watched a fire dance show, which was really cool. Then the fire dancers lit a rope on fire with a flammable liquid and turned it into a giant jump rope that we could use. All of us but Jean Philippe and Sanjana (obviously) did it, and we all made it out relatively unscathed, although Ivo and Dimitar both have light burns from the entry and exit stages, where they were caught in the rope. Dimitar has some VERY good photos of it, so hopefully I will be able to post them when I get to a place with faster Internet.

Today, Ivo and Jean Philippe went diving, so Dimitar, Nisha, and I rented a longtail boat for the day to take us around the different islands. Sanjana seems to have had some side effects from the anesthetic, so she stayed in the hotel :-(. She definitely missed out. At the first place we stopped we went snorkling, and there were so many fish in the water that you would grab them with your hands as you swam. There were some beautiful coral reefs. We then went to a long white sandy beach, then a lagoon surrounded by limestone cliffs where we went snorkling again, and then another cove and another beach. This island, Ko Phi Phi Ley, was the site where the movie "The Beach" was filmed, and it is easy to understand why a beach movie would be set there, as it is absolutely beautiful.

Krabi

This morning, we took a taxi longboat to the town of Krabi, located on the mainland. Dimitar, Ivo, and Jean-Philippe woke up very early to check out a lagoon and a cave on our island. The girls and I slept in. We found a nice hostel in Krabi and went to a travel service place, where we booked a kayak tour of a park north of here.

Our very nice guide, Mel, drove us to the park and guided us around in our kayaks. The water was flat and surrounded by lush jungle and limestone cliffs. We paddled along, and eventually reached a spot where the river ran through a cave. We went through, and took some great photos (although not with my camera since I was worried about getting it wet). We then got out of the kayaks and explored the caves on foot. Mel pointed out the stalactites and stalagmites growing, and some paintings of people and animals that are thousands of years old. We climbed up out of the cave to a vista with amazing views of the surrounding area.

We're now back in Krabi, and we're all taking some time to catch up on emails and rest before going out tonight. I'm going to try to post some of the photos that I have not had a chance to upload yet, hopefully the Internet here is fast enough that I will be able to get them all!

Bangkok Part One, Ao Nang, Railay

Hello from paradise. I am writing now from an Internet shop on a secluded tropical island in southern Thailand called Railay. It is everything you would imagine a tropical island would be, and it is home to what our travel book calls the best beach in all of Thailand.

But before we came here, we spent a night and most of a day in Bangkok. At night, we took Tuk Tuks around, which are these very fast three-wheeled go-kart-like taxis that are found all over Thailand. I'm not going to describe much of the nighttime activities (hi Mom!), but during the day we went to some absolutely beautiful temples and palaces in Bangkok, led by a tour guide who is probably the nicest lady I have ever met. Thai temples are much more impressive to me than what we saw in Japan or Hong Kong. They are huge and colorful, with amazing hand painted murals and other intricate decorations.

In the afternoon, we flew to Krabi airport and took a shuttle to the small village of Ao Nang, where we found a nice hostel and settled down for the night. Dimitar got to hold a spider monkey, and we all had dinner and drinks next to to the beautiful and incredibly warm beach.

It wasn't until today that we really got to appreciate the incredible beauty of this place. We took a longtail boat from Ao Nang to Railay, which took abut 15 minutes. There are huge limestone formations everywhere covered in tropical jungle, and there are incredible, sandy beaches. The water is clear and sooooo warm. On Railay, we spent the morning on a beach, where we ate some delicious Thai food cooked on the spot for us, and in the afternoon, we took a beginning rock climbing class where we climbed some stunning rock formations over the water. The view from the top of the 30 meter climb was unbelievably gorgeous.

In addition to the five of us, we met a French backpacker named Jean-Philippe who joined us for the day and is staying with us tonight. Dimitar speaks, French, so the two of them have been speaking in French all day. He is a member of the French national hand ball team, and he is very nice.

The Internet place where I am is about to close, so I will not be able to post any photos now, but I will do best to unload my backlog as soon as I can.