Thailand

Jeff and I were lucky enough to spend 3 weeks in Thailand after our wedding in March.  While we know several people who have been to Thailand, we also had a lot of people who asked us how we chose Thailand.  Because we got married "off-season" in March, we were limited in places we could go that would be warm.  I knew I wanted to spend time at the beach and Jeff knew he wanted to explore more of whichever country we chose.  Because of the timing of our honeymoon, we decided on South America or Asia for their ideal weather.  Thailand seemed to offer the perfect balance of beautiful beaches and countryside and seemed like a great fit for us.

There were basically three segments to our trip. Koh Phi Phi Island was our first stop.  I knew that once the wedding was over, I wanted to relax for awhile so we planned to go straight to the beach.  We stayed at a beautiful resort called Phi Phi Island Village.  We had our own private hut and an absolutely beautiful and surprisingly private beach!  There were several other people in the village but every morning we seemed to be the only people on the beach.  It was amazing and beautiful and romantic.  The perfect location for the first week of married life.

We took a picture of just about every meal we ate, note the papaya salad below.  Thailand food is, in a word, spicy.  I think I was sweating after every meal I ate but it was so worth it.  The curries were incredibly delicious.  You can also see Jeff sitting on the porch of our hut and our first glimpse of the island as were coming in by boat.

There was a small village behind ours with a few restaurants and conveniences stores and lots of cute kids playing and riding their bikes all day. 

This is the village of Tonsai which was on the other side of the island.  We could get here by boat in about 30 minutes.  It was crawling with tourists so didn't exactly offer the quiet getaway we had come for, but it was nice to go for the day and see what it had to offer and people watch.  We had some great food here and really appreciated the tranquility of our little hut when we got back.

We spent one day on a private boat exploring the surrounding islands.  We went to Maya Bay which is the beach where "The Beach" was filmed.  It was the most stunning beach we had ever seen.  The sand was like fine powder and because it has been turned into a national park, it is uninhabited and in pristine condition.  We had the opportunity to snorkel here too which was pretty incredible (for the five minutes we lasted in the water).  Neither Jeff nor I are big on water sports or, water in general so I think we both enjoyed the tour around the islands from the boat or the sand.

Next up, Koh Samui...