It's beautiful here...

The islands of Thailand have to be the epitome of why travelers from all around the world come to visit any time of the year. We were lucky enough to experience 3 of these many islands, one of which has become my all-time favorites. In Thai, the word “Koh” means island, so if you’ve ever wondered what they all meant from my recent posts, now you know.

Visiting Koh Phi Phi Ley is almost made by default for island hoppers and dive enthusiasts as this sight is made famous by the book then made to movie, The Beach starring Leonardo Dicaprio and home to the world’s most exotic fishes. We were fortunate enough to make a day trip to this island a few days into our stay in Phi Phi. We booked a day trip with a local travel agency for seriously, $20. It’s quite customary to book impromptu day trips throughout Thailand since tourism is a thriving industry here and the most lucrative. The trip included various stops, our itinerary went as follows: Monkey Beach (which was on the same island as Koh Phi Phi but further south of the isthmus and closer to the Andaman Sea), diving in the Andaman Sea, and watching the sunset from Maya bay (in Koh Phi Phi Ley).

Monkey beach was our first stop. I can’t give you any more details than that. The beach was literally populated by little monkeys. Some tourists from our boat had small pieces of bread to give them… I didn’t bother trying to feed them any of the food from my bag because they kind of scared me, except for this little monkey that I saw who was eating watermelon and spitting out the seeds. Sorry, no picture.

After Monkey beach, we headed towards Koh Phi Phi Ley to dip in the water a bit for their dive. I don’t swim very well, nor do I know how to snorkel well either, so I just floated along for about 5 minutes. There were so many fishes below! They had a beautiful fluorescence to them and intricate patterns. I was kind of alarmed for a bit because they started to bite me or I felt some sort of sting, but other than that the sight was amazing.

Once the dive was finished, we headed over to a cove area (I’m not quite sure what the name was since there were so many mini-stops we made and our captain made only few announcements to us) where we stopped again for another dive. Lara and I opted out and just hung out on the boat for a bit to take these marvelous pictures. The water was this brilliant turquoise complimented with lush green growing on the surrounding rocks. I must say, it was absolutely breath-taking; I have never seen anything like this!

Lastly, we made our final stop to Maya Bay where the movie was filmed. I remember being in absolute awe from the beauty of this place as our captain introduced, “my friends, welcome to Maya Bay”. The sand on this beach was incredibly fine and quite soft, perfect for exfoliating! Here are more pictures:

As the sun began to set, we headed back home and watched the sunset from our boat. I couldn’t help but feel so lucky to be here to witness the beauty of nature and all it has to offer. I hope that I have done justice for these islands by sharing the beauty that is captured in these photos and definitely recommend that you make a trip to the islands of Thailand at some point in your life; it is truly a sight to behold.