Our next stop on our comprehensive tour of Thailand was Koh Phi Phi Don which was also hard hit by the tsunami but is a lot more touristy than Koh Lanta so the effects are less clear. Having said this there are signs everywhere declaring the tsunami evacuation route (or should I say a path up a hill side!). The tourists were back and had nice places to stay but the locals were living in a shanty town and still trying to rebuild there own houses which I thought was the wrong way round of doing things, but I guess they know where there money comes from.

We had gone to Phi Phi for a couple of reasons, the first of which was a boat trip around the island and over to Koh Phi Phi Lei (where the beach from the film 'The Beach' is located). By the time we entered the bay of the beach I was already starting to feel ill as the boat was all over the place and the waves were getting bigger. I thought that a swim might make me feel better but after a couple of minutes in the water I knew that that was going to be the case. I swam back to the boat as quickly as possible (over the ever increasing waves) and to spare you the details I'll just say that I spent the next 30 minutes hugging the grottiest toilet (I can honestly say it wasn't my proudest moment). For the rest of the trip (all 6 hours) I spent my time lying down whilst feeling sorry for myself and jumping into the water to look at the coral and the fish and then going back to lying down again. The fish themselves were an incredible sight, multi-coloured and showed no fear of us as they swam right up to our faces. The coral itself was just as good to look at as the coral in Koh Tao, but still a bit of a disappointment when you think what it looks like on the TV.

The next day we caught a long boat round to another beach which is where Marks ashes were scattered, so it was an emotional time for Sarah. In his memory I had to drink a Jack Daniels straight (his favorite drink) as Sarah was on anti-biotics and couldn't drink, sometimes I am a martyr for any cause.

I think overall I wasn't the biggest fan of Koh Phi Phi as it was full of toffs who had lots of money and spent there time disrespecting the locals. Over our travels I have found that there are basically 2 types of backpacker; the person that wants to be emerged in another culture and the type that are away from home for the first time with as much money as they want. Koh Phi Phi is filled with the latter which I feel ruins the beauty of the place. Although I do wish we had as much money as we want, so in that respect I am jealous but it doesn't stop the people being p****!