Bangkok to Koh Phi Phi

Koh Phi Phi--our first beach vacation. In order to save money we were determined to go the "cheap" route. We started by getting a taxi from Olivia's to the train station leaving an hour and a half in advance to go probably 10 miles only to sit in bumper to bumper traffic, thankfully our driver knew we had to get there and took side streets. I don't think I mentioned before but a stop light lasts for 150 seconds! It even has the count down, so no wonder the traffic is backed up, we sat for 5 minutes at one light. Anyway, we got on our overnight train, had dinner, popped an ambien and woke up 9 hours later in Surat Thani. We then got on a bus to be driven to another bus to then take a 3 hour bus ride to Krabi. Once in Krabi we got on a 1 and 1/2 hour ferry to Tonsai Bay in Phi Phi. These cheap transportation options are exhausting!

 We were told to not stay in the downtown bc it gets really loud at night so we booked a place called the Relax Resort which was another 15 minute boat ride. The resort was nice, it had individual bungalows with balconies that looked onto the private beach. There was a restaraunt that was really good. However, it was a little too quiet for us so the next day we chartered a private boat to take us to Phi Phi Lay where we went to Malay Beach (this is where the beach was filmed), then went snorkeling and swimming and lastly got to see a bunch of monkeys. The speed boats would pull right underneath the tree they hang in and feed them banannas. After our boating trek we were dropped off back at Tonsai Bay and found a cheap hotel which all I will say is you get what you pay for. For one night it was fine and suprisingly quiet. Downtown Phi Phi is amazing, there are tons of shops, awesome restaraunts and lots of street food. The beach was nice, although you couldn't find waist deep water unless you were in the middle of the ocean. Basically you would just go out and sit on the bottom to have your body in the water or else you would be ankle deep! That night we had street food to save on costs that were spent in Bangkok and went to the beach where all the bars/clubs are located. We sat down at this one bar called Moken and saw an incredible fire show, one of the guys was second runner up for Thailand's got talent. They juggled, used sticks and one woman had a hula hoop with fire around it (Laura, you would be impressed with her hula skills). It was a very cool, interesting night experience.

Now about the rough parts, the killer mosquitos. Having spent 4 days in Bangkok I felt good, there weren't many mosquitos. Olivia warned that I would be sure to see some in the islands. Well, 20 bites later, 6 on my face, about 10 on my feet, back, arms and legs, I have been officially attacked. I am wearing 100 percent deet protection but they seem to not care and proceed on eating me alive! In the meantime, I am not even sure Brett has more than 1!!!! Needless to say the nights are brutal and I put on layers of spray smelling like a walking bug repellant! Hopefully I will start to get immune and they won't smell "fresh blood" bc I can imagine it only gets worse!

We are now in Koh Samui with Meghan, Bill, Matt, Sarah and Ben. It is very nice to see familiar faces as it can get lonely just Brett and I. Tonight we are going to see a Thai Boxing match which should be interesting. We will be here for the next 4 days and then head to Ko Phan-Nang.