Take me down to the Paradise City, where the sea is blue and the fish are pretty

Koh Phi Phi is truly paradise! The Phi Phi islands are a group of small islands off the western coast of Thailand in the Andaman Sea. The only way to get there is by ferry from Phuket or Krabi. We flew into Phuket then had an hour and half ferry to Phi Phi Don (big island) followed by a 50 minute ride in a long tail boat before arriving to our hotel. After a long, hot day of traveling, our first priority was changing into our bathing suits and jumping in the pool. It was evening at this point and we couldn't see that our pool overlooked a gorgeous bay of aquamarine water, white sand and two small islands in the distance.

We spent two days vacilating from a private beach (a stone's throw from our hotel) to the hotel pool (to "cool off"). We enjoyed the break from being "tourist" to being "vacationers". I must say we never knew the difference until this trip.

The other day was spent on a Long Tail boat which looks like a bigger gondola with a small engine and a long pipe with a blade at the end. We rented the boat for 6 hours of snorkeling, visiting another private beach and cruising around visiting both Phi Phi Ley (smaller island where "The Beach" was filmed) and Phi Phi Don islands. The snorkelling was amazing. The water is so clear you can see to the bottom at least 20 feet deep, the coral, while not very colorful was huge and housed billions of fish. There were so many beautiful, amazing fish!

We thought about the Tsunami a lot while there. We were surprised nothing related to the disaster was apparent. We didn't see any hotels still under repair or closed (like Cayman Islands), there did not appear to be a gap in generations and even boats and local houses did not give evidence of the hardship the people have faced since the tsunami just under two years ago. One other surprise was how calm the water was. There are hardly any waves except caused by the occassional passing boat.

We played lots of games, caught a sunset and ate really well. Our last day in Thailand was spent in Phuket and after seeing one beach there (Karon Beach) we were patting ourselves on the back that we choose to go out to a smaller island. The beach while it has clear blue water, the shore looks like any other in the US: umbrellas, people and stalls everywhere.

We are very excited to arrive in Australia tomorrow and spend the last 20 days touring a country that speaks English and is known for their relaxed attitude!