too many islands, too little time

The islands of Thailand, easily one of the most anticipated legs of our journey this year. For one, Aman and I share an insatiable hunger for all things beach.  But more importantly, Thailand (along with China, Turkey, Greece, and Tanzania) is one of the countries on Aman's "top five" list.  (My must-see countries, for those curious, are India, Vietnam, Turkey, South Africa and Brazil.)  So our start in Thailand was a very exciting one.

We began on Thailand's largest island - namely, Phuket - which made a lot of sense for us since we were entering Thailand via Singapore, as we work our way from south to north, from maritime through mainland Southeast Asia.  When we touched down, we had nothing more than two nights booked on Patong beach (a popular spot on Phuket's west coast overlooking the Andaman Sea), and eighteen days to make it to Bangkok.  It was time to start planning and, in fact, most of our short time in Phuket was spent lounging poolside at our modest three-star beachfront hotel (i.e., taking advantage of WiFi to do travel research) and figuring out how many islands we could reasonably squeeze in given the fixed amount of time that we had to explore (answer: two).  

Besides strategizing our next move, the highlight of our brief time in Phuket was a romantic evening at the Bangla Road Boxing Stadium, where we took in some live Thai kickboxing, or muay thai, as it is referred to locally.  It was a big fight night - ten different matches in various weight classes that ranged from 60 pounds (9 to 10 year olds) to 160 pounds (tough guys from all over the world), including a championship bout and one match between a local Thai woman and a Belgium girl.  Wild stuff.

From Phuket, we sped off on an afternoon ferry boat to Ko Phi Phi (Don), a popular island situated two hours off the coast of Phuket in the Andaman Sea.  It was a fantastically serene ride, with the bright blue sky above us, the tranquil blue-blue water surrounding us, craggy limestone scenery in the distance, and smiles of contentment on our faces.

Ko Phi Phi itself was spectacular.  The island is largely uninhabited, and its precipitous cliffs are covered with lush vegetation.  The biggest town on the island is located on a sandy isthmus between Loh Dalum Bay to the north and Ton Sai Bay to the south.  No vehicular traffic exists on the island.  The only "roads" are wide, stone-paved footpaths that see the occasional bicycle (popular with local kids who have a habit of yelling "BUPBUP!! BUPBUP!!" as they weave in and out of pedestrians) or handcart distributing goods (i.e., Chang beer) around town.   

Aman and I rented a longboat our first day to take us around Don's neighboring island, Ko Phi Phi Lei.  We snorkeled in a couple of remote places (tons of colorful marine life... out of this world), before heading to Maya Beach, which is perhaps most famous for its starring role in that hit Leonardo DiCaprio movie, the Beach....  Regrettably, neither Aman nor I have yet to see that one, so we express no opinions about it.  Maya beach, however, was awesome.  

Walking around town that night, we kicked off our flip-flops, per the local etiquette, and stopped in a dive shop, of which there are plenty in Ko Phi Phi, so that Aman could make some inquiries.  By the time we were ready to leave the shop, about 20 minutes later, Aman's curiosity in diving had developed into a need, so we decided to go out on a boat the next day.  I didn't take the plunge (I am still waiting to develop an interest in diving...), but Aman had a blast.  In fact, his diving experience would influence our decision to skip Ko Samui (where we had planned to go after Ko Phi Phi), and head for Ko Tao (very well-known for its affordable diving certification courses) two days later.  This flexibility has been one of the "ups" of structuring the little details of our travels as we go along.

Apart from our days on the waters between Phi Phi Lei and Phi Phi Don, we strolled aimlessly around town, and hit the few beaches that you can reach by foot without needing to hire a longtail boat.  We found great places to eat (Khun Va for green curry prawn pizza, Sushi and More for stir-fried chicken glass noodles, Calamaro's for everything), and great places to chill at night (Carlito's).  Overall, we really enjoyed Ko Phi Phi - so much so that, after our second or third day, we decided to stay an extra night before leaving for Ko Tao.  

Ko Tao is located on the other side of the mainland in the Gulf of Thailand.  To get there, Aman and I traveled by ferry boat (from Phi Phi to Krabi), mini-bus (from Krabi to Chomphon), and night boat (from Chomphon to Tao), which took about 27 hours.  The night boat was an experience in and of itself.  I don't know where they found our vessel. With paint peeling from its railing and its deck floors blistered with rust, our boat looked as if it had sat on the bottom of the ocean floor at least once in its life (or might end up there sometime soon).  Forget about a snack bar - it was mostly cargo (raw building supplies and bulk items) and only about twenty passengers on board, including a young Dutch couple and a proper Brooklynite named Rue.  For the passengers, the boat was outfitted with an air-conditioned sleeping cabin (let's say, of minimalist decor) on the second level. Before turning in, Aman and I spent most of the night outside on the upper deck, drinking the couple of Changs we grabbed before getting on board, sharing travel stories with our fellow travelers and taking in a bright starry night on the dark open water.  

We woke up in the morning to a bustle of activity (in the form of loud clanging) on the dock, but an otherwise peaceful morning on the water.

Our mission upon arrival in Ko Tao was to find Phoenix Divers on Sairee beach.  It was very early in the morning when we got in, and most places - including Phoenix, once we found it - were not yet open.  But, if Aman was going to complete a three-day dive course before it was time to leave Ko Tao in four nights, we had no time to waste.  Aman stood guard waiting for the office to open while I went in search of coffee (of course) and, less than an hour later, we had him enrolled in an open water dive course.  For the next three days, he spent his days learning important skills such as how to equalize your ears, how to clear your goggles underwater, how to do a buddy check (every diver has a buddy, your buddy is responsible for checking all of your equipment right before you go underwater), and how to make various underwater hand signals (e.g., shark, turtle... and the one for "don't f@ck around," which seemed to be everyone's favorite).  

While Aman was busy being aquatic, I spent most of my time lounging at Monkey Flower, where we camped out for the second through fourth nights of our stay on Ko Tao. Monkey Flower is an unimaginable, secluded villa situated on the side of a cliff looking over Sairee beach.  

From the roof, you can either watch the sunset or jump into the pool and, from the edge of the pool, you can watch the fire-shows (very popular in both Phi Phi and Ko Tao) light up the beach at night.  Yes, the price was a little bit north of our modest budget for nightly accommodations, but you have to splurge every now and then, right?  Plus, it was well worth every baht.  The property is owned and managed by an expat named Lincoln, an upbeat native Californian and all-round cool guy who pulled out all the stops in taking care of us during our brief (yet amazing) stay.  From picking me up plus all of our gear and relocating us to the villa on day one (while Aman was out diving), to helping us remove a foot-long massive gecko from the bathroom (good luck or not, this guy had paws), to arranging us poolside massages, he was awesome.  He also provided a 24-hour car and driver (a nice Burmese kid named Win) throughout the duration of our stay, which helped tremendously in getting around.  Had he not, we may not have been able to go into town on the night before we left so that Aman could "sharm" his dive instructor, Jeremy, for kicks.

In the end, Ko Tao was awesome.  It was different than Phi Phi in the sense that it was a bit more developed with roads (they were bumpy, but they were still roads) and motor traffic.  And, the terrain of the island is more granite boulders than limestone crags.  The nightlife is great, but a little bit more laid-back and not as crazy as Phi Phi - it has more of a chilled out, dive atmosphere.  Great islands to visit if you only have time for two, and you want to experience a nice contrast.