Phuket/ Koh Phi Phi Island

After an amazing stay in Chiang Mai we taxied to the airport for our flight to Phuket. While waiting for our plane to board we bumped into Pat, the owner of the elephant farm we went to a few days ago. We were both excited to see each other and talked for ten minutes about how much we loved his elephants and what he was doing. He was super humble and thanked us for being so sweet and said now they were our elephants too not just his! Then we were standing in line to board the plane he walked up to us and handed me a bag from the airport bookstore. He said with a smile, I know you shouldn't take packages from others at an airport but please open it. I opened it and it was a beautiful book on Thailand that talked about Thai customs and beautiful places to go in Thailand. It was so kind of him! That is how sweet many Thai people are!

We flew into Phuket and as we got off the plane we were instantly bombarded by tons of workers offering taxis, buses, boats, tours, snorkeling, etc. That pretty much describes Patong Beach in Phuket haha. Though neither of us have been to Cancun we've decided thats exactly how Phuket is. It was very wild, dirty, loud, bright lights-- not exactly our type of town. We checked into our hotel, which I'm pretty sure was made in the peak of neon fashion in the 70's and decided to walk around for the rest of the night to spend as little time as possible in the hotel (2 people got stuck in the elevator within 5 minutes of us being there!). We were able to meet up with Grant and Susan (the Aussies we met in Bangkok) for a beautiful dinner at this modern restaurant on a cliff over the ocean, the White Box. Though it was veryy expensive, we had a blast catching up and eating amazing food. They have been island hopping and Suze had a tiny accident on a motor scooter : ( After dinner we walked around the crazy streets with everyone calling out, my friend where are you coming from, let me give you a silk shirt! One street was similar to a red light district, totally packed, with go-go bars, rock clubs, discos, prostitutes, etc. I sprinted down the street because guys were trying to put large iguanas on people walking by because they thought it was funny...We stopped by Molly Malone's, a pub David and some friends went to in Finland. It is very similar to the one in Finland, with a Thai band covering American hit songs. We had a good time there.

We bought the first ferry ticket we could out of Phuket to Ko Phi Phi island : ) The ferry ride was about an hour and a half, on a boat similar to the Catalina flyer. The ride was beautiful, we found chairs on the roof deck and just admired the beautiful ocean. When we arrived our bungalow hotel sent a luggage boy with a cart to meet us at the pier because there is no motor transportation on the island (only bicycles). He lead us through the tiny streets that lead up to our bungalow (our personal wooden hut with a bed on the ground, mosquito netting covering it, with a hammock on our porch). It is awesome, I've always wanted to stay in one! We spent some time walking down the beach and going into the warm and salty ocean. The beaches have tons of longtail boat anchored on the shore, the water is very shallow for a long walk out into the ocean, and its surrounded by tall rocky cliffs covered in dark green jungles. After another spot at the beach in a few minutes we are going to walk up to the viewpoint on the island, which is supposed to be a beautiful view of the entire place. Tomorrow we are doing a snorkeling boat tour of neighboring islands which should be a blast. We miss and love all of you! xoxo, D & K
P.S. Go Chargers!!!