Picture: "Long tail" boats at PhiPhi (pronounced "pee pee") Island. Note the small truck diesel engines mounted on the end of the propeller shaft. The driver has to swing the whole unit to steer. Very hard work!

We left Ao Chalong after breakfast around 09:00 after checking out of Thailand the previous afternoon. The wind was from the Northeast and we were sailing at about 5 knots. It was only 26 nautical miles to PhiPhi Islands (pronounced Pee Pee) and so we arrived at Ton Sai Bay late afternoon. We met up with some yachties the night before for dinner across the bay from Ao Chalong and their advice was not to stop at PhiPhi because of the large number of tourists. However, sometimes we like to observe regular tourists; after all, Ted's Doctor's degree is about the economics of tourism. At first, I felt that it was a mistake to stop because the entire bay was filled with dive boats, "longtail" boats, ferries, speedboats, even fishing boats as well as a small number of yachts like us. Finding a safe place to anchor was a challenge but we succeeded after two smaller boats left a vacant spot. We did not go ashore that night because there was a strong wind blowing and we did not want a wet dinghy ride. Even though "Shuang Yu" was tossing around most of the night, we had a comfortable rest because the wind made the temperature seem cooler.

There are two islands in the group, PhiPhi Don and PhiPhi Le. All the resorts, restaurants, shops and commercial activity is on Phi Phi Don. Phi Phi Le is uninhabited. However, PhiPhi Le has been made famous by the Hollywood movie, "The Beach". PhiPhi Don is actually two islands joined together by an isthmus (a narrow strip of beach). The 2004 Tsunami demolished most of the buildings on the island but according to the guidebooks, the settlement was put back to its original state very quickly. Remnants, or rather rubble, from the disaster can still be seen here and there behind the glamorous front.

We took the dinghy ashore in the morning and hired a "longtail" boat for a tour of Phi Phi Le. The operator's name was Abdul. He followed our dinghy back to "Shuang Yu" and the couple from the next door yacht asked to share the tour with us. It was great fun having company. Cruising can be quite lonely sometimes. The couple, Steve and his friend, had chartered their yacht in Thailand for week but they were from Beijing. The ironic part was that neither Steve nor his friend are Chinese. Steve is American and his friend is Korean. They are entrepreneurs in China and very interesting people. The tour was half a day so we had a chance to visit with them for three or four hours. It is fascinating to meet people from different backgrounds. Steve shared with us that one of his colleagues was here when the 2004 tsunami struck. Their "long tail" driver was killed instantly but Steve's colleague and her two friends were stranded, naked, on one of the limestone islands for three days and three nights having lost their clothes in the tsunami - so scary, but they survived!

Our "Longtail" driver took us around PhiPhi Le to "Viking Cave", where intricate structures of bamboo and rope are used to collect swallow's nests for bird's nest soup for the Chinese market. The nest material is "glued" together by the bird's saliva. It is considered healthy as well as scrumptious. We were glad that we did not take "Shuang Yu" because the wind and waves were quite strong and besides, we would not be able to enter the shallow beaches. It seemed like we were playing "bumper boats" with other "longtail' boats; there were so many of them! We had the opportunity to snorkel and sit on a beach surrounded by limestone mountains. We tried to get onto the beach where the film, "The Beach", was made but the tide was too low for our long tail. Just as well, we didn't want to fight for space on the beach because it was swamped with speedboats and tourists. Evidently it was deep enough for speedboats but not "long tail" boats. We also stopped at Monkey Beach where spoiled and aggressive monkeys begged for food from the tourists. We tried to give the monkeys some pieces of stale bread; they picked them up, looked at them, smelt them and then threw them in the water like they were filthy trash. While a few feet from us, one monkey was eagerly eating a banana and another was drinking beer from a can!

Ted and I went ashore on PhiPhi Don after lunch and joined the crowd. It was just as we expected; souvenir shops one after the other, selling similar items. Nobody seemed to be buying anything. Most restaurants were empty, but of course it was in the late afternoon, after lunch and before dinner. We had a cup of coffee and coconut juice at one of the restaurants and watched the tourists go by. Judging by the languages they spoke, most of them seemed to be from China and Russia on family vacations and clad in beach attire. They seemed to be returning from the beach or water sports activities because they looked exhausted from the day's heat and sun. We returned to our boat and felt satisfied after a dose of tourism and were thankful that we could retreat to our own home even though it is on the water.