Phi Phi/Railay

I flew from Bangkok to Phuket Airport in the late evening. Since I was just passing through, I stayed at the airport hotel and left early morning (errrr 11am) for Phi Phi. It was about a 2hr boat ride to the island.

I arrived and was immediately surrounded by beautiful scenery. It’s a pretty small island, but also quite confusing and was easy to get lost. I found a little guest house which surprisingly had good internet. I then ventured out and found a sign that said “view point -à”. I decided to follow it and hiked up the mountain for about 20-30 minutes. I was rewarded with one of the most beautiful views I’ve ever seen, and decided to stick around for the sunset.

Walking back down to the village I figured I should book a tour for the next day. I had to check out of my room at 11am, but my next boat wasn’t until 3pm. I found a snorkeling/Island hop tour and it was the best 250 baht (~$8) I ever spent. Took us (me and people I never met before) to a few different spots for snorkeling, swimming, and pictures. The tour concluded at Maya Bay where the movie “The Beach” was filmed. This is probably one of the most beautiful places on earth, and I always wanted to go.

We docked back at Phi Phi and I only had a short time to catch my boat to Railay Beach. Luckily no one stole my computer/luggage, which I left with the travel agent people. It was another 1.5 hour boat ride to Railay. There is no pier at the island so we were carried by longboat to about knee level water.

I could see why my friends recommended Railay, it was quite gorgeous. I quickly found a bungalow on Railay East beach (the poor person side), and rushed back to the Westside to snap some sunset photos.

I walked back in the dark thinking it would be fine, but there weren’t too many lights and I got a little lost. My iphone “flashlight” app wasn’t working for some reason, so I was just walking straight and hoping not to get eaten by a snake. I eventually found my place and slept for 12hrs uninterrupted. It was so nice and quiet, and I had been averaging ~5hrs/night, so I woke up feeling refreshed.

I decided to just have a relaxing beach day, and headed back to west beach. On the way I was surrounded by monkeys climbing on fences, power lines, and trees. It was amazing being that close to the wildlife.

I took a small excursion around the island and found some fascinating caves. There were a few other view points to go to, but I was in relax mode and didn’t feel like doing much.

I spent the rest of the day drinking fruit shakes and eating. Slept pretty good, and caught a boat back to Phuket.  That brings us to now.  I am sitting at the airport waiting for my flight to leave, which is supposed to be at 7:20pm.  I've been here since 2pm uploading pics to Facebook and writing up these blogs.  I can't wait to get back home.  So far all my flights have been delayed, I'm hoping to run good today and be back in Chiang Mai at the scheduled time.

Bangkok

I decided to fly to Bangkok instead of taking the 10hr bus ride as planned.  I just figured I work too hard to be ballin on a budget (quote Big Sean).  My 1hr flight was delayed 2hrs, and I was operating on 5hrs of sleep so I wasn’t a happy camper.  I guess it beats the bus though.  I took a cab from the airport and it cost me ~$14 to get to my hotel.  I came to find that everything was super expensive compared to Chiang Mai (cost me $3-5 max to get anywhere… and usually only 60 cents).  I stayed a few nights on Khao San road which is a big tourist place.  It was packed with people 24hrs a day.

Khao San Rd

My hotel was pretty noisy.  I woke up around 7am thanks to some crying babies and whiny kids who thought it would be cool to play in the hallways for an hour.  I decided to explore a bit, so I walked around Khao San area for an hour or so.

Found this fort

Most my trip I spent trying to get away from Khao San.  During the day there were Indian men grabbing me and literally trying to pull me into their shop to buy a suit.  At night ladyboi’s would walk next to me and offer massages which I respectfully declined.  My personal bubble was violated too often to stay there.


I eventually got a hotel room on Sukhumvit rd which was still busy, but I found to be much nicer.  The hotel was a lot quieter.  Some of the shopping centers there were amazing.  Seven floors of a shoppers paradise.  I’m not a huge shopper, but I enjoy walking around in air conditioning instead of the muggy, hot, and polluted outside air.

MBK Mall

 Central World

 Siam Paragon

One of the highlights of my trip was a water taxi ride down the river.  For 15 baht (~50 cents) it was by far the best “tour” for the money.

Other than that I made a couple new friends, and hung out with my friend Justin from Chiang Mai.  He’s from my language school and was in Bangkok on business a couple days.

Overall I wasn’t overly impressed with Bangkok.  I had fun, but it just seemed like any other big city.  Obviously it had temples, markets, and other things you couldn’t find elsewhere, but I’m used to all that in Chiang Mai.  I was ready to get out of there and head to the islands, which did not disappoint!  I will write up a separate blog for that.

Pai!!!

I just got back from a weekend trip to Pai.  It's about a 3-4 hour drive from Chiang Mai, and has some beautiful views along the way.  We arrived around 5pm Friday night, got some food, and browsed walking street. I was pretty impressed with the town, and the people seemed very friendly.  Saturday we spent visiting a waterfall and Pai canyon, both were quite stunning.  Sunday we woke up, got some food, and headed back home.  I'll keep the words to a minimum since the pictures speak for themselves.

some views along the way

Pai Walking Street

 little village

views of waterfall 

 Pai Canyon

 random view of the mountain

I had a lot of fun, and I think I will visit there again.  I'm going to hang around Chiang Mai this week, and then I'm off to visit Bangkok on the 18th.  From Bangkok I plan on visiting some islands.  I don't really have much of a plan, but will probably spend 3-4 days down there.  I'd like to visit Phi Phi for a day, maybe Railay, and maybe a night in Phuket.