Now where do we start with Phi phi...

We have loved every minute of it here over christmas!! It is the most beautiful Island, with two mainlands joint by a huge strip of sand commecting the two. The centre strip is where all the bars, shops and restaurants are. There are two Islands, one is habitabal, Phi Phi Don, which is where we were staying and the other is Phi Phi Leh, which is uninhabitabal and is part of the marine national park where the Beach was filmed.

Rolling into Tonsai bay, the main pier was a sight for sore eyes with beautiful cliffs surrounding us and the most beautiful clear water we have seen so far! We had 10 days booked at a hotel prior to arrival here at Phi Phi Viewpoint. When getting off the boat our hotel staff spotted us, as we had stickers on saying which hotel we were with. They trolleyed all our bags to the hotel which was a 5 minute walk away, as they don't have cars or mopeds on this island, its great!! All the locals just rag it around on rusty bicylces, hard core!!!

Anyway after walking through the main part of Phi Phi to get to our hotel, we knew we were going to like it here. It is clearly a backpackers haven, but with no tack and commercialism. It is busy, but not too busy.. just the way we like it!

Upon arrival to our hotel things got even better! Our accomodation was awesome, and after a climb to our room we had the most perfect view of Loh Dalum Bay you could ask for!! Im guessing this is why they called it Phi Phi Viewpoint haha. Our room was huge.. and more so the balcony was great - with deck chairs on it for us. After chilling out for a while on the balcony, Jez turned up as Wilba had just left that morning. We all got showers and then walked down to the bars and restaurants. We got an awesome feed at a restaurant called Pappaya. Pappaya is the most simple restaurant, much like we usually eat- however the portions and qaulity of food here is seriously a step up from what we're use to!! The sweet and sour chicken - truly huge! Needless to say we ate here alot during our stay on Phi Phi... We bumped into the couple we did our Chiang Mai trek, so we met them after dinner for some beers.

After dinner we were given flyers that there was a half moon party on that night on the beach.. so we thought we would go to that later on in the night. After much commotion about how good the 'reggae' bar was, we decided we should pop in and see it.. it was hilarious!!!! A massive bar with a real sized Thai boxing ring in the middle and tourists would fight each other to win free mekong buckets.. Madness!! I kid you not there was no mercy from some of them - half of them were idiots with something to prove and took it way too seriously, but others were just completely hilarious and were having a great time. However there was bleeding noses and serious pain being inflicted haha. The night before Jez told us they had to take this one guy of as he kept beating everyone and actually knocked one guy out. He sounded like a nutter!!! Anyway that entertained us for a good couple of hours.

We met some Irish lads in this bar - they were top lads, but again complete nutters! The night before they had gone out all day drinking and they all went to the tattoo shop (there are loads on Phi Phi) and had moustaches drawn on the side of their fingers, it was well funny when they all put them up to their faces haha. Another guy had SSHHHH written down the side of his finger so when he wanted someone to shut up he would just hold his hand up to his mouth with that written down it (these guys had no shame!!). They were great lads and really friendly as the Irish are, but they had seriously lost the plot haha!! After the Reggae bar we hit the beach for the Half Moon Party which was a really good laugh with fire throwers, fire limbo and lots of dancing etc. It got even more amusing when the Irish boys turned up with a couple of litres of Vodka even though they didnt need anymore whatsoever. One of them fell face first in the sand and got sand all over his face and in his mouth, he was a mess. He ended up spending the next 45 mins just looking at the stars lol. To be fair to him though there was a hell of a lot of stars. Anyway we finished the night of with a dirty burger and called it a night about 2.30. However, on the way back home we got speaking to so many people and didn't get in until 4.30am.. what a nightmare!

A couple of days we spent chilling out on Lol Dalum. The beach was really nice here, not too busy.. however you had to catch this beach at the right time as the tide was forever changing!! We sat outside Chao Bella. a particular spot on the beach that played really good music and had a great vibe.

As Jeremy had spent his first few days at Phi Phi with Wilba before us, he recommended going up to the Viewpoint.. but prewarned us that it was quite a trek!! So, one night, Chris and I thought that we would take the plunge and have a romantic moment whilst watching the sunset at the viewpoint. Off we trekked... and boy was it a walk!! We walked up the first lot of stairs to find there is not 1, but 3 viewpoints! We arrived at the first view point to find it really pretty, but you couldnt see the whole two bays like we have been told.. So having had a cold drink and a sit down we headed to the other viewpoints. The 3rd and highest was amazing. Chris and I sat on the rocks and watched the sunset behind the hill. It was really romantic and great to see the view, but all we seemed to have on our minds was the Tsunami.. crazy to imagine the whole strip of land that we could see beneath us was once wiped clean!

One morning we met up with Dan, Netty and their two Swedish friends for a trip to Long Beach to do some snorkling. The journey there was a short trek.. I think usually people get a Longtail boat from the bay, however we all decided it would be a bit of an adventure to walk it!! Long beach was beautiful, really quiet, with a few longtail boats at one end, and a strip sectioned off to snorkle. It is one of our favourite beaches on Phi Phi. Once we soaked in a few rays we had a dip in the sea.. only Dan decided it would be fun to bring crisps in with him.. he crumbled them all up in his hand and threw it all around us.. within 10 seconds the fish flocked around us- it was really cool. Later we headed out for abit of snorkling to Shark point.. Dan and I saw two black tip reef sharks- it was amazing to see them in their natural environment.. Chris was Gutted that he never saw any sharks - considering he spent alot of the day out there compared to everyone else!! Later on Chris and I drifted out into quite deep water.. and as I couldnt see anything below (and after seeing the sharks) I freaked out completely- and started to get breatheless- it was horrible!! Chris had cramp also in his feet from the flippers and I was yelling at him to bring me back in - but he couldnt, all he kept saying was stay away from me!! I was mortified.. I kept kicking him with my flippers by accident so that didnt help things!! To make matters worse also, when I took my rented flippers back into the dive shop it appeared that they had broke.. oops!! So that was the days budget down the swannie!!

