Phi Phi to Koh Lanta

I enjoyed Phi Phi, although the Ibiza bar would drive me mad if I was
there for any length of time - when you need to sleep, you need to
sleep.

We took the ferry from Phi Phi pier and 1 hour later arrived in Koh Lanta.

Koh Lanta

Moonlight bay to be exact. Were staying in some little forest
bungalows on the riverside, it's got a little lagoon pool and a
private beach. It's a proper sleepy resort with nothing to do except
catch up on sleep, sunbathe and go for strolls on the White sandy
beaches.

On the downside there aren't any of the little food stalls and street
restauants, but we're only here for a few days as a stop over on the
way to krabi.

Time to catch up with some sleep!
(and a decent shower and air conditioning that works - there were no
hot showers on Phi Phi and air conditioning was a crappy fan).

That evil Ibiza bar (part 2)

So I fell asleep in the sun and burnt my shoulder - god knows how you
burn one and not the other :-/ on the bright side, I woke up feeling
great.

Bev stayed in bed all day and came down to the pool full of life "Do
you fancy following the tsunami evacuation route to the top of the
island?"

Me "I'm not sure, shall we do it tomorrow?"

Bev "it's only 350 steps".

Yeah well what they don't tell you is it's 350 steep steps to the start
of the path which then leads to the top of the highest view point. I
was dripping, it took about 30 mins to get there - pretty scary if you
consider it only took 6 mins for the tsunami to wash out the island.

Once I'd collapsed at the top of the mountain (there were loads of
people around sat peacefully on top of the rocks) I looked out and was
like - wow. It was well worth it, you can see all over the island,
it's really high up above the tallest trees. We'd also just timed it
to catch the sun setting over the opposite mountain.

I could end the day there but not without mentioning the cats that
sleep in the refrigerated drinks cabinets to keep cool! I saw a young
boy playing with a cat hanging out of the fridge, which I though he'd
locked in, only to realise the cat was crying to be let in with all
the other cats!

That evil Ibiza bar.

I know I know... It's self inflicted, no sympathy etc., but I swear
that lbiza bar is evil.

To back track, last night we decided if you can't beat them, join
them. It didn't help that a friend of ours was over from Ibiza dj'ing
at tiger bar (here on the island) so we went to see him and discovered
they were doing 2 for 1 buckets.

When they say buckets, they literally mean filling your bucket with
ice, redbull and vodka and sticking a straw in it - then there were
the free buckets at 12am. Rat arsed isn't the word, we then went on to
the beach party and headed back when the sun came up at 5am.

So I'm sat having a moccha frappucino (how gay does that sound!) and
not moving from the pool with a promise never to do it again...

...until next time.

The islands of Phi Phi

...but not the hangover, especially when you've got to be up for a day
of Island hopping.

Phi Phi Don

- Ton Sai Bay

Otherwise known as monkey bay. Remember the wild monkeys in a previous
post? Well these monkeys are nothing like them. They're so used to
tourists they come and take banana from your hand. The baby monkeys
make you want to put them in your pocket (and carry them around like I
used to with my dwarf rabbit!) but if you go near them the mother
monkeys come screaming at you - best to avoid them.

Phi Phi Lay

Viking caves and sea swing
Pi-leh bay snorkeling
Loh Samah Bay
Maya Bay (The Beach) picnic & snorkeling

Firstly the snorking was amazing - the sea is surprisingly warm, and
when you're free floating at the top of the deep blue and green water
you see all the caves and underwater mountains that go so far below
you they dissapear into cloudy deep blue inky water. The colourful
fish don't compare to the Maldives, although you can still see the
stripey clown fish and parrot fish which have beaks! You might also
have to avoid the occasional sea snake which have such tiny mouths
they don't bother with you - probably a good job since they're amongt
the most poisonous in the world.

Eventually we made our way to Maya Bay where the beach was filmed -
anoher highlight for me! I was expecting to be dissapointed as I'd
been told it would be packed with tourists, but as we sailed between
the two rock formations the bay opened up and it was just what I'd
imagined, only better because it was pretty empty!

We stopped and had a picnic on the beach, some more snorkeling and
went through the little forest - you know the bit in the film where he
goes mad and runs through the forest like a video game? Well it's a
proper path you can follow, and as with most films the place is a lot
smaller than it looks on screen.

The rest of the day was spent snorkeling and subathing around the rest
of the bays and islands:

Monkey beach (more tame monkeys)
Nui Bay
Mosquito Island
Bamboo Island
Runtee Bay
Shark point

We didn't see any sharks but by this time the storms were coming down
from Bangkok and the speedboat was bouncing single storey heights on
the waves so we pretty much wanted to get back to the harbour.

Long beach.

Phi Phi Don (Long beach)

We didn't get much sleep last night - someone has decided to build an
Ibiza bar which holds beach parties until 4am every night and you can
hear the music all over the island.

We jumped on a long boat around to long beach - really beautiful long
sandy White beach - for a day of snorkelling around the rocks and
sunbathing. The beach huts have gone since the tsunami and they have
been rebuilt up in the hills.

Returning to the main village, which by the way has no transport, we
went for banana and pineapple pancakes (and discovered melon shakes..
if you know me you know I LOVE melon).

I also love the mojitos at the mojito bar..

Phi Phi

Phuket

We drove through the town to the pier and boarded the ferry...

...1 hour later...

Phi Phi Island (Phi Phi Don)

Phi Phi is made up of two islands, Phi Phi Don and Phi Phi Lay.
Everybody stays on Phi Phi Don in the middle (the island is shaped
like a bow tie). It has a very different atmosphere here like a big
meeting place full of travellers catching up with friends before
moving onwards. It's pretty bohemian, and everybody thinks they're on
the film 'the beach' looking to discover themselves.

I should mention too that since we arrived in Thailand everybody but
everybody eiher wants to sell you something, show you something or
find some other creative way of spending your money for you. In Phi
Phi, as soon as they hear your English accent, don't count on getting
a good barter deal.

Our accomodation was above the tsunami danger zone with a pool over
looking the sea. And if you're on the opposite side of the island
there's no point in following the tsunami evacuation route unless
you're good at climbing steep cliffs - it ends at a massive cliff face
next to the sea.