Thailand ~ Kho Phi Phi

Pale, tired and ready to leave KOREA

First stop- Shanghai, did it matter that it was only about 10am and we already cracked a beer as we waited in the airport? We had to try a Chinese beer...

Arrival meal when we first got to Thailand....Burger King - can't blame me for wanting a veggie burger? Atleast there was a Chang in the mix!

First full day - Susannah, Rachal and Meredith on the boat over to Phi Phi

View from the pier off the boat...Hellooooo paradise!!~

Susannah, Meredith, Caitlin and Rachal - travel buddies for the week!

Snorkle trip out to a small island (where the movie The Beach was filmed)

Other side of the small island that was private and amazingly beautiful!!~

We snorkled around here after hearing word there was a baby shark in the water, but no luck- didn't spot it

Monkey beach- minus the monkeys

One side of Phi Phi

There were tsunami evacuation signs everywhere

Kho Phi Phi shows Canada a little love! ~ The two Canadians on the trip!

One of the many monkeys that scared Susannah and I from not going up to the top of the lookout

Hot, tired, and sweaty~ The stairs to the look out were super steep and it was midday...not the smartest time for a hike

Tattoo time ~ Looks like he's really hurting me...not too bad

My bamboo tattoo

Took a stroll one day- pier side of the island

One of many delicious meals - some kind of curry, devine!

Thailand for Christmas couldn't have been a better idea! It was so nice to get away from the cold, and what would turn snowy, Korea. I'm used to cold weather coming from Ontario, but the cold in Korea is different. It's a dry, bone chilling bite like I've never experienced before...Thailand on the other hand- steamy!~

We started our journey in the early morning hours. Bus from Hwajung to the Incheon Airport. Flew to Shanghai for a brief layover and then onto Bangkok. Our flight situation wasn't ideal. First short flight was fine. It was the connecting flight from Shanghai to Bangkok. We were stuck, on the plane for close to two hours. It was ridiculous. They had to fix the plane. We flew China Eastern and it was anything but a pleasant experience. Christmas Day was spent travelling- from 6am to nearly midnight...made for a long day. After we arrived in Bangkok we flew to Phuket to stay in a hostel with our friends Meredith and Rachal. They had come from the Phillipines where they're teaching and had been travelling in north Thailand before heading down to meet up with us. We were exhausted when we finally reached the hostel- it was bed for us. The hostel was really nice- super clean, cute!

Next morning was an early one as we wanted to catch the ferry early as possible to make the most out of our time on Kho Phi Phi. We shuttled to the pier and boarded the boat. Approaching the island it was surreal! We had finally arrived!!! We were taken to our hotel where we'd spend the next couple of nights. We strapped on the bathing suits and hit the beach! It was a nice sunny day and our poor pale skin needed that vitamin D! It was so nice and relaxing...definitely how I could spend most of my days (and how it looked like some people did- holy leather skin!). We ate some, you'll never guess, PAD THAI and it was pretty decent. Along the way we had other, better pad thai....one of my favorites before even going to Thailand! Mmmm...

On the island we found it to be very touristy...at night you'd walk down the road and there were bar promoters everywhere handing out countless flyers to check out their bucket specials- buckets of booze. Things on the island were obviously more expensive than they were in Bangkok but that's to be expected.

One of our days was spent on a little boat touring the surrounding islands. Beautiful! We did some snorkling, saw some really crazy looking fish (my underwater camera died before we even finished snorkling- unfortunate). The pictures couldn't do the underwater beauty justice though. The sand was perfect- soo soft and white! I can't say enough about the beauty! I will say though, I felt that Bali - the Gili island I went to was more beautiful (just saying).

One night, the girls and I decided to check out the tattoo place. I had been wanting to get one for a long time and knew I wanted to get a series of feathers, so why not start here?! I over think everything, so I threw it out the window and went for it. The guy (I'm being generous with guy) looked about 10 who did my tattoo. He carved up a new bamboo needle and started away. It took about an hour - maybe not quite. The pain was nothing huge. Some parts were worse than others. It just felt like pinching, but as soon as he would stop, the pain went away immediately (I hear with a tattoo gun it's different?). I really like my tattoo and will forever remember the trip!

Our last day on the island was overcast and kind of rainy. We took advantage of the weather and hit up a massage place. For about $7 you get a full body, one hour oil massage. It was glorious! At the end they do these crazy, weird things where they whip your body around- which later in the trip I think contributed to my popping neck (read Bangkok post).

We headed out early morning on the 29th to head back into Bangkok where we'd spend the remainder of our trip!~