It was almost an hour that we had been in the water. On the beach the tour attendants had placed a heap of sliced water melons and pineapples on a table along with cold drinks and packaged water. They were pampering us with refreshments. We ate a lot of melons which took care of the dehydration that took place during the hour under the sun. I noticed that the melons were much sweeter and had much less number of seeds compared to what we get in India. I spotted a small crowd around a Japanese girl. She had been bitten or nibbled by some fish. Her toe was bleeding and from the expression on her face it seemed she was having considerable pain. One of the attendants sqeezed a lime over the wound and told her not to worry as it would heal within two to three days. I don’t know how much would that assurance of healing in two to three days be of any comfort to a tourist. My wife was of the opinion that vinegar would have done a better job. I said vinegar should be available at the beach side restaurant where we will go for lunch. She said that the clear synthetic ones are better for dressing such wounds. I assured her that at the beach restaurant there would be no Balsamic or wine vinegar.

After relaxing for a while we boarded our speed boat. The next destination was a cove near the Phi Phi island. When we were departing we saw the larger tourist boats that were approaching this island. I could imagine how crowdy this small island would be with the mass of tourists that were being brought by these boats. It was a good decision to opt for speed boat tour.

After another exciting ride we approached a cove with a tiny white beach and behind that a tall hillock rose almost vertically. The water, the green hill and the beach looked so surreal. Our boat man had cut off the engine. There was no sound anywhere, not even a gull. It was amazing. As the boat drifted to the cove we could see the sea bed full of corals. All arranged in a seemingly incomprehensible fashion. A sight which our eyes were not prepared to see. The hill appeared as a monk sitting upright in meditation, the corals like flowers strewn around him. In reverence the wind was blowing soft, the waves calmed themselves. There was peace & calmness all around. This surreal environment seemed to have affected all of us. None of us spoke a word and broke the sound of silence. We were all mesmerized by the works of the greatest artist of the universe. But there is communication without words or sound. All through this time did we not tell each other wow look over there… oh my God look here in silence?

The boat was anchored at a place where the water was six to ten feet deep. We wore our snorkeling gears and dived in to the crystal clear water. It was another world. The million patterns of the corals. The small fish that swam around these. Words fail to describe what lay below us. If Wordsworth wrote his famous poem beholding a field of Daffodils one can guess what a poetry it would have been if he had seen what we were seeing. My wife came close to me and thanked me for choosing Thailand and this particular excursion. This was also a rare thing.

After an hour or so we left this paradise for Phi Phi island. It was a very short ride. I had brought a six can pack of Shingha beer which was kept in the ice meant for cooling the fruits and the soft drinks. The Belgian lady took one and we consumed the remaining five. The Phi Phi island has a sort of circular beach. There are lots of usual establishments like restaurants, souvenir shops, and travel & tour agents. We were escorted to a table for eight people. The Italian couple joined us. A steam boat soup with lots of vegetables and sea foods was first served. The Italian man sat gloomily and touched nothing. When I asked him what was the matter he said “Don’t eat Thai food. Thai food big zero” Suits us thought we and had a second helping of the aromatic soup. This was followed by plates of noodles, fried rice, a fish preparation and chicken cooked with carrots, tomatoes and pine apples. Needless to say that the fish was very fresh. All the preparations were delicious and we wolfed under the pensive eyes of the Italian gentleman. Later on I learned that he was a chef in a pizzeria in southern Italy. He was quite elated when we told him that we like Italian food which is certainly a big hundred.

After the lunch we had a cup of green tea which was very refreshing and washed away all the oils from our throat. The daughters went off for photography and ice creams. I went and laid my body on a bench and dozed off.