Maya Bay

We hired our a boat out for a trip to Maya Bay.  It was great value ... for about $100 AUD we got our own private boat and 3 crew members to drive and guide us around for half a day.  

 

One of the many highlights of the day was spotting a pod (or is it a school?) of dolphins.  Apparently, this was a very rare sight and even our guides and boat driver got very excited.

The scenery was spectacular with crystal clear water and stunning limestone rock formations.

 

Our first stop was Maya Bay, which is the beach that was used to film the movie The Beach with Leonardo Dicaprio.  Luckily we got there early, cos as we were leaving the beach was almost full with day trippers.

 

Long tail boats lined up on Maya Bay

Our next stop was to dive off the boat to snorkle with the fish... and there were lots and lots of them !

 

Then it was back on the boat and towards Viking Caves where they collect birds nest.

Viking Caves

And then this is where our SLR camera died ... we were all sitting out the front of the boat with the camera and a wave washed over us!  It was only the lense that got wet but apparently even the tiniest amount of salt water and camera does not mix.  So from then onwards, for the rest of the holiday we had to rely on the IPhone camera. 

Other than killing the camera, it was a great day and Eloise even learnt how to do bombs from the boat and now wants to know when we are going to buy a boat!

Phi Phi Island

The first thing you notice (or should I say hear) when you arrive on Phi Phi island, is the silence.  There are no roads and therefore no cars at all on the island.  The ferry from the mainland arrives at Ton Sai bay and our resort was another hour away by boat and longtail boat.  Our hotel was on its own stretch of beach and the next nearest resort was an hour walk away or 15 minutes by long tail.  

We stayed at Phi Phi Island Village Resort and the beach and scenery there was truly picture postcard.

This really is the view from the balcony of our beachfront villa!

The wide sandy beach of Phi Phi Island

The trip out to Phi Phi Island though was anything but serene .... we had to take the public ferry as the day we left Phuket, the swells were too high for the private resort boat that we had arranged. It was the longest 2 hours of our holiday!  The ferry was full and the only seats left were in the hull which was extremely stiffling as there was no fresh air getting in and by the end of it, extremely nauseating with nearly half the passengers throwing up.   Poor Eloise literally joined the heaving masses and spent the entire journey up on deck hurling over the side of the ferry!   Once we got to Tonsai bay there was another 45 minute boat ride on a smaller boat and then another 20 minutes by longtail boat. And finally a little water buggy which looked like a boat on wheels drove us over the water to the resort reception.

The public ferry

We are all in a much better mood after finally getting off the ferry !

Transferring to the long tail boat

On the water buggy with our resort in sight

However, we soon forgot the journey there and quickly got into the swing of island life and again our days were spent either by the beach and its nice calm waters or the pool.  On our first morning on the island, the girls could not wait to hit the beach and hitched up their dresses on their way to breakfast for a bit of a splash .... we can think of much worse ways to start the day! 

The girls on their way to breakfast got a little side tracked by the beach!

 

Monsoon season

September is the height of monsoon season in Thailand with the wettest months of the year being in August, September and October.  However, we were very lucky with the weather and there was only one day during our entire three weeks that it rained all day.  We had plenty of sunshine and on days that it rained, it only rained a couple of hours and that was usually at night and then it cleared up. 

As you can can see, the rain did not seem to bother the girls that much, in fact, they loved how it was still so warm whilst it was raining and would seek out as many puddles as they could find to splash!

Elephant Trekking

To break up the daily beach or pool routine, we took the girls for an elephant trek which they absolutely enjoyed. 

The elephants were very well trained .... I had accidentally dropped one of my thongs in the river, and without even saying anything, our elephant had already picked it up with his trunk and handed it back to me. Off course, he then expected a reward. Luckily we had bought a bag of bananas to feed them.





The elephant got a little too close for Eloise's comfort when he reached in for more bananas!



The girls were fine with riding on the elephant and in fact loved it but were not so keen when they got too close !

"Get me away from the elephant ... now !"

After the trek, other elephants showed us some of their other tricks at the elephant show. We were most impressed with the elephant that could pop ballons with a dart and Eloise has asked if she could have that as a party game at her next birthday party (hopefully minus the elephant!).

Elephant style dart throwing

 

Despite how well trained the elephants were, we were still not game enough to put ourselves or the kids under the elephant for a Thai massage!

Thai back massage ....

And naturally, an elephant knows how to ask for a tip ....

500 baht tip for the elephant !