Koh Phi Phi, Thailand

After a day of recouping from the all night festivities, we made our way to Koh Phi Phi, on the west side of mainland. We got there in the blistering heat of afternoon. This gives those hotel owners offering A/C an edge on bargaining. They said 150, we said 100, they said 150, we took 150.

It was on Phi Phi that we got our first intro to the legendary Lady-boys. There was a group of them on one corner trying to draw customers to a Lady-boy Show. Now I'm told some of them pull it off quite well, and that I'd never know. I'm sure this was often the case, but there's definitely the flipside, born with Robin Williams hands and a voice reminiscent of Sean Connery. Not much you can do about that. Unfortunate for them.

Next morning we headed for some cheaper accomodation and met up with Paul's bud Ty Pridham, who was travelling with his girlfriend Ali. I decided to do my PADI Openwater cert while on Phi Phi, so I headed out to get it going. The rest of the crew went to chill on one of the nicer beaches of the island.
That's Ali's friend Teagan. Coincidentally it was Ty's birthday, so they got sloppy that night. Apparently booze doens't mix well with diving; that's me sucking water in the background.
A few drinking games kicked off the festivities. By the end of the night it was clear who won.

Day 2 was spent predominantly in recoup for the rest of crew, watching flicks at the guesthouse. My PADI cert continued. By 5 o'clock everyone was back in shape, good enough reason to do it all over again. Day 3 I finished by cert by 1. We hired a long-tail boat to take us around to some beaches and snorkelling.
Inclusive on this tour was the infamous Maya beach from "The Beach".Before heading off to RaiLay on the last day, we hit the local beach on Phi Phi.
Then we ventured up a decent hike to a lookout point. Paul's sunscreen didn't quite set before the hike.
View from the lookout point.