After a couple days with Mike in Phuket, we ventured off to the islands. Phuket is very touristy, loud and in your face, so we though heading to the islands would be the right speed.
We headed to Phi Phi. I spent a couple days there when my friend Mark came to visit a few weeks ago. This time Mike and I were planning on staying for longer, to really check out the scenery and see if it was somewhere we could work. Obviously, the most important scenery was underwater, so just about as soon as we got there, we booked in for some underwater time.
The first dives we did were fantastic. We did three dives, the King Cruiser wreck and two reef dives, Anemone reef and Shark Point. The King Cruiser wreck was a vehicle ferry that sank mysteriously with no cars or passengers on it, just the captain, in the 90's. It was probably an insurance job, but they decided to leave the boat there anyway... made for a good dive spot. And now it is! There were SO many fish inside the wreck, thousands of little yellow snapper and other schooling fish. Lots of big buys, like baracudas and jacks, were cruising along the outside of the wreck. Our next dive was Anemone Reef, which was my favorite site of the day. It's named because the coral pinnacle that makes up the reef is literally coated in anemones and in most of those anemones there are a couple little nemos cruising around! We also saw a bright yellow seahorse, some really neat little eels, lionfish, scorpionfish and lots of squid! The last dive was called Shark Point, named because the reef come out of the water in the shape of a shark fin, not because there are any sharks. Another really cool site... saw some more creepy crawly guys... mantis shrimp, lionfish and eels!
On of our land days on Phi Phi, we went up to the viewpoint up on the top of the island, you can see the whole tourist village area. It's a beautiful spot, but holy hell does it take some effort to get there. Of course we took the long way accidentally.
Worth the hike!
Another day, we rented a kayak and decided to explore the "quiet" beach nearby. It was called Monkey Beach for exactly the right reasons.... it was full of monkeys! So therefore, also full of tourists. "Quiet" beach, my ass! But it was still a beautiful little cove, the water was gorgeous and clear, the sand was white and fluffy and there were monkeys roaming wild! Some of the tour operators were throwing them bananas to get them closer to the beach and out of the trees. After checking out the beach, we went on kayaking for a bit more before returning to the monkey beach for a healthy snack of Pringles. We pulled the kayak up on the rocky end of the beach where there were no primates of any sort. I sat clueless on a rock, eating some chips where out of nowhere, one of the biggest monkeys jumps on my lap and tries to steal my can of Pringles! I threw a chip at him and ran in knee deep water. Even though they can swim, they don't seem to get in the water very much. The hungry monkey had brought along his family and before we knew it, there were eight or ten monkeys in our kayak looking for more food! Eventually they got bored and wandered back to the tour boat operators with the bananas.
After our stint on Phi Phi, Mike and I had to venture back to Phuket... he needed to get his visa extended and I needed to hop on a plane to do my very first border run to Malaysia and back. We stayed in Patong, which seemed to have the cheapest accommodation. Patong is the Las Vegas of Phuket... it's loud, it's neon and it has no rules. Anything goes. We went out for a night, just to see the spectacle of it. Mike was terrified, because he couldn't tell if the people hitting on him were women or ladyboys... and it really is hard to tell! Some of the ladyboys are beautiful!!! It was a very weird night in a very weird town. Literally anything goes and everyone wants you to be a part of it. Let's just say there are some things in life you can't un-see. Although, I did get to hold an animal called a slow loris... google it. They're adorable.
My border run and Mike's visa extension were successful, so now we've hopped over to Ko Lanta, another island in the area, a three hour ferry ride from Phuket. So far, its awesome. It's slower paced than Phuket and Phi Phi and has some really beautiful beaches. We're off to check out the underwater world tomorrow, so hopefully that proves equally as beautiful!
Love and fishes!!
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