Are you ready for another gorgeous day in Thailand???? Koh Phi Phi

Whoops!

Sorry about that!  I didn't mean to disappear and leaving you hanging for the past week!  A lot happened last week…a trip to the SOS clinic, our shipment FINALLY arrived, a poetry competition was held at school and Daddy came home from his two-week trip to the States.  Yikes!  Oh, and our Internet went down twice in one day.  Nice, huh?  Thankfully it was a quick fix but still….

Anyhoo….

Who's ready for another AWESOME day in Thailand?????

ME! ME! ME!!!!! (and I hope you are too!)

Today we're going to do something ULTRA fun.  And I mean Fun (with a capital F)!!!  We're going on a snorkeling trip to Koh Phi Phi! (Koh means island, or at least I think it does!) Oh, by the way, Koh Phi Phi is pronounced like this: "koe pee pee".  hee hee hee! I just typed "pee pee"!

That means: go eat breakfast!  Go pack your stuff- you'll want a swim suit, towels and sun screen.  Thankfully the guides will provide the snorkeling gear and lunch.  Oh, and don't forget to bring some cash.  You never know!  

Okay, meet you in the lobby in thirty minutes!  A van will come pick us up and take us the boat dock.  They say it'll be about a 45 minute boat ride out to the islands.

Fantastic!  So glad you made it just in time to hop into the van!  We're off!!!!

I think I might take a snooze as we're heading to the Royal Phuket Marina.  ……….

We're here!!!!  Now to figure out where we're supposed to go….there are a lot more people here than I would have expected.  Ah, everything is okay!  They found our names on one of the lists.  

Take a quick potty break….because it's time to hop on board!!!! Are you ready to zip out to the islands in a speed boat?  

Time to march out to the boat.  Hey!  Who invited all these other people??!?

Hang on! The captain said it's going to be a bumpy ride!!!!  

Here's our guide explaining what adventures are in store for us today:

 

We're here!!!!

Take a look at where we are:

 Oh my!!!  The color of the water is amazing! 

I'm not sure I've ever seen such fine, white sand before!!! Have you??   

PS…here's a photo of our boat so that you'll remember which boat to hop back into!

This beach is called Monkey Beach.  

and here's why it's called Monkey Beach:

Can you see the monkeys in the photos?  Our guide said they are pretty aggressive and have been known to bite people.  They especially don't like children.  So, we observed the monkeys from a safe distance.  Some adults in our tour group actually fed the monkeys some bananas.  

Here are our two special little monkeys:

 

Moving on to the next location…

That cave is supposed to have some ancient Viking painting in it.  Unfortunately, the latest tsunami to hit the area demolished the entrance to it making it unsafe to view. 

Our guide also told us that locals collect the nests of a certain bird (can't remember which) after which they make Bird Nest Soup.  Are you serious?????

Now we're in a gorgeous deep lagoon…

Brave little Ava and brave Annika leap off the boat into the water!

 

Ava and Annika just LOVED summersaulting off the boat into the ocean!!!

 

 Naturally, Annika finds the rope swing and climbs it!

Time to head out to the next beach!!!

 

This is the beach that was made famous by some movie with Leonardo di Caprio (I think it's called "The Beach" or something like that).  It's a very beautiful beach and I can see why flocks of people come here.  Still, a little too crowded for my tastes.

A short walk through the jungle to find the potty…

So, is this the snack bar the sign behind us indicated was in this direction????  Looks more like a chicken pen!

 

Ooooo!!! Pretty!!!!

 

 

We're going to head down to the beach to do some swimming.  Hope you want to join us!

Mark and Annika swim out a little ways to check out the scenery.

 

Ava with the lovely but very crowded beach in the background.

Now how about some snorkeling???  Are you ready to see some beautiful fish?  I am!!!

Annika is ready to go!  

Ava is ready to go too!  Are you ready????

Annika…

Ava….

Fish…

Those squiggly looking things??? Those are giant clams!

Colorful fish…

How about a lunch break?  I'm STARVING!  All that swimming….definitely creates an appetite!

We'll be eating lunch in this pavilion:

Now…for the good stuff!  This is why we brought a few Thai Baht with us…let's get some ice cream!!!  

We're going to walk around the area for a bit while eating our ice cream.  Check out this cool pool next to the ocean.  (must be a hotel or something…couldn't really tell where we were)

And this statue of a …panther?  The sign asked visitors to not touch this important statue.  Okay.

We're going for a walk before we have to get back on the boat…

Now we're off to the last beach for today's excursion…drop your stuff and come play with us!

Check out the sand here:

Me snorkeling…

a better view of those giant clams…

checking out the special finds from our beach combing ventures.

One last view of the beach….sigh.  Is it really time to head back???  Can't we stay a little longer??? Please??????

Time to head back…and it's a great time to take a little nap!!

 Ava has checked out…

Time to pack up and head back to the hotel.  After a short van ride we're back where we started from …our hotel.  Oh my!  Did you notice it getting dark??? Isn't this reflecting beautiful with the torches lit?

How about a  quick dinner at the hotel deli downstairs?  I'm really too pooped to find a restaurant.  I bet you're tired too!

 

Annika picked a brownie with a sea turtle white chocolate on top. 

and I got the panna cotta with fruit on top.  :-) What did you choose???

Let's sit in the lounge area with some drinks to relax and reflect on today's amazing adventures….

 

I hope you had fun!  As always, thanks for joining us!!!  Tomorrow we're heading to a different beach- Surin- so get some rest!  

 

P.S. In case you're wondering…we wore dark colored t-shirts to keep the sun off our backs.  We've had enough sun burning thank you very much!!!