Sawadeeka: Maya and Beyond (means Home la)

Got up early again and proceed for breakfast before packing all our things, checked out and driven to the jetty before boarding the ferry to the Koh Phi Phi island.

I was really dead tired by then from the heat, and thank goodness for the sturdiness of the ferry otherwise I wouldn't be able to get enough rest on the ferry from the motion sickness like I did. The ferry ride took close to an hour I think to get us to Phi Phi island.

Was all well-rested when we reached our destination! Hehe... The others? Were all up on the deck, soaking up the sun haha.

Checked into the Phi Phi Hotel, really nice and decent place. larger and slightly more luxurious that the Hotel Srisuksant we stayed in Aonang. When we got our keys, it was a little over 1pm and only a couple of rooms were ready for us to put our stuff in. So Kenneth took a set and TY took the other. 'Instructions' were barked out from Sergeant Evan for us to get ready, set out for lunch and then get ready later for more island hopping.

Needless to say, the whole bunch crammed into our room instead of half going over to Kenneth's lol. Just changed into my swimming stuff, and headed out to fill our food-deprived stomachs.

Koh Phi Phi island is so flooded with tourists that everywhere you turn, you see boobs hanging out, covered only by the tiniest piece of lycra. Great fact about this island is that, no motorized vehicle is used here, well, except for the long tailboats and other water transport. But otherwise, on island, no motorcycles, no tuk-tuks, no cars. Just plain bus #11 or bicycles.

Again, we ordered the favored banana honey pancake and coconut milk shakes lol. I think at this point if I am being served with another of those pancakes I would literally vomit my insides out. I don't know. Being sick after a vacation also makes me sick of the food I overeat while I am there. Like kerabu. Sick.

Sigh.

After a bit, we headed back to the hotel to lay back and rest. I took a shower because the heat outside is so overwhelming that I was almost pretty sure that we were 10 times closer to the sun -__-

Our boat gets its fuel from this boat close to the shore!

Probably diesel? Not entirely sure but fuel is brownish-red in color. This is some mobile fuel station lol. Fuel is transferred to our boat with only a transparent tube.

Long tailboats are so rocky -.- Received another hit of motion sickness, even on a short boat ride off the beach. Our guide lowered the anchor and we just snorkeled right in the deep sea. Without a doubt, the corals and reefs here are so breathtaking as compared to the ones we experienced in Aonang.

I started wearing life jackets back off the Aonang waters because I decided that I was too lazy to swim. Then the life jackets were too huge for me and they sort of bunched up above the sea and chokes me up. So this time around, I was a lot smarter (but no less lazier) and dived into the sea without them. I miss having flippers like we did when we were in Sapi and Manukan island off Sabah.

We were first brought to a lagoon where I was told that the filming of The Blue Lagoon (starring Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins) took place. However, a quick search on wiki left me with results other than what I was told. Blue Lagoon was actually filmed in Fiji and Vanuatu. Hmm... Can't be that I heard Blue Lagoon and Brooke Shields wrong right? Nevermind. Maybe a short scene actually took place here.

The clear blue waters belie the actual condition of the environment. As it is a lagoon, rubbishes like empty bottles, plastic are brought here from the sea current. It is kind of oily here to, much to our disappointment. None of us except for Kei Gor dared to go into the water.

Brace yourselves for the highlight of our trip....

Doesn't this look like a setting of some thriller genre film, where you stumble upon this rocky-waves crashing and only one point of entry thing? Well, there are in fact 2 points of entry into our next POI. One is clearly the stairs, another is right below the stair, under the cave and you have to climb over boulders and shit like that.

Evan, who was here before a couple of years ago couldn't believe that we were going to have it easy because the stairs is apparently a new addition. Lol. Anyways, we had to swim from our boat to the boulders because the boats couldn't get any closer. TY, who was indecisive as to whether he should be lugging his DSLR along, last skali threw in the bulky camera into the wet bag (water proof surf bag). We were, needless to say, rewarded with the best view I have ever set my eyes upon.

Ma Ya Bay

I cannot even describe how majestic cliffs rise over the bay, sheltering it from three sides. The cliffs / limestone hills measured up to 100 meters tall. The sand is silky white gives a pristine view through the length of the beach.

If the name Maya Bay or the view looks familiar to you, then it's probably because you've seen it. This is the filming location of the movie The Beach, which stars Leonardo diCaprio.

And a sad little attempt at creating a panoramic shot haha! Epic fail.

Just for the record, we used the cave entry on the way out. All salty, stinky and sticky later, we got back to our hotel. Before that, out boat stops over the underwater memorial for the tsunami victims. As the tide was high and the memorial over10 meters deep, none of us got to see the memorials.

Dinner was supposed to be a buffet affair, but apparently the shop only opens during the peak season (October onwards or so), so as we walked around, Evan and I agreed to dine at a restaurant we hand-picked (based on the yummy looking grilled items they have lined outside the restaurant lol).

One of the best BBQ-ed iems I've had - kebab of chicken cubes, tomatoes, onions, chilis and also de-shelved large prawns.

Queen of all Som Tams. So spicy all three (Gecko Hunter, TY and I) were hissing and smoking our way through dinner!

And the usual green curry chicken and seafood tom yum gong with steamed rice. Total bill came to about 100 Baht per person, which really ain't bad at all. I made a passing comment to Gecko Hunter that I wouldn't mind setting up a shop here and live here just to have these food everyday lol. Well, of course, being sick and all completely changed my perception. Ahem. Nope.

Fat lazy cats are all over Ko Phi Phi

Not only was I feeling under the weather. TY soon confessed that he doesn't feel all that good. Two of us then made our way back to the hotel, after downing some coconut juice. Bade our goodbyes to Horse and Drunkard, changed into my PJs and downed a Uphamol. Terus pengsan until midnight or so where I received a call from Horse.

"Eh, you guys sleeping already ah? Anyway we are downstairs at the pool and drinking that Bacardi we bought earlier ah. Come over la ok".

Me,"Ok". Hung up and slept till the next morning. Lol... Old people. Well apparently, Horse, Drunkard and Gecko Hunter were at the Slinky Bar or something like that, drinking and watching some fire shows when there was a power outage for nearly half an hour so those three took their drinking over to the hotel pool.

We were also supposed to get up some time around 5am to hike up to the Viewpoint of Phi Phi, catch some sunrise and also the view of the two coasts, separated by the town of Phi Phi. I was woken up around 6am by Evan's knocking on the door. I initially wanted to go but didn't want the others to have to wait for me to get ready so I forgo the opportunity and shook TY up. TY was a bit worse, saying that the night before was pretty cloudy and he doubted he could get a good sunrise. Well that being settled, TY and I were plunged back into slumberland.

A similar but not quite view which you can get at the Viewpoint that TY shot from the top level of our hotel. The breakfast buffet spread at the hotel was great! There were bacon strips, little croissants and my favorite baked potato... yum yum. After the heavy breakfast, I posed a question to TY, asking him if he wanted to get a foot massage (I was still very de boh ka muan over my maiden Thai massage back in Aonang). He said yea ok and so we made a rush for it, to the massage shop just opposite our hotel and requested for a half hour foot massage.

The last is definitely the best, cukup oomph (probably because we were the first customers, all energy still intact) and power. I left Phi Phi with happy feet.

And last skali, a shot of a battle ship that was washed to shore from the tsunami hit. Sawadeeka!