Once we left Lo Sama, we immediately sped over to the other side of the island and entered into Maya Beach. We have read stories and seen so many pictures of this heavenly beach. When The Beach hit the theaters, so many people were turned on to Koh Phi Phi that the beach became a littered wreck. The tsunami appears to have reversed the last few years of tourism.

We slowly crept into the cove that protects the beach, and we were stunned from the beauty of the water, cliffs, and sandy coastline. As soon as we hit the beach, we were handed our lunches and told to come back in two hours. Shaunna and I immediately headed to the furthest side on the beach away from the boat.... and once again, the rest of the group hovered safely by the boat... I can't figure it out.. Maybe it's because we're a couple of crazy lone wolf Americans, but we wanted to pretend we were the only people there. To Hell with everyone else..

Our final stopping point was right next to one of the massive limestone cliffs that protects this area. The entire time we were there we snapped pictures and laughed like a couple of kids... we ate lunch, took off our clothes and hopped into the gorgeous water.

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We spent our time soaking in as much of this as possible... when would we ever be back? While eating, we were surrounded by tiny little fiddler crabs. I tossed little piles of rice and chicken out onto the sand and watched them battle each other to get a piece. We laid around in the shallows. We took turns taking photos. We marvelled in the small groups of tourists that huddled together on the other side of the beach....

Once we reached the two hour mark, we trudged back to the boat and hopped in. We were rushed out to another area called Monkey Bay where we were allowed to swim for a bit. Shaunna and I opted to sit in the boat this time and enjoy the scenery... but it just didn't compare. Afterwards, we headed out to the string of islands that we visited on our own yesterday. These little visits were only so that the tourists could take pictures, and by this time we were scorched.

We returned to Ao Nang around 3:30pm.

After a few days of swimming and beach hopping, I am totally burned and my face is puffy...

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Even more shocking, I've developed some really interesting symptoms on my toes that I'm calling "Asian Toe Funk".

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Looking at my feet from left to right.... My left pinky toenail suddenly turned black the day after our manicure and pedicure. My left big toe developed a wierd splotch on it earlier this week... why, I don't know. I stubbed my right big toe in Chiang Dao Nest a couple weeks ago, and now it's totally white and wierd. My right pinky toe is swollen and red from wearing sandals all the time, which allows it to get banged whenever I stumble into things.

But I don't care. I'm not in any pain, and besides I'm having a blast!