Our arrival

We finally made it to Phi Phi. We checked into our hotel and I was less than pleased. I really shouldn't complain as it was less than $15 a night each, but my budget can afford more than that and I would have liked a non-leaking room, hot water and a window... but we did have a balcony!

I had my best meal yet in Phi Phi. If any of you go there you should go to a restaurant (shack) called Papaya- I think that's the name (it's next to Tiger bar our nightly spot). The servings were massive, fresh and super spicy.

Once again the weather was touch and go- on and off rain (torrential down pours). We all planned on staying in Phi Phi for a few days and wanted to do some fun stuff and not just sit around! One thing that absolutely struck us as we were coming in from the ferry from Krabi (that's the name of the place we were stranded for a few hours and found the local eatery), was that the panoramic views were out of this world and unlike anything I have seen. Once again picture small islands with rain forests inhabiting all but the beach fronts. What makes these different from Doubtful Sound is the proximity of these are no where near as close. These Islands are very far apart but it emphasises the vastness of the water! It is incredible to be in a boat and to see so much ocean around you! These Islands, Phi Phi and the smaller ones around it, literally shoot up from no where. They don't peak in the middle...they have a sort of flat top shape... picture Will Smiths hair in early Fresh Prince days if his hair were a rich green, lush rain forest on Christina Ricci's forehead (just as big) as the ocean's water! By far the most beautiful part of Thailand.

We did a sunset cruise- the Canadians, Nick, Carolina and I. We did a lot of snorkeling and had amazing schools of fish swimming with us. I have never swam amongst thousands of fish before, and I definitely was a little freaked out! There wasn't as much coral as there was off of Ko Tau, and I think I enjoyed seeing the coral more than the fish- though a great experience just the same!

We got to Kayak into a lagoon, which was beautifully relaxing (especially since Kris was doing the paddling!). We also passed by Monkey beach, but there were no Monkeys so we didn't stop in order to spend more time in other locations. The last stop we made was to a beach front. Actually a scene from the movie 'The Beach' was filmed there. To get to this beach we had to either swim from the boat to this little cave and walk on a rope through it, then a bit of a jungle walk to the other side where the beach was or stay on the boat and they would take you there. Seems like a no brainer, however even the thai tour guides said the swim would be a rough one, the weather was changing with the clouds coming in wich brought about rough water conditions.

Everyone psyched me up to do the swim / cave adventure. I am not one to pass up once in a life time opportunities on this trip. John agreed to stay close as my fear definitely shined through my less than tough facade! Since my near death experience in Jaco, circa 1991, I am not a big fan of waves and rough water!

I set my self free in the water and began to swim, not too bad at first. As we came closer to the cave the waves were incredibly strong. Keep in mind there were huge coral rocks around as the water became more shallow. The waves basically pushed us into the rocks with great force and then sucked us back out. It was not a fun experience to say the very least. At one point I grabbed onto Johns back for dear life and was sucked back out by a wave. Even the fittest of guys were having difficulty making it to the roped cave. The tour guide was yelling at us to stay to the left, but the water had other intentions for us. I banged up my knee and had a few scrapes on my hand as the rocks were merciless!

I somehow made it to the cave after swallowing much water and swearing to myself that I would skip further water activities. The cave took all about one minute to walk through- it was more of an arch way than a cave. The walk hurt our bare feet as we were walking on crushed coral and people were banged up! Kris had gashes and scrapes all over, one kid had his swimmers torn and we were all out of breath. We made it to the heavenly beach and I have to say... if I had just taken the boat there I really would not have missed out on anything. This is one of those times when I could have sat the activity out and it would have been better! But you never know these things and I would rather be disappointed in doing something than disappointed in missing out on another.

The beach was an alcove an alcove of the island. White sand beach, crystal clear water, the jungle around us and other than the other people on the tour, we had it all to ourselves. We only spent about a half hour here though. The weather cut our time short and gave us no sunset. It was still worth it!