In north country...

A lot has happened in a few days! I don't even really know what day it is anymore...

After Ko Tao we headed over to Koh Phi Phi, another island off of the southern coast of Thailand. This journey involved another (eventful) boat ride. Christy had an unfortunately timed bout of food poisoning, and was puking off of the dock until we boarded, but trooper that she was, she hung in there and 12 hours later we were lounging in an air conditioned hotel room and Christy was passed out. Poor girl.

Koh Phi Phi was... great. It was our first real BEACH time (laying out, reading, etc), but it was nice for a day. The first night, we had drinks at the Sunset Bar (watching the sunset, duh) and met a crew of people, including some Brasilians who appeared to know life on the island well. They introduced us to amateur Thai boxing, where they incentivize drunk tourists to "try out" Thai boxing on one another for the reward of free drinks for the winner. Smart idea. You know another smart idea that they invented on Koh Phi Phi? Fire jump roping. Yup, drunk people love to do that, too...

The next day, we did a sunset boat ride, which may have been a highlight of my trip. We went snorkeling on a beautiful reef, kayaking, and best of all, we saw THE beach. Like, from the movie, The Beach. Now, some of you may know that this is one of my favorite movies, and I was SO excited to go there. I thought it would be touristy, and crowded, and probably a total letdown. So I was completely shocked when it was one of the most BEAUTIFUL beaches I had ever seen. Practically untouched (it's a national park), and virtually no tourists (only our boat of about 15 people). The water was as warm as bathwater and as blue as sapphire. Incredible. Best 400 Baht I ever spent!

After Koh Phi Phi we spent a day in Phuket Town, just for a change, and then headed up north to Chiang Mai, one of the cultural centers of Thailand. Today we went on a "jungle trek," which included elephant riding (cheesy but kind of cool), waterfall (pretty), and rafting (nothing compared to Bujugali in Uganda!). All in all, a pleasant day...

Tomorrow we are in an all day cooking class... yummm!!!!