The group reunites for New Years

I was meeting the rest of the group this afternoon and decided to head up to viewpoint this morning before hand. In fact I did it twice, but only because I forgot my camera the first time, it’s only about a thousand steps and takes around 20 minutes in the thousand degree heat (Celsius or Fahrenheit). Amazing view of the middle section of Phi Phi Don.


It also gave me a good layout of the other islands I visited yesterday, off in the distance to the left you can see Mosquito Island, and off in the distance to the right you can see Bamboo Island.


In the opposite direction you can see Phi Phi Leh, the furthest island in the picture.


Once I got back down I checked out of my hotel to move to the hotel we were all meeting at, right on the beach. Andaman Beach resort is like Shanti lodge in that you require a pad lock to lock your door, it had a single fan mounted above the bed to keep you cool, however this also had a private bath, complete with a hose and drain that allowed you to take a cold shower between the sink and toilet (and a few friends to shower with).






I was not sure what time their boat would arrive so I head off to Long Beach, first crossing the main beach that divided the island.


It was pretty shallow and you can see people walking hundreds of meters out and only being knee deep.


You can see Phi Phi Leh is almost walk-able, or at least swim-able.


Long Beach.






Just as I got back from Long Beach I found the group checking in and we headed to Hippies for lunch and some fruit shakes. The highlight was when a flying lizard came out of nowhere and landed on Kyle and then when we saw a mini-sumo wrestler walking down the beach. Afterwards we did some snorkeling in the bay although not too much to see beyond a sunken longtail, probably one of many, even though we headed quite a ways out. We then stopped at this great bar, Carpe Diem, which over looked the beach and had great stools and chairs made out of driftwood. And they played the best music ever, if anyone knows what this was please let me know as I would love to pick up a CD of it. It was suggested that it was Buddha Bar, however Buddha Bar is more lounge music then the Thai version of the ambient techno beats that they had playing.


New years was approaching and we headed for dinner which included several events such as traditional Thai dancing, a drawing in which Cindy won snorkeling for two the following day, a balloon contest in which Kyle blew up his balloon to explosion before anyone else, and a drinking contest in which I am sorry to say I did not win, but at least got the free beer.




Afterwards we headed to Apache Bar that had some good tunes and amazing fire dancing, and by kids who looked about ten years old. If my mom saw me doing some of the things these kids were doing I would have missed the trip because I would still be grounded. I can’t believe these kids don’t have more burns. However this was nothing compared to the fire dancers at Carpe Diem were I soon found myself and soon the New Year was approaching. In a word, it was tribal, we were all on the beach listening to the driving beat of the music, people dancing with fire, stomping the sand to the drums, and a few fireworks. People celebrated the new year the way people are suppose to, by enjoying the earth, the water, the air, and the company of each other.