monkey beach

in this post

i mentioned that we went to monkey beach

and got to spend a little while feeding and playing with 

monkeys,

something i'd been looking forward to for quite a while.

i didnt take my nicer camera

as we had to swim there from the boat,

but i did take our little waterproof point and shoot.

so here you go,

monkeys in thailand...

-e

soi 38 night market

we somehow got lucky and

ended up staying at this great hostel in bangkok.

one of the best features was the fact that it was located

on the same street as the soi 38 night market. 

after 5pm half of the block gets crowded with street 

vendors selling incredible food and drink.

we ate here every night for three days and we never regretted it...

-e

i'll never get sick of mangos

duck and dumpling soup

duck over rice with chinese cabbage

mango with coconut sticky rice. i ate this... several times...

the lady who is smiling recognized me and would start preparing one every time she saw me!

sunset cruise

our last evening on ko phi phi

steven and i decided to splurge and

board a sunset cruise around the two 

islands of phi phi

(the trip cost 30USD total).

the boat sailed off at 1:30

and took us to monkey beach

where we got to feed and "play" with

some pretty aggressive monkeys.

the boat then took us to loh samah bay 

where we went snorkeling and kayaking.

after that we were taken to maya bay

where the movie the beach

was filmed.

it was much different then we had been told,

in a very good way.

the tide was out which made it much lass idyllic

but that also meant there was tons of sea life to investigate in the little tide pools.

after that the boat went to pileh bay

where there is a huge coral garden.

we went snorkeling again,

this time for about an hour and a half.

we saw so much incredible sea life

and for the first time i wasn't scared

so i really got to enjoy it.

finally the boat sailed slowly through the waters between

phi phi leh and phi phi don while we ate dinner

and watched the sun slip down below the horizon...

-e

sailing out to ko phi phi leh

there are adventure packages where you spend the night on maya bay. in one of these great tents :)

"the beach" with some tourists in the way...

us at maya bay. trying to spot leonardo de caprio

sea life in the low tide

steven and i can't get over how incredible the rock walls are here. i think we'll be back someday

dinner

always watermelon for dessert 

capturing the sunset on an iPad

homesick

we've felt really homesick only twice on this trip.

the first time we had been gone for about three weeks, 

we were both feeling terribly ill,

and the weather was awful.

we cured it by getting ourselves an "american breakfast"

and a double tall latte (my daddy's drink).

the second time was right after we found out

all of our money had been stolen.

we were walking to the police station

to report it and both hadn't eaten in hours (literally 14 hours).

we saw a burger king

and even though we never ever eat there at home

it just felt right...

-e

dinner and a movie

while on ko phi phi

steven and i found a rooftop restaurant and bar

that had wonderful sunset views

and after dark played movies every night.

it was called the banana bar.

we decided to go the night they played fight club

because we both love that movie.

the first time we waited until dark, sat down for the movie and ordered "buckets"

with thai whiskey.

anyone who has had this before knows,

it is not messing around as far as liquor content goes....

then next evening we showed up just at sunset

to enjoy a nice meal

then stayed to watch men in black three.

(we did NOT order a bucket)

the movie turned out to be a downloaded version from someones 

camcorder in the theater,

but it was still a fantastic date night.

ko phi phi,

you'll always be our favorite part of thailand...

-e

the dj would play music videos before the movie. they were always really fun (a daft punk song here)