Mark & Jen's 'Around the World' Travel & Photography Blog

Time seems to be slipping away… our rattan-latticed bungalow, the white sand, the clear blue-green water, the fresh barracuda and white snapper from the morning’s spear-fishing trip, and the wooden long-tail boats puttering back and forth….

Ao Toh Ko Bay / Our Beach Bungalow at Ao Toh Ko Bay

We originally said we would stay here on Ko Phi Phi two days. Two becomes three, then four, then five, then six. A traveler looks up from her diary-writing in the open-air cafe: “What day is it?” Heads rise; we look at each other in puzzlement. A debate ensues: The 6th? The 7th? The 8th? Tsong, the owner’s cousin, finally goes behind the counter and grabs the calendar. “The 7th,” he concludes. “Ahh…,” we say and return to our books and fruit lassis.

On our way here, the ferry worker asked us for what day we wanted our return ticket. Mark and I look at each other, smiled, shrugged our shoulders, and answered, “We have no idea.” The man laughed and walked away.

Alex Garland in his pop-culture novel The Beach writes, “My memory began to shut itself down, quickly, so that within a week nothing much existed beyond the lagoon and its circle of protective cliffs…” (193). Time just slips away.

Sunset at Ao Toh Ko Bay (right: Jen)

We sea-kayak over to Mosquito Island and beach all to ourselves. We snorkel amidst vibrant tropical fish, multi-colored coral, pods of dolphin, and schools of flying fish. The trip to Ton Sai village is a 30 minute boat ride or a 45 minute hike through the jungle, which we undertake one day to use the Internet and then see no reason to return. Electricity turns on via generator only from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. The pungently sweet smoke from the mosquito coils swirls gently around our feet. I stare across the open water and listen the the waves lightly lap against the sand. I lose all sense of place and time..

We must leave tomorrow, or I, too, will become another Thailand traveler statistic….

Railey Beach West (left: Jen and Katherine)

Long-tail boat that has seen better days…

It seems remiss to not mention the tsunami that wreaked havoc on this island just a few years ago. Of the 5,395 people killed in Thailand, approximately 700 3,000 (correction, see comments) were here. Some may think us strange or even imprudent for coming — yet the island remains an absolutely stunning place to visit; in our opinion, not going would be just another injustice to a place and a people that have already suffered so much.