i found a ferry that leaves rassada pier for phi phi at 1500, which should work perfectly with my 1350 arrival at HKT. i would probably book the "private taxi" land transfer option instead of the shared van since that's a little tight (google says 35min drive). i guess i'm running the risk of my BKK-HKT on TG being delayed by more than a half hour.

my return is HKT-ICN-LAX, entirely on OZ with a >5hr connection in ICN. hopefully i'm good there.

i will look at railay beach as well - thanks for that suggestion!