Day 162 -- Phuket to Koh Phi Phi

Had to be up at 6:30 since we got picked up by the minibus at 7AM. An hour drive to the pier and we jumped on the massive boat towards Koh Phi Phi. Crashed most of the 1.5 hour journey to the Phi Phi pier and when we got off we walked a little ways to the Pier Guesthouse which a friend had recommended. Scored a fan room with shared bathroom for 600 baht (35 baht = 1USD) just about 50 meters from the beach....not a bad deal! Mike signed up for a discovery dive since he was contemplating get his certification and then we got some lunch. When he took off for his dive I hit the beach...only got about 7 minutes of beach time b/c at the flip of a switch the weather changed, heavy winds and then pouring down rain. Made it back to the guesthouse just before it got crazy and ended up sitting with the Thai guys who ran the place reading my book, Chosen Prey. Got to the good part and it was raining so spent a few hours reading...really cool guys who gave me some food and I got to understand what growing up on the island was like. They talked about the tsunami and the way it changed their lives...hard to imagine going through something like that. Anyways, that night we hit a place they recommended for dinner which had massive portions...made the mistake of ordering a dish each and we sat for at least an hour trying to finish the beef w/ chili and fried noodles w/pork. Came close, but not close enough. Some American girls sat at our table and guess what....they were headed to Koh Phangan to for the Full Moon. After dinner we stopped by the Dive Shop where Mike caved and signed up for his Open Water course and they got me for 3 dives over the next couple of days. Doing a night dive, a wreck dive and an underwater photography dive all of which count towards my advanced certification. Looking forward to it! After spending money we really didn't need to spend, it was back to the room since it would be an early start tomorrow.