Greetings!

We caught a boat from Phuket to the island of Phi Phi on Saturday. The sea was quite bumpy but we were only on the boat for an hour and a half so it was bearable. We were met at the pier by someone from the hostel we'd booked, which we thought was quite nice! As the island has no cars they took our baggage in a wheelbarrow to the hostel and we followed. When we arrived we were told that a massive storm was on its way and since the hostel that we'd booked was at the top of a mountain, would we like to stay at the sister-hostel at the bottom... None the wiser and under rather a lot of pressure to agree, we did. It was horrible, by far the worst place we've stayed since being away! Still, it gave very good use to the bed bug sheets and copious amounts of mosquito protection we brought with us and taught us that, that extra few quid really does go a long way! The bathroom was out of bounds without shoes since there was a big hole in the toilet. A shower I hear you say?! We've smelt cleaner sewers (and we're talking about the 'clean water' here).

We decided to cut our losses and went for a wander along the townside beach. It was very pretty, massive limestone cliffs and clear blue water. We sat there for a while taking it all in and then explored the town a little bit. It's built on the lowest part of the island between two beaches on a sand spit of land and so was pretty much wiped out by the tsunami. There are almost no traces of where it hit now as its been extensively rebuilt but there are signs everwhere now with escape routes on. We booked a boat trip for the next day to explore the islands a little more. After this we headed back to the beach which had transformed into a noisy bar/club beach, we had a drink and then decided to go back to our hole (and I mean hole) and get some sleep!

We were a bit ambitious trying to get a good night sleep, the bugs and general stench kept us awake most of the night. Nethertheless, on Sunday we went down to the pier and hopped on board our boat for the day. She was a super sleek speedboat and fortunately for us we ended up with a small group of 6 people, plus the boat skipper. First stop was Monkey beach.... the clue's in the title! A few people at the beach were daft enough to take food with them i.e. banana's. They were quickly raided and the monkeys got quite aggresive when somebody got too close. After a couple of pics we retreated onto the boat and set off for Phi Phi Lae, a smaller island to the south of the main island. The sea was rougher than the day before and the speedboat was flying over the waves, it was a case of hanging on for dear life! We arrived at the island and visited a cave which is famous for its birds nest harvesting. Apparently the nest is turned into a soup, a chinese delicacy. Further from the cave mouth we fed some fish with bits of bread, they all lunged for the food and it turned briefly into a feeding frenzy of thousands of colourful fish. The next stop was a lagoon where we got out and went for a snorkel, it was quite sandy so we didnt see much but it was fun. After that we moved onto Maya Beach, the beach made famous in the film 'The Beach' Unfortunately as the waves were so big the boat couldnt get to the bay. We were forced to walk across the island to get to it which involved a swim accross some very choppy water, through the breaking waves and out onto some rocks with a rope and a ladder. It was worth the effortand was very beautiful. The only way back was back the same way, a very 'fun' swim and i think we were all a bit relieved to be back onboard the boat.

After the time on the Island we moved back to the main island and stopped at a deserted, paradise like beach for lunch. We were starving by now and the food attracted the attentions of a local kitten lying on the beach. There's cat's everywhere on the island. After lunch we got back on the boat and stopped a few more times for snorkelling stops, the waters here were crystal clear and we saw the coral reef and lots of fish swimming around. Later on we visited Mosquito island for a brief stop and bamboo island, a proper stereotypical tropical island, tiny with white beaches and a few palm trees, stunning. We headed bac to the mainland shattered, but having had a lovely day. It was theen that the adventure really started....

We decided the to go back to our hostel and move to where we had originally booked, it was at the highest point of the island so we had a couple of options, the hostel owner said we could walk up, or get a lift on his moped! It was already dark, there are no cars and we were shattered we went on the bike, it turned out to be a moped with a sidecar for luggage or in this case people! We set out but quickly the road became very steep so we ended up getting off and pushing. Pete was getting off one time and saw a snake lying in the road.. shortly before it was run over and rolling down the hill towards him! Ended up missing the snake but burnt his leg on the exhaust of the bike as he jumped. After that adventure, we took a left and drove along a jungle track,..... This still required that we got off and pushed, even more frequently until we could go no further. We had to walk the remainder in the pitch black without a light uphill. By the time we arrived we were totally shattered so had a quick shower and went to bed.

On Monday we woke up and took in our new hostel, it was lovely, nothing like the one at the bottom of the hill. We awoke and watched the sunrise then went back for another sleep. We got up a bit later and went to look at a few of the viewpoints with glorious views over the islands, as well as seeing some before and after pics of the tsunami. It certainly was a big change. In the afternoon we visited the town again to do some errands and get some food. We then decided to head back via the 'tsunami village' Well we never found it, instead only the same roadway we had gone up the previous day on the bike. We headed up the hill and had a relaxing evening taking in the lovely cool breeze at the top of the hill with a couple of well earned drinks.

On Tuesday we moved from Koh Phi Phi to Ko Samui, an island on the east coast of Thailand. Next update from there.

Pete and Hol

xXx