Oct 8

Oct 8 Phi Phi Islands

Thailand is very chill, as long as your don't go on super popular tourist excursions, then it becomes less chill, or as one of the Thai guides we met said, it becomes "Chinatown." The below pictures are from a boat trip we took to the Phi Phi and surrounding islands. Apparently this is THE most popular tourist attraction in like all of Thailand, and it showed. Not to say it was a bad experience, but you definitely feel like a cow being herded around. My favorite part was flying across the water sitting in the front of the speedboat watching the islands drift by.

Part of me hates the tourist thing, but part of me would be really bummed if I made it to this remote part of the world, then didn't see the islands. I feel like I need to take advantage of the location, even if it means jockeying for space on a speedboat with a group of hungover looking Indian dudes on a bachelor party weekend.

The anchor boy, doing the anchor thing.

Thailand is the first location I've been to on this trip where the topography is really different. It is incredibly lush like Bali, but has all these amazing cliffs/mountain things that shoot up seemingly at random. They are striking.

Anchor boy pondering things.

Railay beach. They tell me this is a popular beach. Sounds good to me.

Dramatic lens flare rock.

This is the island where the movie "The Beach" with dreamboat Hollywood superstar my man Leo D was shot. The beach scene that is. It's also where hundreds (seriously, hundreds) of speedboats converge ferrying tourists, like myself, to destroy a pristine piece of nature beauty. I kept thinking how magical it would have been to stumble upon this scene prior to it's fame. The speedboats ruin the majesty a bit, but it's still really cool. If you keep your eyes trained upward towards the cliffs, you can fool your mind into thinking not everyone else and their Chinese mother is seeing the exact same thing.

Yo dude, check out the beach.

Ummmmm no. Maya Beach. Leo, look what though hath wrought. The area on the beach where you see all the people is a secondary bathroom if you don't want to hike into the woods. Made the mistake of going for a dip, honestly a bit surprised I didn't develop a skin disease... yet. It's a complete zoo.

More super cool rock cliffs areas and such.

Do Chinese and Indian people not learn how to swim? I don't get it. Bunch of Jerry's. Seriously, grown ass dudes wearing lifejackets in a peaceful warm lagoon. Swimming lessons are an important part of growing up kids, take em. Or else you'll be 30 years old looking like a damn baby.

Jazmyne reprimanded someone else's child for shaking an orange juice mockingly at the monkey. The kid was maybe 4, and the dad was standing right behind him. I was mortified.