Phi Phi and Monkey Business

 I spent my last day in Phuket on a cruise by speedboat to Ko Phi Phi (Phi Phi Island for those not fluent in

 Phi Phi is probably 40+ miles south in Phang Nga Bay from the Phuket pier, so a good distance to cover.  

 Bought myself an elephant shirt which are popular here s o I could blend with the locals. I think it comes off and I could probably be taken for a Thai-

I will skip my standard joke about it being deserted and just say I have never seen so many fairly large boats, all trying to get into the little lagoon there-  

 

It is pretty, but not THAT pretty in my estimation (at least not that much prettier than other islands so as to justify all of that boat traffic).  But still pretty-

 

It is also known for its powdery white sand beach-

Looks and feels great, but not so easy to get off the feet once stuck, tho. 

We also visited this beach in the Phi Phi group (the Thais have a knack for naming their islands) called -

And it lived up to its moniker-

They seemed a relatively civilized group.  I spotted one monkey headed toward the rest rooms (not sure whether man or woman's or gender neutral) to do its business-

Apart from the speedboat v. the larger cruise boat,the trip mostly differed my earlier cruise in that it offered snorkeling near a couple of the islands.  It was no Galapagos but you could see quite a few colorful fish and a lot of interesting coral.  

So, worthwhile  

There was still some fairly stunning island scenery-

That wrapped up my visit to Phuket which really is a major international destination (with crowds and congestion to prove it.  The trip from my hotel to the airport -  about 12 miles- took just under an hour each way).  I was surprised to find how many people flew directly to Phuket from their home countres (tons of Europeans here).  The Norwegians, for example, got a direct flight to Phuket from Oslo.

Onto to the big city of Bangkok and ita famous temples-