It's Maya Bay!

Until September 2012, when people asked me what my favorite place on earth was, I used to indulge in some of the most cliched replies. "Oh any place is as good as its people.." "I love Baltimore and Singapore because of all the wonderful friends I've made.." "I love Chennai - there's no place like home!" and so on. But after my trip to Thailand, my reply has gotten much simpler. "It's Maya Bay!"

Koh Phi Phi Ley, Thailand

Maya Bay is situated in the Krabi province of Thailand, and it is surrounded by the island Ko Phi Phi Ley. This may look familiar to you if you've watched 'The Beach' where Leonardo DiCaprio follows directions from a map to reach the secret paradise island on Maya Bay. The way to get here is first fly to Phuket, then hop on a ferry to Ko Phi Phi Don and there book the Maya Bay Camping tour. I suggest the Chao Koh tour, you can even leave your bags in their office. The entire camping tour is around 80USD per person. Totally worth it! First, they take you on a longboat to Maya Bay and from the minute you get on that boat, it is a whole new experience. Here are some of the sights en route... 

The blue waters around Maya Bay!

I fell in love with the water color! The phrase 'feeling blue' should be changed to mean feeling ecstatic! The bright blue colored waters and the huge mountain cliffs overlooking them... I had never seen anything as beautiful. The weather was very pleasant too. September is actually the off season, heavy rains are expected but it didn't rain at all while we were there. On the way, they stopped the boat and gave us snorkeling gear. Since the water was clear, the coral reefs and other aquatic life were clearly visible. (Although, the ones we saw off the coast of Gili islands near Lombok were better). After snorkeling and swimming around in the water for a while, we got back onto the boat and they gave us freshly cut pineapples to eat :) And then we reached the island where we were going to spend the night. 

The sunset was pretty gorgeous, just like all sunsets. We were entertained by the guides with some fire dance shows. They cooked us some brilliant Thai food, and a bucket full of a special Thai drink ;) There were about 15 other tourists as part of this tour, we all played some weird games. And then at night we slept on the open beach looking up at the sky! This was my favorite part of the trip. The sky was filled with stars and more stars. There was a mild breeze and the relaxing sound of waves, it just felt wonderful. And then. For the first time in my life I saw shooting stars! Three of them! I think the 'making a wish' thing really works because the first two times I wished that I see one more. And the third time.. well I think that wish is coming true too. Sleeping on a beach, looking up at the infinite universe, does make you feel on top of the world. Having lived in big, polluted cities all my life, this was very different and awesome! Kung Fu panda would've had no difficulty finding that inner peace here. 

That's me just before waking up

The next morning we went back to Phuket in the ferry, and did some jet skiing at Patong beach. Karthik and Srinath fell off their jet skis because of the rough waves and had to swim back to shore. I was of course racing through the waters like a pro! In the evening I got my hair braided like Beckham (David Beckham Hairstyle) except that it looked way worse than that. Way worse. Later we checked out the night life on Bangla road where two lady boys offered Karthik a rose, and Srinath almost got selected to do a belly dance.

On the whole, this is one place that I would love to visit again and again, even it is by myself :) So yeah, it's Maya Bay!