Phi Phi Islands
Andaman Sea
Limestone karst topography rising up from the sea. We started the trip with the diving. Ellie, bless her, had learned to dive in the US so we could go together on this trip.
This was a damn nice place to start. Use the boats for scale

Phi Phi Islands
on the right side of the far island, you can see a beach strip. This is the infamous beach that was "improved" during the filming of the movie "The Beach"

Dive Site #1
Ellie's first non-Cayuga Lake Dive. The cliff walls extend vertically under the water. As you ascend you can see the cliff faces up through the water. Pretty damn cool.

Diving with Dive Asia
nice diving, good visibility and fish life. The diving here is a bit cattle-car like though. The boat was huge and there were 30 divers on our boat.

Our fearless travelers letting go a bit after a dive

The Similan Islands
I did these dives without Ellie. While the Phi Phi Islands were nice, this was truly world-class diving. Incredible visibility (perhaps 40-50m) and the highest fish diversity I had ever seen. Supposedly, one Jacque Costeau's favorites. If you (and your spouse, if you have one) are serious about diving, come here on a live-aboard.

The Boathouse Cooking School
Chef Tummanoon Punchun
outdamn'standing experience. First, you go through the concepts involved...then, he cooks it in front of you...and finally, you cook it yourself (after someone else has already chopped all the ingredients). Lots of eating involved in the whole process too.

The busy beach at Kata
Our recommendation is don't bother coming to Phuket unless you want to dive. And then, only come here if the winds are bad on the Gulf of Thailand side of the country, as they were for us. It is crowded around Phuket and unsightly.