If you haven't done so already I just added our indonesian blog which you should read first! .......

After a reasonably uneventfully trip across the Malaysian/Thai border we made it to Hat Yai. We took one look at the place and decided to hop on the next bus to Krabi. After being driven in circles by the tuk-tuk driver we changed onto an equally uncomfortable mini bus. On which we met a friendly, wait for it… Irish girl! I'm having trouble remembering her name woops but she works at one of the bars in Phi Phi as a promotions girl and was doing a visa run back to the island. We got chatting and when we arrived in Krabi Suz and I decided we really wanted to get to Phi Phi the same day. I think we were having island withdrawal symptoms after the fun we had in The Gilis. We ended up booking onto the same mini-bus/ferry as the Irish girl and she showed us to some of the really cheap hostels on the island. We settled on staying in a place called Ban Thai Guesthouse run by a strict Chinese lady called Mrs. Lee Nothing fancy but it served its purpose and we found out it was the cheapest on the island.It had been a really long day as we left KL at 11.30pm the night before and made it to Phi Phi around 6pm the next day. Still we headed out for a few drinks at the bar where the Irish girl works for a couple of Redbull Coke and Sang Som, which is Thai whiskey - its supposed to be laced with amphetamines, whether that's true or not I'm not sure but they do work a treat. Our first night out wasn't a complete success. We got chatted up by a couple of lads from Canada - Adam and Olli and they were so drunk they ended up getting a bit rowdy with us when we jokingly suggested they might be gay! (purley because of their vests and JT style dance moves) So we called it an early night . The next day we hit the beach and ended up bumping into Kate and Brendon - Suz's mates from home. We spent the rest of the day with them then met up later for a few drinks and a bbq/fire show at Hippies bar. Things were looking up! The next few days were spent sunning ourselves on the beach and drinking at Tiger bar & Apache Bar where we utilized the bogof on buckets offer, eating great Thai food and watching some slightly violent Thai boxing in the Reggae Bar. We met up with Olli at the beach party and after he apologized for his drunken behaviour we ended up having a great night although that may have something to do with the buckets. Suz went diving for a day and saw a shark- jealous! And we took a boat trip round some of the islands close to Ko Phi Phi. We got to snorkel and saw barracudas, fed bananas to some crazy vicious monkeys, got some free lunch of the usual fruit and fried rice variety and after all that we finally arrived at "The Beach" or Phi Phi Le as its better known! If only Leo was there with us! On the way back we stopped off to watch the sunset as the driver of the boat sat rolling strange tasting cigarettes.

I absolutely loved Phi Phi the weather was amazing and the island is so beautiful it's really relaxed but you can still have a good night out and its really easy to meet people as the island is so small your bound to bump into them again. There are almost no signs of the devastation that the Tsunami left apart from the signs that point out the Tsunami evacuation points and danger zones - basically head for high ground! I think in total we spent around 2 weeks there and I wasn't ecstatic about leaving but we wanted to see some of Samui before the Full Moon party in Ko Pang Ngan on the 24th of Nov. On arriving back at Krabi Harbour we got chatting to a couple of English girls - Emma and Zoe. They were heading straight for KPN but we said we should meet up when we arrived 3 days later.

So we headed for Samui and transferred onto a minibus destined for Chaweng Beach as recommended by our, oh so helpful rough guide to SE Asia, as a popular resort for young backpackers/tourists. Our mini-bus was packed full of a group of Irish lads (We just seem to attract them! Are there any Irish left in Ireland?) and we all headed to the same guesthouse which was right on the beach. It was pretty plush compared with Mrs Lee's Ban Thai which had shared bathrooms, cold showers & buckets of water to flush the toilet! We went out with the Irish boys to watch Ireland loose in the footie (Joy!) After which we headed for some nightlife and made a night of it. We decided to relax for the next couple of days in preparation for the Full Moon and spent the next day or so on the beach. My impression of Samui was not great as it is very touristy overrun by western fast food joints and street kids. But I'm sure there are nicer parts of the island. We tried booking some accommodation online ahead for Koh Pang Ngan as it gets very busy around Full Moon but everywhere we tried was either fully booked or unable to take bookings. Concerned that we would have to sleep on a beach or miles out from Hat Rin we headed to the island on the 19th - 5 days before the full moon!!! The boys headed to Ko Tao for a few days but we knew we would bump into them again in KPN...... Read next blog to find out!

Lots of Love

The girls! xxxxx