Well our journey here was a bit of a pain. No change there then. We've probably started every blog with some form of travel shenanigan comment. With this particular journey, it's not the length that's the 'bad' part, it's the waiting around we have to do when we're quite literally dumped on the side of the road somewhere on mainland Thailand. Our journey went something like this: bus, wait, coach, ferry, coach, wait, mini bus, wait some more, prison type bus - with no door, boat, arrive in phi phi, and all the journey before seems worth it when the end result is this lovely island.

The waterproof cover on Candys backpack's split, so thankfully Kay gave Candy a mini sewing kit (cheers mum!) so some DIY will be going on. We'll also be on the hunt for some duct tape, but for now, the four of us, Candy, Emma and the gingers make our way to the hostel we've booked. We were last in Phi Phi four weeks ago, and how prices have changed. We're now in high season, which means accomodation prices are hiked up nearly double.
The walk isn't as bad this time round, theres someone to help us with our bags, and we know the island a bit, so we know how far we have to walk to the other side of the island. The hostel is quite near where we stayed before.

We read in the reviews that it was a bit of a trek uphill to the hostel, but wanting to get fit, we saw this as a bonus...until we actually saw what was in store, it's some trek! By the time we reached the 'reception' bit, we were all embarassingly out of breath and about to collapse. That wasn't the end of it, the climb (quite literally) to the rooms was at a 30 degree angle, and usually, we admit we may exaggerate, but this, was no exaggeration!

The hostel was run by an English couple and they were really friendly, which unfortunately makes a change for Phi Phi. The rooms on the other hand, were not so nice. Dirty sheets, dirty walls and flooring, the bathroom wall doesn't go all the way to the top of the ceiling, and when we run the tap, we find out theres no water! Luckily this comes back on, but when it does, the water is brown. Lovely. We only booked to stay at the hostel for 4 nights, we booked to stay in a hotel right on Tonsai Beach, luxury! It's double the price but really worth it.

But back to the hostel stay for now. The second night in Phi Phi the four of us decided to finish off the vodka we'd bought in Koh Tao and enjoy the Phi Phi party scene. After drinking at the hostel we headed out to get some dinner, we left alot later than planned though (which was usual) and found the place we wanted to go had stopped serving food. So we went next door instead. After the success of getting free shots on Kelly's birthday, we thought we'd try this angle again, obviously this time it would be a fictional birthday but they didn't have to know that! We decided it would be Candy's birthday that night and Kelly (for some reason) decided it would be her 30th. Thanks Kelly. But unfortunately, it didn't work. The guy that served us was 'new' apparently and he couldn't do that for us. So we gave in and just ordered drinks. After dinner we went onto Tiger Bar, we carried on the 30th birthday lie and managed to get some free shots this time! We thoroughly recommend this method when you go out, most of the time it really works. When various people were told throughout the night that Candy was 30, they all reacted with suprise, saying they didn't believe she was that old. Which at 25, was nice for Candy to hear! Someone even said they thought she looked 23 so that was even better. In Tiger Bar, there are ceiling tiles that people can write on. Hayley asked for a pen so we could write our names on the ceiling, we got one and wrote various names and messages on there. Then we decided to write on ourselves. Emma ended up getting the worst end of this deal, her two arms ending up being covered in drawings. Candy and Kelly got quite alot too, but Hayley got away with pretty much clean arms, we don't know how that happened! Kelly told the DJ about Candy's imaginary birthday and we even got 'Happy Birthday' played for us, it was a really good fake birthday night!

The following night after dinner we headed to the beach to get a drink and watch some dire dancing. This ended up being almost a frightening experience! We were sitting around the fire dance area when one of the guys (quite clearly showing off) accidentally let one of the fire balls on a chain slip and it went flying off into the audience. Right in Candy's direction. It narrowly missed her and ended up landing just behind her amongst a pile of electrical wires. Great. They caught fire but someone put it out. This was when we both moved to a bench at the back of the viewing area. The gingers stuck it out for a bit longer, but eventually they admitted defeat too and joined us!

The following night we decided to chill out and save some money. So after dinner we headed back to the hostel and watched a DVD. After deliberately for about 20 minutes on what to watch, we settled on Snatch. But the disc kept jumping so we ended up watching Shawshank Redemption. Whilst watching it, we were lying on padded mats, and we suspect (or know) they were covered in little bugs as we all got bitten alot that night. Good old Thailand and insect bites, don't think we'll miss those!

After 4 nights we went to our nice hotel and arranged to meet the gingers that night for mini farewell dinner (they were going onto Phuket the next day) We also were going to arrange to meet Lee and Therese, some friends we'd met on our China tour and who'd introduced us to this blog. Before we got in touch with them though, we ran into Lee by chance that afternoon. Phi Phi island is really small but we didn't think it was that small! We ran into eachother at D's books - a coffee shop that we would end up visiting daily. Therese ended up joining us and we chatted for ages, it was good to see them again! That night we had dinner with the gingers at Tonsai Seafood restuarant. It was lovely! And we even had a 10% off voucher as it was part of our hotel chain, every saving helps! It was a good mini farewell (we'd be seeing them again in 5 days) and a good meal!

Over the next few days we kept bumping into Lee and Therese around the island (we promise we weren't stalking them!) and had dinner and drinks with them one night. It was a shame though as it was bad weather and raining, the tide was really in on the beach so we couldn't go to the bars along there. We would have really liked to show them the beach bar delights but alas, it wasn't meant to be! We'll just have to make up for it in Sydney - they're going to be spending Christmas there too. It seems everyone is going to be there around that time!

We really enjoyed Phi Phi again, the only thing that let it down was the weather. We had one nice day that we spent by the pool but other than that, it was rainy or very overcast. It's a shame because it ruins the whole experience of being there. The vibe of Phi Phi was still great though, just would have been even better with some sun! As we said before, we spent alot of time at D's books. The food was nice and we managed to track down English Breakfast tea there! We know it sounds sad, but after two months without a proper cup of tea you get excited at the prospect of having one! And D's was the only place that we found, plus they had free wifi, something we've come to heavily rely on! So we spent a few afternoons there, just chatting and chilling. The staff were incredibly rude there, but it was always busy. It must have had the same appeal to everyone else as it did us! We also spent time pottering around the stalls and shops, one afternoon coming across the 3 cutest newborn puppies! They belonged to the owner of the shop and they were wondering around quite happily. They were lovely! Phi Phi second time around has been just as enjoyable as the first and we think we've converted the gingers too!

We're now heading up to Phuket again, we hope the ferry journey is ok, it will be our final one and can't say we're going to miss them!