Ko Phi Phi & Phuket, Thailand

Outrigger hotel on Ko Phi Phi DonThis is our experience of Thailand islands in a nutshell. We would also love to shoot wedding photos in Phuket.After some more intense traveling experiencing culture and temples we were ready to just relax on the beach for a few days. We arrive in Phuket at the Mövenpick hotel after an hour and a half flight from Siem Reap and an hour shuttle drive. In retrospect we would have probably picked a place closer to Patong, where the nightlife is, and more party friendly rather than family friendly. Although their breakfast buffet was the best I have ever had. The first night we took a trip to Patong and experienced the crazy nightlife that is Thailand, albeit while experiencing the standard 'travel sick' feeling. We called it an early night but not without getting swindled into taking a polaroid photo with an adorable, probably drugged up, slow loris. In Phuket we spent one day at So Thai Spa and the second on a trip with Phuket Sail Tours. The boat tour was amazing, going all around Ko Yao Yai and Ko Yao Noi, snorkeling and spending time on a beautiful secluded beach all by ourselves (photos below). All in all though, Phuket was not our favorite place to spend time. I found Ko Phi Phi Don to be more relaxing and more beautiful, the only downfall is that it takes 2 hours to get there via ferry. I know that some have claimed that it is more expensive but I did not think it was very different, price wise, to Phuket.We stayed at the Outrigger hotel which is about a 30 minute boat ride from Tonsai Bay, where the ferry arrives. The Outrigger hotel is probably the most expensive hotel on the island but it had the highest ratings on Trip Advisor and was still only starting at $130 for our own bungalow. By the time we got to this beautiful location in a private cove we were sad that we were only going to be there for 2 nights. We even tried to extend the trip but flights were already purchased to Chiang Mai, Air Asia wasn't keen on giving us our $80 back for our flight. We took a short trip to the monkey beach near Tonsai Bay but I don't recommend it, it was quite depressing. The beach was full of tourists and trash. It was obvious that many people were overfeeding the monkeys to get their attention despite many warnings against it, the monkeys seem to now be completely dependent upon humans. This beautiful beach was also covered in trash, so bad that we decided to take the time to find 4 trash bags and fill them up ourselves but that was barely a dent in the destruction. The monkeys were also NOT like the Cambodian monkeys we experienced. They chased after us aggressively multiple times as we were cleaning trash, we ran in to the water to attempt to get away from them but they can swim, we just swim faster.The first 4 photos were taken with our iPhone 5, the rest were shot with the 5d Mark III and the Fuji X100s. (note to self, be careful when using underwater housing for phone, water can still get in if you're clumsy).-Caroline