Friends in Thailand

Chris and Sophie came to meet us in Thailand in mid October! After strolling the debatcherous streets of Phuket for a night, and making the Facebook page of The Kata Palace (seen below), we headed out to the beautiful beaches of Railay, Ao Tonsai, Koh Phi Phi, and Ko Lanta reached only by boat.

Clockwise from left: My two best buddies / Beware monkeys! They will steal anything you have. / Kayaking Koh Phi Phi while Sophie does all the paddling.

If you're dumb enough to bring food on to Monkey Beach, the monkeys will chase you into the water and swim for that sandwhich....or Mountain Dew. It's interesting watching monkeys teach humans.

Marooned on our own private beach with provisions of sticky rice, chicken nuggets, and Chang :)

Goofing around Koh Phi Phi. Please note hilarious tourist behind Matt, top left. He later picked up a dead fish and walked away with it. Bottom left, Liz was told not to smile.

Snorkeling and a trip to Maya Beach where they filmed "The Beach." That night we also swam in the ocean where we found phosferesent plankton. 

My favorite thing about Koh Lanta: scootin' with friends! In Thailand they drive on the left side of the road, so that was interesting. On our adventures scootin' around Koh Lanta we saw a baby elephant knocking over trees and throwing bushes for fun and we hiked to a waterfall and cave in the jungle. At one point Liz and I got a flat, so she had to triple up with Chris and Sophie while I puttered back to home base.

Deep water free-soloing trip with Sharon near Ao Tonsai.  Climbing ropeless over beautiful azure water and incredible limestone was unreal! Unfortunately Chris and Sophie were sick and couldn't make it out this day.

Secluded beaches, long tail boats, and Kittens everywhere! Liz and Sophie were in kitten heaven.

After Chris and Sophie headed back to SanFrancisco, we went to Khao Lak with Sharon. Our first day there we were welcomed by an incredible sunset. Yeah, that's real and unfiltered. 

We walked along the beach and saw a couple sending off a paper lantern (bottom left.)

Bottom right: we stayed in tents at a National Park on the Similan Islands.

The Similan islands were the most beautiful islands I have ever seen. Liz and I enjoyed climbing around on the granite bolders everywhere. The snorkeling was amazing! We saw stone fish, lion fish, moray eels, sea snakes, parrot fish, clown fish, a flying fish (flying), puffer fish, lobster, cuttle fish, and an octopus. We went from island to island on a large boat. At one point we came across a tangled and abandoned trap with some white snapper trapped inside. They made for excellent fish curry that night for dinner!

The photos don't really do it justice. The Similan Islands were absolutely stunning!

After leaving Similan and Khao Lak, we headed to Phuket for our last night with Sharon. On the beach we saw some wicked tacraw players going all out! Tacraw is a combination between soccer and volleyball. No hands!

We had a great time and are extremely lucky to have had Chris, Sophie and Sharon spend some amazing days with us in Thailand!  We took a short plane ride up north to the city of Chiang Mai away from the beaches, where we will be for a few weeks. That's all for now....

Xoxoxox -MRP