the days we live for

There's no argument: Ko Phi Phi is among the most beautiful islands in the world. Devastated by the tsunami a couple years ago, it's still in some disarray amidst trying to rebuild itself, but its natural beauty of huge cliffs make it easy to sit on the beach all day, taking in the scenery. Fogged over from taking the camera from the air conditioning of the room out into the morning heat, this is the view from my parent's balcony over-looking one of the two main bays.

Phi Phi is not the only island in the area. A short boat ride away are Mosquito Island, Bamboo Island, and the popular Maya Beach where the movie The Beach was filmed (minus the fields of pot.) We hired a longtail boat for the day and spent the afternoon cruising around to the different beaches and islands, stopping to jump in and snorkel at several different reefs.

A mellow, dark-skinned Thai guy drove us around from place to place without ever saying much. He drove the boat, took us where ever we wanted to go and slept in a hammock he hung in his boat while waiting. You gotta dig his steering wheel.



On one beach we were greeted by monkeys. These little buggers look at you expecting something. They're all fat little guys that hang out on the beach scrapping for bananas that tourists throw out to them. A couple of them even snagged bottles of pepsi and chugged them down. Every once in a while the monkeys would get aggressive and scare the shit out of some people. Other times they would start fighting with each other scrapping around making a racket while swinging at each other.



Days spent like this are the life. Relax a little, swim a little. See some monkeys, swim a little more. Relax on the boat and watch the limestone cliffs go by. Snorkel a little, then walk on the beach. Take a nap, have some lunch, swim a little more and then get back on the boat to head to another islands.

For the most part the beaches were uncrowded and the snorkeling spots were frequented by diverse schools of fish. The water was crystal clear. Shade was at a premium and sun screen was not optional. Those who refused to put any on burned horribly. Constantly putting sun screen on was annoying but hardly worth complaining about island hopping in paradise.