Sun, Sand, and (no) Snow - sorry, couldn't resist!

As you can see from the photos, we made it to the beach in Thailand (it's all part of a very scientific comparative beach study, although we haven't received any funding yet!) We decided to take a night train from Bangkok since it was cheap and would get us to Ko Phi Phi by noon the next day. It's called a V.I.P. bus. which means that you get (overly excessive) air conditioning and a (somewhat) reclining seat. And other tourists who drink all night and decide to tell their life stories to each other until long after midnight. And what they don't tell you is that at 6 o'clock in the morning you get tossed off the bus on the side of the road (i.e.waiting terminal) where you wait around for two hours until a mini-van takes you to the ferry terminal to get the boat. I vowed I would never take the bus again.
Ko Phi Phi is an absolutely beautiful island off the west coast of southern Thailand. The middle is white sand beaches lined with the requisite palm trees, both ends are rock cliff formations jutting out of the jade coloured water, topped with lush greenery. The water was warm and the weather was fantastic, as it has been basically for the past five months (I've noticed that in these countries, people never talk about the weather, I guess because it's always nice! except when it's the rainy season, and then it rains all the time!) So, back to Ko Phi Phi: we were quite surprised to discover that food and accomadation were so expensive (almost double what we were paying in Bangkok!). And it's very touristy: shops everywhere, bikinis galore, sunglasses, bars, cafes, and an infinite variety of boat tours, diving, snorkelling... all geared towards twenty year olds on winter holidays who want to party!! Now it's not that I don't like to have fun, but it wasn't the quiet beach we had expected. And even Long Beach (for those who have been there before), is completely developed with high end bungalows all along the beach.
Ko Phi Phi was hit by the Tsunami quite badly, and hundreds of people died. In fact there seems to be a lot of rubble around that I suspect are remnants of the disaster. Near the beach there was a small memorial set up by families of the victims, with photos and messages. We also spoke to several residents about their experience, the lady who rented us our rooms told me her sons had moved to their grandmother's village (on the mainland) and were too afraid to move back. Although of couse I had seen it on the news, it seems so much more real you when you are sitting in the exact spot where people were sitting four years ago, when this gigantic wave just suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
We did go snorkeling and it was incredible: many varieties of fish I had never seen before, entire schools of fish, all swimming so close I felt that I could just stretch my had out and touch them! We all loved it, and the backdrop made it all the more beautiful.And after a week on the beach, you guessed it, budget obliging, back on the night bus! This time we took a government bus, which includes a stewardess (can you say that for a bus?) who brings you snacks when you board and coffee in the morning!