WMBB?

Back home in Panama City, FL, we call the local beaches the, "World's Most Beautiful Beaches" (WMBB). I think Thailand may actually have us on this one.

The Thai beaches share Panama City Beach's bright white, soft-as-powder sand, but the water here is far superior. The gorgeous Andaman Sea is a light, bright aqua green, devoid of seaweed or other swimming pests. And just off shore are countless stunning coral reefs -- perfect for a great day of snorkeling (yesterday, for me!). Then there are the views. While PCB has fantastic high rise hotels, Thailand has stunning vertical limestone cliffs with rich foilage in every shade of waxy green.

I'm staying at three beaches total on this quick tour of the south (Ao Nang in Krabi, Ko Phi Phi and Phuket), and I'm impressed with them all, but especially the island of Ko Phi Phi (pronounced "Ko-pee-pee"). My old roommate, Rich, visited here a few years ago and came back boasting. Rich is from Hawaii. Any island/beach that has a boy from Hawaii raving about it has to be good, right?! It is. Ko Phi Phi is simply stunning. It was here that I set out for a day of snorkeling with 7 others and our driver in a small wooden boat. He maneuvered us in and out of small coves amongst the walls of lushly covered limestone, and it was just magical. The only sad part was that at each stop, he'd anchor our boat to the coral! We all hated to see this through our diving masks, and we tried to ask him if we could just pull the boat ashore, and we'd swim out to where the coral was to snorkel, but the language divide was too great, and he never got what we were trying to ask. Our lunch stop was at a spot called Monkey Beach, and sure enough, there on the beach were 4 of the fattest monkeys I've ever seen. I take it boats stop there for lunch every day, and these monkeys reap the benefits of all leftovers & handouts. They could barely move their bodies were so large. It was kinda sad!

I met several nice people at my Ko Phi Phi beach bungalow place. One British couple from my snorkeling trip was especially helpful, as they've already done Cambodia, Vietnam & Laos. They assured me the Thai beaches are far superiour to those in the other countries, so I may shave off beach days from my itineraries in Cambodia & Vietnam, and come back to Thailand's beaches at the very end of my trip!!!

I also met some fun gals from Seattle, Susan & Beth, who are on a three week Thailand vacation. They're super nice and saved me from having to dine alone (gasp!). Plus, we caught a fun fire show on the beach over beers last night (dancers who twirl fire batons or chains with balls of fire on the ends). Good stuff!

xo,
Mere