From Phang Nga, we got a bus down to Krabi and a ferry out to the island of Ko Phi Phi Don. Sitting on the top deck of the ferry, we met some Thai hippies, born and raised on the island. They complained of the dangers of their trip to the mainland, with cars and motorcycle accidents. There are no roads and almost no vehicles here on the island. Occasionally, you might see a motorcycle being used to transport goods along the pathways. The main mode of transport is boat taxi’s.

The Phi Phi islands are in a large bay, sheltered between Phuket and the mainland. Many islands in the area have steep limestone Karst formations. Phi Phi is special because it is like two mountainous islands joined together by a narrow strip of sand. On either side of the sand is a large turquoise bay. When the tsunami hit, it destroyed almost every standing structure because the buildable land is so close to sea level. Much of the town has been rebuilt and many people who fled are now returning home. It was nice to be able to visit this beautiful place and do our part to show the locals that the tourists are coming back.

When we arrived, we walked up a mountain for a view of the sunset and then had dinner in the local market. The next morning, we climbed to the summit again for sunrise and then strolled along the shores of Lo Dalam, one of the twin bays. On the more wild side of the island, where steep cliffs prohibit human presence, rocks are strewn about along the coast and monkeys climbed around. We watched as two families of monkeys had a standoff over some territory surrounding a stilted hut on the edge of the cliff. The man living there got up from his hammock to attempt to scare them away with a slingshot, but they were not easily deterred.

Later, we walked along Hat Yao beach and climbed a hill for another view over Ton Sai Bay. We found a narrow trail through banana trees down to our own private beach. We swam in the beautiful green water and climbed around on the rocky cliffs on either side of our patch of sand. When we got back to town, we had a delicious all you can eat barbecue.