Ko Phi Phi (Southern Thailand, Andaman Sea)

This month I had the pleasure of making another trip into Thailand. My Malaysian visa was about to expire; I had to leave the country and re-enter in order to have it renewed. This time I got to see the south and another stunning island: Ko Phi Phi. Here's a little trivia; this is the island filmed in the movie "The Beach" starring Leo DiCaprio. You can check it out, although I believe it is a cinema bowel movement.
In a coincidental matter of fact, I was contacted by a girl named Rachel through this blog. She had been traveling through SE Asia and was wondering about Malaysia. One thing led to another and we agreed to meet in the south of Thailand, see Ko Phi Phi, and then travel to Malaysia together. She turned out to be a really cool girl and a new friend, I'm very happy we met. It also turns out that her family and my cousins on Staten Island are very close. We also both went to LaGuardia HS just two years apart! Very small world indeed.
Here's some stuff to look at from the trip.

After climbing a billion steps to the top of this cliff, I could see the entire island. This has also been made the evacuation point after the Tsunami pummeled this island in 2004.
One of the amazing beach coves in the morning. The tide would sometimes retreat for hundreds of yards, leaving beached boats and only ankle deep water. Rachel throwing up the standard in Asian picture posing...
This picture makes me laugh. We both look so unhappy to be sitting on such a gorgeous beach. I believe we were very concentrated at the time, trying to capture the reflection in our shades. Maybe a little NY attitude to boot.
In terms of development, Ko Phi Phi is way ahead of most of the islands on the East coast of Malaysia. There were actual streets, restaurants, bars, cafes, book stores and even a 7 Eleven... some would certainly argue that this is a bad thing and ruins precious land conservation. Most times I might also agree, however, basking in some modern convenience and good western food was a nice change of pace.
Best time of day.A PUB!!!!!
Me and Rachel!
A few nights we even dined over Italian! AND- it wasn't bad! I even had my first glass of wine in 5 months... gotta be red of course.
This island also had its fair share of domestic dogs, stray dogs, cats, kittens, birds, even pet monkeys and squirrels. I wish I had my camera handy for some of the latter ones. But, here's a couple I caught.
The tiniest kitten....

This lil fella...