May 17 – Beauty and the Beach

Koh Phi Phi is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever visited. It’s a small island with hotels, bars, shops and restaurants on a thin strip of land and mountains on either side. The main area is made up of small streets and paths and there are no cars on the island, only bikes. We stayed in a small bungalow on the hill with views of the water. On the first night there were a bunch of centipede type bugs in the room and Jacob, trying to get me to overcome my fear of bugs, insisted that I remove them. It took almost half an hour to get up the courage but I finally picked them up with a piece of paper and threw them off the balcony. The next day we found out that these were poisonous and were told not to touch them if we see any! I’m never going close to a bug again, especially during our travels.

We took a day trip out to the neighbouring island (where The Beach was filmed) and spent the day chilling on various beaches (one of them had a bunch of monkeys on it). We went snorkelling were the fish would nibble on Jacob’s chest hair. We also hiked up one of the mountains, through the jungle to a viewpoint overlooking the island. The scenery here is amazing and the sunsets are unlike anything I’ve ever seen – the sky becomes almost red as the sun passes behind the clouds and mountains.  

Anyway, I guess this is the end of “vacation”. We leave for India tomorrow and I’m not sure what to expect but from what I’ve heard, Delhi is hectic and overwhelming (probably 100% worse than Dar es Salaam) and it’s suggested that women be covered head to toe. The second we get there I’m getting myself a Sari!