Today was our scheduled tour of Koh Phi Phi. By now alot of your are familiar with this wonderful island chain thanks to the movie The Beach, which featured the pretty-boy acting genuis, Leonardo DiCaprio... (I mean that... he really IS a terrific actor). For those that aren't familiar, this is perhaps the most beautiful spot on the entire west coast of Thailand.

The Andaman Coast is well-known for its limestone mountain islands, karst caves, and fine white sand beaches. In the Krabi district, Koh Phi Phi stands out as a massive series of islands with sheer cliffs, jagged waterfronts, and tucked-away beaches located in gorgeous green lagoons. These are also the islands that suffered massive destruction during December's tsunami.

We had heard from many locals that the tsunami (while terribly tragic) also cleaned the beaches to a level that hasn't been seen in years. We have dreamed about visiting Koh Phi Phi for the last couple of years, and we were naturally curious about the post-tsunami condition of the islands. This tour really answered alot of questions and fulfilled our wildest fantasies.

We started the day off at 6am... or at least I did. I reset the alarm and let Shaunna sleep in until 6:30. On this trip, I haven't been able sleep in no matter how hard I try and no matter how drunk I get the night before.

We quickly showered, packed our daypack, and headed down to the main avenue to find breakfast. As I mentioned before, tourism is slow... and consequently, none of the businesses in the area are keeping their regular hours.

We walked up and down looking for a place that would be open at 7:30am, but none were. As it got closer to 8am, the bar outside of our guesthouse was opening its doors for breakfast. We hastily wolfed down a light breakfast and returned to our room to finish preparing.

At 8:30am sharp we were greeted by a guide who led us to our tour group (just a block away). We started on our trip early at 9am, which would prove to be a wonderful way to stay one step ahead of the other tour groups that day.

Our first destination was Bamboo Island, a small limestone island located just north of the Koh Phi Phi islands. We were taken to a coral reef and given an hour to swim around and check out the fish.

Although the water was clear, the visibility wasn't that great. Unlike the Carribean, where the water is a crystal clear blue color, the Andaman Coast hosts a variety of green waters ranging from a clear seafoam color to teal and even some darker greens. It's quite lovely, but it doesn't make for good snorkelling... I hear the scuba diving is terrific, but there's only so much you can see when you're floating on the surface of the water.

Afterwards, we were taken to the nearby island and given just over an hour to explore and enjoy the beach. We immediately hopped off the boat and took off around the bend where we could be alone... surprisingly, most of the people on the tour stayed very close to the boat for the entire day... why, I don't know.

Bamboo Island has what appears to be a small village and series of bungalow operations that reside there... but they were vacant. Maybe the tsunami wiped them out? The only people I saw were a couple of groundskeepers tending to some destroyed gardens.

Along the beach, we were treated to the following views and evidence of tsunami damage...

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I literally took 100 pictures today, so I'm only uploading some of them today.. having a 512mb memory card is awesome (thanks to Jscro for convincing me to get this sucker!)... I'll upload the rest to Shutterfly sometime this week... stay tuned..

After goofing around on Bamboo Island, we immediately headed over to Koh Phi Phi to check out the tsunami damage. There are two major islands that make up the bulk of Phi Phi. One of the islands (Koh Phi Phi Don) is inhabitable and is (was) covered with resorts, bungalows, restaurants, and businesses catering to tourists. The other island (Koh Phi Phi Leh) is completely surrounded with high cliffs, sand bars, and a rocky shoreline, with the exception of two gorgeous beach areas.

The main area on Koh Phi Phi Don is called Ton Sai Bay where Ton Sai Village is tucked in the middle of two larger island formations. As we approached the area, we could see debris and litter all along the rocky shores. There were a few resorts and bungalows that looked hollowed-out from a distance, but it wasn't until we pulled into the bay that we really saw how much destruction occurred.

A variety of salvage and demolition boats sat in the harbor, and construction equipment lined the beaches where tourists, bungalows, and restaurants once resided. Tucked further off in the palm trees were piles of burning rubbish (they burn trash here) and the destroyed remains of luxury hotels. Random debris floated aimlessly in the water and marred the bay that once filled tourists with awe.

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It was very sad to see how this place was destroyed. The tour guides told us that the water reached as high as the tops of the palm trees (check the pictures), and hundreds of people died. Koh Phi Phi Don was one of the most popular destinations in Thailand. Now it is a ghost town.

After witnessing the destruction at Ton Sai Bay, we hurried over to the other island to check out Lo Sama and Maya Beach (where DiCaprio resides in the movie). In a stark contrast to the damage on Phi Phi Don, Phi Phi Leh looks amazing! It was just as gorgeous as we imagined.

We pulled into the sea lake known as Lo Sama, which is really a cove that is cut into the middle of Phi Phi Leh. A bowl-shaped crater sits in the cove and is protected from the ocean by a dead coral reef and a massive limestone island. The bottom of this area is covered in fine white sand and the remnants of coral. We were given about 30 minutes to swim around and take in the view... it was heaven!

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