Early start this morning, up at 6.30am!

Checked out this morning to a nice surprise. I was given an envelope with 500 baht (£10) in it and told it was my change. I had no idea what it was for and questioned it a few times. The receptionist then said it was from the Manager for Lee Walker. Still don't know what it's for though. Maybe it's a bit of a bribe to put a good review on the Internet and mention nothing about all the building works going on! So that's one night at a third off, more than a third off the ferry and then was given £10 back for no reason - sweet!

The reception guy then made us a quick coffee and some toast and shortly after our mini-bus arrived to take us to the ferry. It was a right shed of a thing and we had to stop to pump up the tires!
There was something a bit dodgy about these tickets we'd bought. We only paid 400 Baht (£8) each, but everywhere else they cost between 600 and 700 Baht (£12-£14) each. So I think we got some sort of special on the side deal. And when we got on the ferry, it definitely seemed over booked. Don't reckon there were enough life jackets, that's for sure...we got there in one piece anyway.
Unfortunately it was cloudy all the way there but still had some nice views on the way.

Phi Phi Don island looked lovely as we arrives up to it. Big limestone cliffs and lots of lush greenery all over with big palm trees and quite jungley looking. There's little bungalows dotted around on the hills and it doesn't look like there's many buildings at all when you're pulling in. It's a small island.
It's got quite a nice little pier too, but was really busy as a couple of boats had just arrived filled with tourists.
There was a guy with a sign for our hotel and he took all our bags along with other guests' bags and led us through the maze of streets to our hotel. It's small, narrow walking streets, no traffic at all. Lots of tour offices, bars and restaurants.
Our new home is really nice. Lots of little bungalows set on really nice grounds - lots of water features and nice little gardens, and a swimming pool. Had to wait around for an hour for our room though as it was only 11am.
The bungalow itself is really nice too, so we're happy with where we are.

Therese had a bit of a nap and I went out for a wander and to grab something to eat. There's a beach on Loh Dalum Bay which is really close by and is really nice. The sun even came out for a little bit for me too. I took my flip-flops off and had a walk on the beach. It's quite a long beach with big limestone cliffs at either end and turquoise waters. And the sea is really shallow to start with so you can walk out quite far. It's a real tropical island beach. There's some cool chill out bars and restaurants on there as well. Just need the sun to get itself out properly now!

I grabbed a bite to eat at Pirate House and headed back to see how Therese was doing, but on the way I spotted Emma and Candice in a cafe! They're the two girls from London that we met on our China tour when we first started travelling! We've been keeping in touch anyway and had planned to meet up with them on Monday night here on Phi Phi. We had a quick chat, then I nipped back to get Therese, and we went back and sat with them for a couple of hours. A couple of their friends joined us too, so it was good chatting about where we've all been and getting some tips off each other.

We were still tired out so headed back to the bungalow. Then we bumped into some other guys we'd met in Chiang Mai. They just arrived and were looking for accommodation. Can't believe how you just keep bumping into people. So we're going to meet up with them one night too.

It's really hard to get accommodation actually here because it's high season and there's not that many decent places. There's a lot of crap places. We'd only booked 3 nights - should have just booked 4 because we knew we wanted to stay at least 4! And now the price is £40 a night! They've taken the rooms off the Internet on agoda.co.uk for the night we need, so can only book direct with the hotel. And it costs more direct through the hotel. Oh well, not got much choice, so booked it.

After relaxing for a bit, we forced ourselves to get ready and get out and about - still tired! We ate in a place called Garlic because it's recommended and it's quite cheap. We both had Thai food too! And it was really nice. I had Penang curry (only £2) and Therese had a fish steak in some sort of Thai sauce (only £4). Cheap and cheerful little place.

There's a lot of tattoo places here top. They do the traditional bamboo tattoos....might get one....dragon covering my back....just kidding, I'd get a snake instead. Loads of people were getting tattoos. One guy was just laying down to start his 5 hour session and it was already about 10pm!

We weren't in the mood for going drinking but had a walk around to see what the nightlife is like. And it's crazy! There's quite a few bars on the windy little streets and they're all open sides so everyone spills out onto the street. Lots of sports playing as well. Really good atmosphere.
We had a walk around a couple of bars on the beach too which look good. Good music and nice places to sit right on the beach, plus lots of fire jugglers.
We ended up just going for the one drink in this cafe bar place called D's, where we were earlier today. Yeah, we're on a detox.

One thing we've definitely noticed is how the locals are a lot less friendly down south than up north. They're pretty rude actually. They're probably sick of seeing tourists!
It also seems like a very backpacker and younger crowd sort of place than a romantic honeymoon getaway. There are more exclusive type resorts dotted around the island though, which I think most you have to get to by boat as there aren't really any roads (I think anyway). We definitely like it though, but it's not quite what we expected.