Day 10: Travel to Phuket

We booked the add on trip to Phuket and phiphi and left at 12 to get the taxi then ferry then private bus to phuket. It was 1100 baht each for the travel which is 22pounds for 9 hours of travelling...wouldnt get that in England! When we got to the hotel we went for dinner quickly then went to bed as everyonewas so tired. Some people went out to look around the town.
I have managed to get a cold somehow!

Day 11: Phuket island canoeing, James Bond island, swimming and sea canoeing

We had to get up at 7am to be picked up at 7.45 to go get a boat. the staff on the boat were crazy and really funny and chatty with our group. They kept squirting people with water when they opened the cup because they smacked it to open and it went everywhere. they gave us some home made biscuit snacks and free tea and coffee all day. When we got to near the Island bits we got into a canoe with a man that did the rowing which was nice. A Scottish guy called Duncan from the minibus was put with us in the canoe so got to know him a bit. First we went into a bat cave and they said keep your mouth closed or they might poo or wee in your mouth...niiiice. some parts of the inside were really low so we had to lay down to get underneath them which was a bit awkward! There were some really cool trees coming out of the water and we saw a walking fish on a log...its like a giant tadpole with 2 legs at the front haha. We went back to the boat to move onto the next cave and then the last stop was the James Bond island from Golden gun. it was alot smaller than we expected it to be but was still pretty cool. had some good cavey bits to walk around and explore too. We then went to another bit at the end where we jumped off of the top floor of the boat a few times and then went canoeing by ourselves into a cave to walk around it...but we got the last canoe so they put 5 of us in it and we thought uh ohhhh not a good idea after last time! so laura got out as she didnt trust us aha. Inside the cave there was a massive white glittery rock which was raather pretty.

In the evening we looked around for a cheapish place to eat (the prices are higher here because its more touristy), then we went to a bar which had ladyboys dancing on little stage dotted all over the place. Some actually could get away with being women if they didnt say anything..but alot of them really looked like men and even have stubble!very odd.

Day 12: Phi Phi islands trip

Up at 7 again to get a taxi to a boat. we had some 16yearold giving us a safety talk before we got on the boat who were really camp and showed us photos of some peoples feet that had been cut by coral to try and get people to rent some flippers. We got ont he boat and the woman was really hard to understand but spent about 10 mins explaining that if we were 5 mins late the boat would leave without us and we would have to find our own way back! We stopped at several different island throughout the day and at each one everytime we stepped off the boat it poured down with rain! We went to Maya Bay first where 'The Beach' was filmed...but it was soooo busy there were people and boats everywhere you could hardly see the beach! bit of a shame but got a few nice photos of a boat. when it was raining we went down this random small path and found a wooden shelter thing but noone else was there so that was good. we had a walk around and found a mini bamboo hut model and some cool trees. The lady from the boat saw us and said we didnt have time to go see the other bay (which we didnt know wsa there) so we went back and waited around for a bit. We stopped for some more snorkelling but only cliare got in and we threw loads of bread at her so the fish went near her and they kept jumping up and splashing her in the face aha. Then we went to phiphi don the main island that has people live on it. We had a buffet lunch and then went to walk up to the view point of the island but the lady was stood at the junction bit and said we didnt have enough time to go up there when we did. she said we had to go to the beach instead even though it was pouring with rain. she said the beach was a 5 minute walk away and the viewpoint was a 10 min walk away...even though we still had 30 mins. so we walked to the beach and it only took 1nin max. we werent very happy with her and she was a bit rude to everyone. We stopped at monkey beach too but it was raining then too so only our group from the whole boat got off to look but they only gave us 10mins for that stop. The lady went round with a tip box at the end and said she only wanted 100baht and complained when she only got 1$ rather than 10$. we didnt give her anything because she treated us like school kids all day. think she expected it though.

In the evening we were going to go for dinner at the hard rock cafe but it was close to 20pounds each so decided to go somewhere cheaper :( We then found an irish bar that had a live band playing which was good and went to another bar thing as it was Mariele's last night. Hazel stayed out for a bit with claire and Mariele but i went back to bed about 1.30 as was knackered!

Day 13: White water rafting, ATV and Monkey waterfall.

