Chasing Geckos: Crossing into Thailand, December 12-15, 2014

Crossing into Thailand

Ko Phi Phi Island, December 12 - 15, 2013

We left the Tropicbird anchored offshore, and went to explore Ko Phi Phi Island. Natalie and I had been 20 years ago, before the development, before the tsunami and then the new development (which seems to be fast and furious, and not welcomed by many of the local people).

We had conversations with many of the local people, sharing many perspectives of the disaster of the tsunami. Lives lost, families changed forever, terror, sadness, opportunities. I just cannot imagine what it would have been like when that wave came in.

Jim happened upon a man at the beach around sunset. He was alone. They chatted. He said he had lost his entire family in that wave. He comes to the beach frequently to just be close to them. They sat together, sometimes quiet, sometimes talking. Then they walked back into town.

Our boat driver was out on tour near the beach from the movie "The Beach". His clients were wanting to jump into the water. He sensed something wasn't right. Then, he glanced over and noticed the boats near shore were on sand. Despite the negative reaction of his clients, he chose to go out to sea which saved all of their lives.

We spoke with a young man who was on the beach at Ko Phi Phi that night. He had an argument with his friend and left. This saved his life. He chose to return later to help out. This turned into great opportunity for him. A safe filled with money was found, returned and produced a reward. He was hired by a filmmaker who was doing a documentary on what had happened. His friend also lived. Their friendship survived as well.

Many, many stories. All of them life changing.

Turquoise water, white sand beaches, and dense tropical jungle. The climb up was steep, incredibly hot…but oh so worth the effort.

After climbing up, we made the steep descent down the other side to the quiet beaches.

We truly descended into paradise.

The boat needed to move up the beach. So all available hands were called in. Do you see Omar and Jim?

Many hands make the work easy…okay, so I didn't actually lift anything, but it looked easy! They are rolling the boat on logs.

It must have been tough work, because it required an immediate siesta.

Alison and I didn't want to miss anything in SouthEast Asia and were dedicated to experiencing as many massages as possible. Our first was a foot massage in the Cameron Highlands. We still ask ourselves, "what were we thinking? Why did we choose 45 minutes instead of an hour?"

Rhiannon, Alison and I had our first Thai massage in Ko Phi Phi. We laughed together as we were twisted and pulled and stretched. We tallied up many, many massages in a variety of locations, and never was it performed in exactly the same manner. But the constant was the smiles and the laughter, and of course the dreamy after effect.

No pictures can truly capture the beauty of this area.

We hired a boat and driver for a few days and he showed us to his favourite spots. We went to the beach where "The Beach" was filmed. However, we only peaked and didn't get out. Tours from Phuket and Krabi come here by the hundreds. The boats were literally lined up side by side. The people on the beach were standing side by side. It was something you wouldn't believe unless you saw it yourself. Nothing like the sparsely populated beaches of 20 years ago.

Look at me…I am flying!

There are simply no words to describe this…it was hot, really hot…the water was so refreshing but not cold…it was clear and the snorkelling was awesome.

We stopped at this lonely beach. Here we received fresh spring rolls from the Australian couple who had brought the boat. They had a small tour group which had come for a picnic. Lucky us to score the leftovers.

The caves, inside and out, were covered in this fragile, bamboo scaffolding. Jim had read that someone lived inside and used the scaffolding to collect bird nests for bird nest soup. Yes, the water was really that colour!