Ko Phi Phi was our next stop and we were looking forward to seeing this beautiful island, but again it was so busy that the island itself is pretty much covered in bars and shops and scuba diving places. It's surprising to think that the entire island was overwhelmed by the tsunami and seeing evacuation route signs everywhere is slightly concerning! We were staying in a real hole in Phi Phi, and I was personally worried I'd put my foor through the floor at any moment! It ruined the island a bit for me as it was so bad, and there was no respite from the heat despite the noisy exertions of our ancient fan! I will never have a better appreciation of air con than after this trip - whoever though I'd be too warm...

Anyway the beaches on Phi Phi are beautiful, there is no denying it, palm trees wave on the edges of the white, fine sand and the water is pure crystal turquoise with little fish darting about and tiny crabs shuffling along - it's just a shame sand gives me a rash on my legs!

Whilst there we booked a longtail boat trip to see some of the other islands that make up the marine park Phi Phi is a part of. The trip itself was good, albeit crowded as the person who booked it was obviously of the persuasion that you cannot have too many people on a boat, screw health and safety! We visited 'the lagoon' which was beautiful, surrounded by limestone karsts and with clear water of a shimmering blue. You could go snorkelling and I was really proud of myself I managed to do it without panicking I was going to drown - perhaps my fear of the sea is abating, hooray! I saw several different tropical fish, a starfish and a giant clam. The water was so clear you could see to the sandy bottom and I swam quite far down - or at least as far as my ears would let me before thinking they were going to burst! It was pretty breathtaking - in some cases literally as I managed to swallow saltwater after letting my snorkel go underwater 555. This trip did the typical visit to Maya Beach where they filmed 'the beach'. I could see the beauty of the beach and the sand was the softest I'd felt, but there were so many people squashed on this small stretch of sand you couldn't really appreciate it properly. Lastly we visited monkey island, where we were treated with seeing a monkey poo, two monkeys copulating and a monkey washing pineapple in the sea - clever monkeys.

After Ko Phi Phi we continued our travels down the coast and went to Ao Nang for a day, a quietish place where we stayed at a hotel with a pool so didn't need to get sand everywhere - a good job it seemed as I couldn't see much of a beach in the town centre...Ao Nang was a pleasant change of scenery from the islands though, lots of greenery and limestone karsts - apparently it's good for rock climbing. From Ao Nang it was a 15 minute trip to Krabi where we stayed one night before our bus to Malaysia. Krabi was an odd place - there wasn't much there in all honesty so we had a quiet afternoon and evening doing not much of anything apart from reading and watching Jackass on a hostel tv. We met a couple of guys from Blackpool so chatted with them for a bit whilst we had a drink, it's so refreshing to hear a northern accent, I really miss it!

Tidbits on Thailand

• Menthol inhalers are a big thing - although no-one appears to have a cold.
• Worryingly, whitening skin creams and face washes are pretty much all you can get in the shops.
• Despite the South having a much larger Muslim population, it is way more touristy than the North.
• Seeing tsunami evacuation route notices everywhere is strangly disconcerting.
• Locals paying less for everything still irritates me.
• Mangosteen is truly delicious!

Becca