Around the world

After Chiang Mai and the north of Thailand, it was time to move on the islands of the Thailand. My first stop was to Koh Pha Ngan island which lies on the east coast of Thailand. My two main highlights while I stayed on Koh Pha Ngan was celebrating the Songkran Festival and going to the full moon party. Songkran is a festival to celebrate the Thai New Year. The Thai's celebrate by having a huge watergun fight. In some parts of Thailand the festival lasts for seven days but on Koh Pha Ngan it was only celebrated for one day but it was awesome. My friends and I ventured to city of Thong Sala and partook in the celebration of Songkran. Now, imagine the biggest waterfight that you have ever been in, add about 1,000 people and make everyone a target - pedestrians, cars filled with people, police officers, good times, good times. It was an awesome festival which never got old. After celebrating the Songkran, that night was the Full Moon Party. Koh Pha Ngan is famous for it's Full Moon Party. The party was on Had Rin beach on the south end of the island. There are about a dozen clubs playing every variety of music and about 8,000 people dancing and drinking on the beach. It was a pretty intense and very festive event. The rest of my stay on Koh Pha Ngan involved chilling on the beach and hanging out with my friends.

My next stop was to Koh Phi Phi Island with an overnight stop in the city of Krabi. While I was in Krabi, I went on kayaking trip where we paddled into mangroves and visited a small island where our group was nearly attacked by wild monkeys. Suffice to say, I don't like wild monkeys.

Koh Phi Phi is on the West coast of Thailand and was one of the islands that was hit by the Tsunami. Koh Phi Phi has slowly recovered from the Tsunami but there are still signs from the devastation like cement slabs where bungalows once stood and shells of stores that have not been rebuilt. With that being said, Koh Phi Phi offers white sand beaches with warm tropical water, a bevy of activities like snorkeling, diving and cliff jumpning and a variety of food and bars to suit almost anyones tastes. Most of my time on the island I spent at the beach where I tossed the disc aka the frisbee and enjoyed the ambiance.

Also, just off Koh Phi Phi lies the small island of Koh Phi Phi Ley. Phi Phi Ley is most known for being the beach where the movie "The Beach" was filmed. My friends and I took a boat to the island where we snorkeled in the small coves filled with vibrant colored fishes, swam to a deserted beach and of course, we visit Ao Maya or "The Beach". Not a bad experience.