Hi from ao nang krabi, We left phi phi yesterday after six nights which was only meant to be four haha! We had a great time there once we found phi phi dream (what a place). It was so cheap, and perfect location we could have happily stayed there ages. The host, Jenny was great really looked after us and made us feel at home she even came out for a drink with us and was so sad to see us leave.

Our first couple of days was spent getting use to the island, we couldn't believe how small it was and it was strange seeing no transport apart from push bikes and long tail boats. The beach was like paradise we spent most of the day down there taking in the scenery. The water was like sitting in a bath, not very refreshing but was nice to lay in.

Our first activity we did in phi phi was the viewpoint, which was literally next to our hotel. As you will see in the pictures it was some trek really high up but was well worth it when we reached the top. You could see the whole island and the pictures we go were great until the camera decided to die right before sunset haha!

We met a couple called chris and judy who we spent most of our time with. They seem to be doing almost the same trip but for a year and they have visited clacton before...small world! All four of us decided on a long tail boat trip for the day around four island one being maya bay. This is where the film the beach was made, and now we have realised what a real beach is meant to look like....paradise. The sand it like fluffy powder, no stones and crystal clear water (the pictures explain themselves) We also walked through the national park, then moved on to do some snorkelling and visited monkey island (lee was running around after them).

So after a few relaxing days on this paradise island, we hired kayaks for a few hours. We rowed out deep into the ocean and visited another bay which had monkeys on as lee wouldn't stop going on about them. We had really good fun and it was a good team building exercise for us! Hahah! We liked it so much we did it again with chris and judy but this time lee wanted to take bananas to get even closer to the monkeys.....only to arrive to find out it was their sleeping time with not one single monkey in sight!!! Typical! On the way back we saw a massive yacht nothing we have even seen before so we went really close and spoke to the cabin crew. It was worth 100 million, had six floors, 3 pools, and much more. It was someone famous but they couldn't tell us.

Phi phi is a popular party island so the nightlife is very entertaining so we had to give it a try. They have many stalls selling various different buckets on the street, our favourite was strawberry daiquiri. They have this one bar called the reggae bar, it has a full size boxing ring in the middle, and girls/boys can fight in Muay Thai in return for free buckets. Very enjoyable to watch but we both didnt fancy trying it out. Later on everyone goes down to the beach and there is two main beach bars, with fire shows and drinking games that go on until early morning. The beach looks a completely different place to the paradise in the day time!

We loved phi phi but six days was enough to explore the whole island and we caught a boat to ao nang, krabi. We got dropped off in the middle of the strip without a map and no where booked. We found a map and a bar with free wifi to do some research. We didnt have much joy so we decided to walk the streets and view some rooms.

After walking for nearly an hour, sweating with our rucksack, we spotted a posh place set back off the road. I had no energy to go up the hill as looked too expensive so lee made the effort to check it out. Lee waved me up and told me some great news. The hotel had just opened today and lee managed to get it for 1000 baht which is 20 pound a night which much lower than the normal price. She done us a great discount as we were the first customers and we promised to do a trip advisor review after our stay. It is absolutely amazing, massive, plasma telly, our first balcony and lovely bathroom. We are so so lucky and it was worth the trek.

We plan to stay here for a few days before moving onto koh samui for Christmas.

We will update when we arrive in samui, lots of love Ps hope your all not too cold ;) xxxxx