Up at 7am again then got a minibus with some more random people and went to monkey waterfall where there wasnt actually a waterfall but there were hundreds of monkeys and lots of mums and baby monkeys. there were people selling food like nuts nad bananas and weird spiky conker type fruits, but we just watched other people feeding them. they would take the nuts and food out of peoples hands. they were all running around the trees and jumping from branch to branch and up and down the trees. We then stopped at an elephant trekking place and waited whilst a couple did a 15 min trek then went to the rafting place where we had lunch first. It was another buffet type thing on our table of curry and soup and rice and omlette. We then got kitted out with our life jackets and helmets and got into a raft. It was me.hazel,laura and laura in our raft and si and rob went in another raft with 2 other guys. We had to get out and walk down some rocks to get around the dam and put the boat down a level. We got in and paddled around the corner where there was a massive water fight and all the people that worked there splashed everyone with their paddles (there were 2 members of staff per boat and at least 50 boats in this part of the river). Then another group of boats got into te water and it was really busy. when they got in they opened the dam to let the water in and we were at the front of everyone else. The guys kept making our boat hit rocks and the side to make it bounce and spin and i kept falling into the middle of the boat when we went down the drops. We had to sit around the outside of the boat and put our feet in hoops on the floor in the middle. Every now and then they guys would shout PADDLE PADDLE PADDLE! and would splash people as we went past. They took it in turns of who was at the front middle and back and had some breaks on the way down. At one point they stopped and said this is the swim/toilet break ha. no one got in. We got out then got on the back of a van back to the rrafting hut and saw the photo they took of us. Apparently the rafting was 5Km,We then got back in the van and went to a waterfall place which had loads of fish in the pool bit and it was freezing! We went back to the van then travelled onto the ATV place (quadbiking) which took about an hour.I was at the front of the quadbikes behind the leader man and managed to keep up but then we all stopped to make sure everyone was alright and we discovered that hazel had slid down the hill a bit when trying to move ofer to let someone past. she managed to dodge all the poles though! She got on the back of Si's quadbike and let him drive and then everyones engines kept cutting out when they used the breaks. the brakes hardly worked really but the guy came around with a key and sorted them all out. we then started the journey and there were some really bumpy bits and steep bits, uphill on the way and downhill on the way back. The was one slope where we literally slid down and our knuckels were white from squeezing the brakes so much!

As soon as we got back we went to get a massage - we both got a swedish oil massage. it cost 7pounds for an hour!Hazel got a shower too ha and then they did all the girls hair for free in different styles of plait.

That evening we went to a reaaaally nice italian restaurant which did the best pasta and vanilla shakes EVER. then we went to the shop to get some menthol smelly thing, bit like vicks but they seem to be really popular here. I nearly fainted as felt bunged up from my cold and exhausted so went back to bed and was asleep by 11. definately needed that sleep.

Day 14:free day to relax(finally!)

We got up at 11 and said goodbye to everyone apart from Rob at 12 as they were leaving for PhiPhi for a few days. Me, Rob and Hazel went to get some breakfast at 1 and then walked around the shops all day. the sun actually came out for a bit so we headed straight for the beach! sat there for a while and watched all the shell things wiggle themselves back into the sand after a wave come ashore...it was quite entertaining! we wathched people go paragliding and the man that supervised them literally ran and jumped onto the strings of the parachute without a harness on or anything and just sat there holding on the whole time whilst the person paying stood really straight attached with a harness. it was craaazyy! we carried on looking round shops and decided we're going to make a scrap book when we're back so bought some stuff for that.

We also bought a handluggage suitcasetype bag with wheels that was fabric with mickey mouse and winne the pooh on..very cute and practical too! its made our backpacks alot lighter and doesnt hurt our knees to walk anymore ha. Then we met Aee and her friends, one was an ex thaintro leader for a year and the other was a friend who worked in a nursery in Bangkok...but its more like a school because they start learning at the age of 1 and the workers arent allowed to speak any thai or japanese because its a private international school, so they have to speak English. Thats probably why alot of thai people are so good at speaking english!Jealous!

We ate at a place that did nice wine apparently but the pizzas were also good. we then went to Banglor road again (the ladyboy strip) and went back to the irish pub which had a different live band playing. the singers were sooo good we thought they might have been miming, but they werent! they sound better at singing the sing than the artist themselves most of the time and they mixed the songs together really well too on the drums and guitar. was sooo good. Wish they had them in England that good. Then we went to Hollywood Which was a club with 2 room and was free entry. A thai girl came over and danced with us and introduced herself and he 'boyfriend' who looked english/austrailian. she kept saying it was love and he didnt look that enthusiastic aha who knows! She was cute though. They were throwing out free glowsticks and flashy rings so we got a few of those. went back to the hotel about 2.30 and packed ready to leave the next day. got to bed about 4. fun times!