Paradise knocking on heaven's door - Phi Phi, Thailand

It took a 1.5 hour flight from Bangkok to Phuket and a 2 hour ferry ride to reach the island of Phi Phi. On the ferry I was beginning to doubt that Phi Phi was going to be worth the hassle of getting out there BUT then the limestone cliff islands came into view and all doubt was erased. No words can describe how incredibly beautiful it is and my pictures don't even do it justice. We stayed at the Holiday Inn resort on Laem Tong beach (trust me, it's not like the Holiday Inns in the US. It's amazing). In order to reach the resort we had to get off the ferry in the middle of the water and then take a long tail boat ride right up to the shore. There are no roads on Phi Phi so long tail boats are the only way to go.

We loved the resort. We chilled by the pool, explored the property, played in the warm ocean water and walked along the private beach. One day we hired a long tail boat to take us around the Phi Phi Islands. We stopped in Pileh Bay, and Loh Samah Bay to snorkel. The views were amazing! The boat ride was an adventure to say the least. We were in a small boat and we tackled some pretty big waves as we traveled between islands. Memories of my Fiji boat ride came flooding back and I became super nervous and maybe screamed a bit when huge waves came our way. Sara and Matt just laughed at me and thought I was overreacting. I swear I wasn't! It was definitely scary at times. Thank goodness we had an amazing driver who kept us safe and sound.

One evening we took a Thai cooking class. It was really fun. Our instructor was great and the food was delicious. We were pretty impressed by our cooking skills! It was fun learning about the spices used in Thai cooking. We made the following dishes:
- Yam Nuea Yang (BBQ beef salad with chili and celery)
- Thod Mun Pla (deep fried curried fish cakes)
- Tom Yum Goong (sour and spicy prawn soup)
- Gaeng Khiew Wahn Gai (chicken green curry)
- Broccoli Phad Moo (stir fried pork and broccoli)
- Crong Craeng Naam Kathi (sticky rice dumplings)

Phi Phi treated us right and I think we all plan on coming back someday! Hopefully sooner than later.