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.