Photo Adventures with Curiosity and Learning
Our trip from Charleston to Bangkok and then to Phi Phi island ( and also flights from Charleston to Cozumel). Click and drag to explore the route.
From Phuket to Phi Phi Island
Jan 31, 2005. Here is a link to photos of Phi Phi Island during the Tsunami.
Dec 27, 2004. That we were on Phi Phi Island, exactly 1 year before the Sumatra earthquake has touched us deeply. I was on Coral Island during Christmas two years ago and diving in the Andaman Islands and snorkeling at Sylvan Sands 4 years ago. I have vivid memories of Phi Phi island and what I was doing the morning of the earthquake and what I would have done after watching the unusual tide changes prior to the tsunami. I was snorkeling at Long Beach and I'm certain that I would have walked around the area wondering why the tide had withdrawn. I suspect that this would have been then end of my adventures. I am indeed fortunate to have avoided this event. The photos below have a new meaning to us - the calm, the kids, the natural beauty.
December 22-28, 2003. So now, well fortified, we are off to the south - Thai Airlines to Phuket Airport (see top map with GPS tracks), Royal Crown minivan to the southern Phuket island pier, then Andaman ferry to Koh Phi Phi Don (lower left map). The GPS routes are yellow. For the tracks from Tokyo to Bangkok to Phuket to Phi Phi, click here to download ascii tracks and waypoints To the left is our island cluster: (Phi Phi Don and Phi Phi Lay ) - and GPS tracks of longboat trips around Phi Phi Don and Phi Phi Lay. For the return trip from Phi Phi to Bangkok, click here for the ascii tracks.
Here is our island cluster (Phi Phi Don and Phi Phi Lay ) - GPS tracks of longboat trips around Phi Phi Don and Phi Phi Lay (and snorkeling, of course).
This is what our little home looks like: the the Andaman Beach Resort in many ways like the IT Lab - a place full of friendly folks. Here I discovered the morning sun and the warm light that baths everthing. So I explore making about a zillion photos in the early morning and early evening, just to play with the sun and lighting. Some interesting photos of shadows and silhouettes. (Click images for the full photo).
Looking from near our favorite snorkeling place
These are some sample of early morning
A morning sunrise at low tide
A morning bird
Recalking the boards of a long boat
A boy playing in the sand
A serious conversation
Pumping gas the old fashion style - one liter at a time and frying breakfast chicken, one leg at a time
A drifting boat
The evening moon and possibly Venus
During low tide, I could walk to Longbeach and snorkel. The variety of underwater creatures was impressive and here are a few photos:
A morning clown fish
A large shell and some pretty fish
Many urchins
A parrot fish, other onlookers and more urchins
A pretty fish
An angel fish
Click for quicktime movie of chasing angel fish (10 Mb)
Click for quicktime movie of many urchins (10 Mb)
Tour the islands by longboat
A deserted beach
A hidden beach
A rock dive: before and during
and after
A water camel
- The Christmas program - fire dancing
Click for videos (quicktime, 17 Mb)
Playing the stick - a sort of Thai oboe
More morning scenes
Some interesting patterns in sand and rock
A study of the theme and variations of a bean
A bean walking into the unknown
A floating bean
Bean before the island
A kicking bean
A walking bean
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
C. Frank Starmer