Monday, April 12, 2010

Fee Fee

Phi Phi is actually pronounced Pea Pea, but all my life I always called it Fee Fee.
I was probably most excited to see Koh Phi Phi(Koh just means Island). If you just Google it, you will see why. I am kind of sad, now that I am going through my pictures, I didnt take a lot. It was a beach which meant I was in the water most/all the time.
Right after we finished our incredible day with the elephants we had an all night bus to catch. We had a few hours before we had to hop aboard so we had dinner at a local mall and Russ found his new favorite thing...a fish spa.
They were these tiny little pools full of fish, and when you stick your feet in, they suck all the yucky stuff off your feet. He said it felt like your foot had fallen asleep and was super tingly. I said...no thanks.


We hopped on our all night bus. We totally lucked out. It was a double decker bus, the bottom part was 4 seats that basically turned into recliners. We somehow got the bottom part of the bus and was able to just stretch out the whole way. It was about an 8 hr bus ride, we then took a taxi to the airport, then caught a plane to Phuket(Pronounced Poo-ket). It was such a nice plane. A big plane, bright and colorful and they fed us twice in a 1 1/2 hr flight.
Once we got to Phuket, we then got on a ferry to take us to the island. Lots of traveling on this Thailand trip!
It was about a 3 hr ferry ride, and usually I get really sick on any kind of boat in the ocean so we went on top of the boat, stretched out, got some fresh air and listened to music. It was so nice. We just dangled our feet over the side and watched all these jumping fish and the amazing little islands all along the way. If you dont know much about Thailand, or havent been there, there are tiny little island everywhere! Its so beautiful.
On the Ferry...

We both really enjoy being spontaneous, which is SO much fun to me. But it comes with its challenges as well. For instance, when we got there, there wasnt a ton of cheap places to stay left, so we had to sacrifice! You do what you got to do to be close to the beach!
The outside of our ghetto place

The view from the balcony. Isnt it lovely?

The door...can you believe that?

We had all we needed tho, and that was the beach!
Phi Phi is probably the most popular of the islands. There were European people EVERYWHERE. It was quite a shocker for 2 people from Utah. Even though I was in a bikini I was still wearing more clothes then the other girls, and Russ stood out like a sore thumb in his board shorts.
I have never seen more beautiful, more TAN people in my life. I have been pretty tan before for a white girl, but I still have never seen anything like it.
It was basically a party island, and neither of us party, so we thought we wouldnt stay long but take advantage of the time we had there.
So, we took a day tour in a long tail boat the next day. The first day we just hung out at the beach and began our obsession with Thai pancakes which is basically a crepe filled with delicious fruit- and fruit shakes.
We walked around the island and Russ took this picture

The reason it was so interesting, is because when we got back we googled the big Tsunami that hit that Island a few years back killing all of those people, and we found a picture of that exact same spot completely being wiped out from the tsunami.
This is the picture we found online

So the next morning we woke up and had a big breakfast and loaded up in our long tail boat. I was super stoked to ride in one. I had seen them all over the Internet so to be on this amazing island loading up in one, was a dream come true.
Before I show pictures of our day on Koh Phi Phi I want to give everyone a fair WARNING that you may see a whole lot of Speedo.
The long tail boat was a snorkeling tour that took us to like 8 other islands off of Phi Phi. It was the most beautiful thing Ive ever seen.
Our first snorkeling spot we were getting ready to get in the water and off came Russ's board shorts with a bright red speedo. He said he wanted to fit in with everyone, and that he did. I still laughed all day.
Our long tail boat driver

There was some good snorkeling, and the water was perfect. So clear, and warm.


Some of the beautiful views from the boat.


The next spot they pulled us up to an island where we were able to sit on the beach, have lunch. There were long tail boats everywhere. I loved it.

This was also where Russ's confidence Sky rocketed. I love Europeans, but they were making us laugh so so hard. They were posing in the water all seductive, and throwing themselves on the boats for a picture session, so Russ joined in.
He will probably kill me for posting these pictures, but it was one of my most favorite memory of the trip. He was killing me with some of his poses.



My favorite picture of the whole trip

I told you he was proud of the speedo. He had never worn one before and said he hoped it would catch on soon in the U.S.
If everyone is as funny as he is, I hope so too.
There were little jelly fish all over in the water and we both got stung, but the water was too irresistable!



The next stop was incredible!!
It wasnt a beach, just a big open area in some of the cliffs. I was kind of nervous at first because we were right in the middle of the ocean, and of course your mind goes to sharks...but I figured with that many people in the water and if a shark were to come and eat me...it was my time to go.
So in I went!

Isnt it beautiful?!?


We hit another few spots along the way and ended at the spot where they filmed The Beach with Leonardo DiCaprio.

It was the most amazing place I have ever seen. I kind of felt like I was in a dream.
There was this thick jungle that we ran through

Honestly, who runs through the jungle in a speedo?
We found this really cool ladder that you had to walk through these really rough rocks and once you were at the top of the ladder it had a beautiful look out point.

We were there for the most perfect time of the night. The sun was just setting.

Our boat was the very last boat to leave, so at one point, we were the only ones in the water!


I love how this picture turned out. The lighting was perfect

After the sun set, we went back to Phi Phi and had the hottest dinner in the world.
Could be because I ordered a dish with tons of peppers.
My lips were on FIRE. I seriously couldnt take it anymore. This is an awful picture of me, but you can see the food. Yum.

This is kind of gross, but this same cat came and pooped 3 times while we were eating dinner. We couldnt believe it. It came right next to our table and would just dig, squat and burry, over and over. I know that is so gross, but we thought it was unreal.

It was really sad to come home and see the video and pictures of the Tsunami that hit just a few years ago. But I was happy, and surprised how much the little island had been rebuilt.
I love the beach and this trip and plenty of great ones! Ahhh wish I was there now.

7 comments:

Janaca said...

Once again I loved hearing about your trip and seeing all those pictures! Your friend is so funny, those poses were great! I'm totally jealous that you have been able to travel and have all these adventures...my big outings a lot of days are to go outside and get the mail!

The super Carpenter said...

Im totally living THROUGH YOU right now! Im so jealous of how adventurous you get to be!

HUGHES FAMILY said...

That place is AWESOME!! It looks so cool...I totally agree with you about the little foot sucking fish. That would weird me out, but looks cool! We missed you at the shower!Love ya!

MEGandJEFF said...

SO. Those fish would just freak me out! Blech! But I love the gorgeous beaches & those boats are awesome! Love Russ's poses..haha :)

Kateka said...

When I first saw the pic of the phi phi I thought it was food with like little green beans on it. Ha, ha!!

I love your face when standing next to that yucky door.

Holy cow, the beach/water is soooo gorgeous. I am so glad a Tsunami didn't hit while you were there.

Why isn't Russ a model? I mean with those FIERCE poses and all. Oh, and you totally have a sexy bod!!

I didn't know they had cats in Thailand...

Kate and Wiley said...

Chelsea Kemp! I just found your blog recently and I am so glad I did! I absolutely love reading about your trip to Thailand! That is the sickest door I have ever seen by the way... It looks like you are doing well and it has been fun to read what you have been up to. Take care!!

Jadie said...

I totally had a dream last night that I went to get a pedicure and they put FISH in my water!!! I was so freaked out!
So funny!!!

Love,
Jadie