Sunday, March 31, 2019

March 5 Phi Phi Kayaking

I slept in some this morning, since we were out until 2 or 3 last night.  Shaun decided to move to a hotel across the street.  I should have taken pictures, because the hotel was so nice!

We found a hole in the wall spot for Thai food, but it wasn't nearly as good as the food up north in Thailand.  Much cheaper than most of the touristy places here.  The Thai Islands are pretty expensive, makes it difficult to stick to my budget of $36 per day.  Of course, I let myself splurge here and there but for the most part, I try to stick to my budget.

After lunch, we rented kayaks.  I thought I was negotiating well, but again, I didn't.  We asked to rent the kayaks for 6 hours and he wanted like 500 baht each for 2 kayaks.  They were very confused that I wanted my own kayak.  I negotiated 400 baht for the kayaks, but after I paid, realized that there was only 4 hours left of sun light (or something like that).  I tried to renegotiate, but too late.

Getting off of the shore was crazy with all the rocks and the shallow water.  We paddled around for a while, searching for this "super pristine beach" that the hostel guy told us about.  I enjoyed paddling, but the beach was not that amazing haha.  And there are so many rocks in the water, it's difficult to walk around.  I was jealous of Shaun's water shoes!

The views were beautiful!







Getting back to the shore got difficult as the tides were changing.  The seas got Very rough around 4:30pm and it was a challenge to get back in.  A few times we were worried about flipping over.  The small long boats would drive by and cause even worse waves.


Shaun had water shoes, so he was able to help us navigate through the very shallow water.  I got stuck a few times.


We watched sunset at the beach and then went to meet the UF peeps for dinner (Melvin, JP, Victoria, and Ray).  Stephen joined too.

So happy with his coconut drink

Buffet for 300 baht.  I personally didn't think it was worth paying that much, but the group is so much fun, I enjoyed the company.

The buffet

They wouldn't separate the bill.... so we have tons of cash thrown all over the table.

After dinner, we went to watch Muay Thai boxing.  People from the audience volunteer to do boxing.  If you're the first person to volunteer, they walk you around the ring until someone else volunteers to fight you.  I really wanted to do it, but I was too nervous.

Our friend, Ray, apparently trained to do boxing, so he volunteered.  It was fun to watch.  Tomorrow I'm doing scuba diving, so I didn't stay out Too late, like 1 or so haha





JP live streaming Ray's fight



I took a bunch of video's but apparently my videos on here don't work :( 




Monday, March 25, 2019

Phi Phi March 4 Party Cruise!

Linnea and I met up early this morning and went for a "hike".  I put that in quotes because it was really just a walk and then they charge you a fee to get into the view point area.  They have a lot of props for photos.  This is definitely a touristy island.







We continued along the trail to a second viewpoint.  There was another fee to go out there.  Linnea and I sat and drank water and enjoyed the view for a while. 




Shaun and I decided to join the other three on a party cruise today.  Normally, I wouldn't be down for a party cruise, but it also includes kayaking, tours of the beaches, monkey beach, paddle boarding, snorkeling and our friends will be there.  I figured I wouldn't drink much.  That didn't last long.

I met a group of people who went to UF (my college).  How crazy!  So of course I had to shot gun a beer with them.... and then people kept buying me drinks until I just gave in.  Haha

We met at a bar and walked to the pier




Monkey beach




Sara and Linnea

Everyone dancing and hanging out



The views were beautiful


We went swimming by Maya Beach.  The beach featured in the movie "The Beach", but is now protected because too many visitors were ruining it.


Second swimming spot

Stephen was so hungover, it took a while before he finally drank a beer haha



Sunset from the boat

Linnea

Oh and then I chugged a beer through a snorkel.  So classy.


Needless to say, after the boat ride, I needed a nap for like 4 hours and then met the Gator peeps and a few others back out at a bar haha

Two guys from the boat, Linnea, Victoria, Shaun (in back. gator), Melvin (in back gator), dude who works in China and is from new york, and Ray (on right gator)