Another day we all went out together in Kayaks, Chris, Jez and I in one.. Dan Netty and Paul.. and Purr and Emma (the Swedish couple) in the other. It was such a relaxing journey for me.. I sat in the middle of Chris and Jez in the Kayak whilst they rowed hard.. it was pure bliss for me haha!!We shortly arrived at Monkey Beach, just round the coast from Lol Dalum.. The beach was really nice, but I think quite spoilt with the tourists crowding round to see the monkeys! However, here obviously the main attraction is the monkeys!! They were strange things, different to what Chris and I had already seen.. really fat and quite misrable (I know they are only monkeys.. but they could have been alot happier with the amount of food they got given- for FREE!!) I know Chris would have been!haha. As the rest of the guys went for a snorkle.. Chris, Jez and I decided to go off around the bay in the Kayaks, however there was no beach.. and the sea got a little choppier, so we headed back to the others. We all moved on to one of the best beaches we have ever seen.. absolutely perfect! The beach had about 5 locals on, that was it! It was so quiet, with little caves and rock formations.. it had lush palm trees and thick forest, the most powdery white sand and crystal clear water great for snorkling!! I dont think there will be a beach that is better than this!!

Our nights on Phi Phi have been really good.. We spent about 3 nights in a row partying on the beach and many times in the Reggae Bar! The beach parties have been fun.. not particularly what I expected on PhiPhi! Although I think we had exhausted it by the end of our time here!! Alot was going on at the beach parties.. fire throwing, limbo dancing and lots more random competitions! After going out so much we spent a few nights watching movies and abusing our luxuries and laying on the balcony in our deck chairs.. much needed after such heavy sessions!!

Phi Phi seems to be a tatoo haven.. ALOT of travellers who leave the place will no doubt have something to remember it by!! And since I have wanted a tatoo (but not dared) for years.. I thought I would go for it!!! After researching alot of places I decided to go to one particular one.. This place seemed to be very popular, and the artists would freehand lots of designs.. big ones, and little ones- and not any I thought were rubbish!! Here, I showed one of the artists what pattern I wanted and he freestyled a few really good ones to chose from. After tweaking the design a little (alot!) Chris, Jez and I came up with a perfect pattern which I loved! On 23/12/08 I took the plunge.. before a night out! I stood up whilst the tatooist drew the design on me.. and after a few minutes I laid down ready to start.. On a rug on the floor drinking my drink haha- Chris sitting behing me, even more nervous than I was.. absolutely dripping with sweat.. Since Jez was next to me I grabbed his hand before it started haha.. I was so scared, but after the first minute it didnt feel so bad.. it was like faint pinches. I am really really happy with it and I couldnt have chosen a better design!

Christmas day was really strange, being in such a hot climate when the festive season is all about cosy nights in, log fires, decorations and roast dinners.. we had pretty much none.. however we did make a really good day of it! Chris and Jez had a massage, whilst I had a manicure/pedicure. After a little bit of a shop we relaxed on the beach. We had a very traditional meal .. not.. an all you can eat BBQ dinner at Matts Grill- however it was very nice!!(We liked it that much Chris and I ended up coming here too many times, having the 'Rabbit' option!) in the evening we met up with Dan, Netty, the Swedes and Paul and all went to a really nice bar near long beach.. Later we exchanged secret Santa gifts.. We all decided on a random amount 63 Baht that we had to spend on the gift. I got connect 4, which was really pleasing as it is something Chris and I are playing ALOT!! haha. Chris got a random elephant statue, and Jez got a bracelet! In the evening we split up from the rest of them as they wanted to watch a movie.. and the three of us carried on partying! We met up with Rosie, a girl who I met on a random night - and we drank cocktails and partied on the beach. It was different for Christmas day.. but fun nonetheless!!

Our last day on Phi Phi we decided to take a half day trip to Phi Phi Leh. We had been meaning to do it before now, however the last few days' weather had been a little tempremental.. We headed out on Longtail boats with a small group.. the water was pretty choppy, until we got into PhiPhi Leh Lagoon. The water here was turquoise blue.. really beautiful! We swam here for a little while before carrying on the journey passing Viking Cave, which we couldn't go into as the birds were nesting! We eventually got to Maya Bay, the highlight of the trip where 'The Beach' was filmed. It was a really beautiful setting, however pretty much ruined by the amount of tourists on such a small bay!! After a short while here, we headed back.. stopping off at Monkey Bay. This bay was really really good!! So many monkeys that could entertain you all day!! They were eating bananas, watermelons.. drinking pepsi out of bottles- it was hilarious, they were really fun- dangling from trees upside down, one was mothering her baby and others were just being cheeky! Our boat then went further inland where we could snorkle for a little bit, however my snorkle was rubbish- it kept leaking in water- so I didnt bother! It was a really great trip!

We were quite sad to move from Phi Phi, it has been a real great fun packed as well as chilled out 10 days on the Island.. and the beaches have been amazing!!!

Ao Nang our next stop...

Bye for now!!

xxx