Two Crazy Girls in ...

We went to Phi Phi Island

We booked our Phi Phi Island and Simon's Cabaret tour with Phuket Jet Tours online. They are a trustworthy and reliable company. However, we found that we could have also easily made bookings upon arrival at Phuket via Sally, our tour guide. The tour operators are a well-connected bunch of people and if they don't provide those tours themselves, they will sub-contract it to others who do.

We woke up at about 6am, had our continental breakfast at 6.30am and was picked up by the tour bus at about 7.15am. We arrived at the jetty about 40 minutes later and soon boarded the boat to Phi Phi.

Ahoy there!

As we waited for the boat to leave the dock, we were in for a pleasant treat. One by one, tourists who looked like they just stepped out of a Hollywood production came on board. They were absolutely gorgeous. Mama mia. Phuket is really the place where Westerners come to get away from it all. We regretfully did not take any photos of them though.

Anyway, our first stop was Phi Phi Island. It took us 1.5 hours to get there. We were told not to leave the ship because we were supposed to head to Maya Beach first and then come back to Phi Phi later for lunch and a few hours of traipsing around the beach.

This is one of our first glimpses of Phi Phi Island. A boat with a very familiar name... heheh.

Maybe this one belongs to Agent 008

After dropping off quite a few of the gorgeous Caucasians who were staying on Phi Phi Island, we continued our journey to Maya Beach.

Sceneries like these are rampant all the way towards Maya bay

Caves that are only accessible via canoes

Maya bay - the place where The Beach was filmed

We did not select the speed boat option - which would actually bring us directly to the Maya beach. Instead, our boat docked somewhere in the distance and we were given snorkeling equipment to swim around. I decided to give it a go as I had prior snorkeling experience in Redang. Unfortunately, I had lost touch with whatever little snorkeling skills I gained and did not enjoy the experience. I fumbled with my snorkeling apparatus, I couldn't control where I was going and one of the the boat crew helped me back up to the boat. I could see the fishes that were swimming in the very clear and blue water though. Lovely.

The wannabe snorkeller

The fishes rushing for the bread

Unfortunately, during my short stint of snorkeling, I gulped some seawater which promptly made me seasick. The motions of the boat and the smells of lotions and perfumes of my fellow boat passengers made me nauseous. I slept most of the way from Maya beach back to Phi Phi Island.

Seasick me... bleh

We finally docked at Phi Phi Island at about noon. We finally stepped on an actual beach well into our second day at Phuket. Sad hor? Anyway, Phi Phi Island was lovely and we had a fun time clowning around the beach and yakking to our hearts' content.

Happy at Phi Phi. No more seasickness, yaay!

Some parts of the island were still under construction. Here are a few grim reminders of what the 26 Dec tsunami did to the island.

A building that was devastated by the tsunami

I felt sad reading this... But you've got to admire the tenacity of the people who are determined not to let the tsunami stop their livelihood

We thought we looked a little darker than when we first started out. In the morning, people greeted us with 'Konnichiwa' (Japanese for 'Good morning'). By mid-afternoon, the local ice-cream seller conversed with me in Thai. Check out the pic below. I do look like a local Thai girl, eh?

Sawaddee Kha...

After a couple of hours frolicking on the serene and picturesque beach, it was time to head back to Phuket. Rina and I perched on the side of the boat for most of the journey - yakking and singing out a popular tune to our hearts' content. At that moment, I felt so happy and contented, just sitting on the boat with my best friend and sharing our hearts with each other.

Plus, we were looking forward to our night activities. Stay tuned for Day 2 (Part 2).