The fast ferry took us down the coast a bit from Ao Nang, and we moored offshore from the stunning cliffs behind Ton Sai and Railay beach where we'd been the day before. We got to see the stunning rock formations in all their glory in the morning sun, as some longtail-loads of people were transferred onto our ferry.

Once we were loaded, the ferry pulled off and sailed through the islands towards Phi Phi. We spent the journey in the air conditioned upper cabin, but went outside after about an hour once we approached Koh Phi Phi. We stood out on deck as we sailed past more incredible cliffs, to the long low beach of Tonsai bay, backed by numerous resorts.

The ferry moored at the incongruous concrete pier jutting out from the picturesque shoreline, and we shuffled off in a herd with the other passengers. Lining the pier were touts for the myriad accommodation options on the island. We spent a fruitless quarter of an hour looking at an advertising board in a tourist information place with the various lodgings on it, being 'assisted' by a guy who kept directing us to one particular advert, obviously the place he was being paid commission by.

In the end we left the place and struck out through the cobbled pathways making up the town centre. We took a route past the numerous dive shops, restaurants and bars, through the surprisingly well-appointed and busy streets, until we reached an alleyway where most of the budget accommodation was supposedly located. We walked past the fragrant 'poo garden' where a little park has been planted over some sort of sewage site, then past a few cheaper places with two-storey motel style buildings right on the path, until we came across Garden Home Bungalows. This place had a really picturesque little garden surrounded by wooden bungalows. We asked to see one and, although the price was out of our range, we immediately fell in love with the room. It had air con, a big comfy bed, wooden panelled walls and nice furniture, and a bathroom filled with loads of living plants. Outside was a porch in the pretty garden with a bench and a hammock.

We hummed and hawed about the price, and had a look up the street at some similar accommodation, but in the end we had to go for the room as we liked it so much. We unpacked our stuff and made ourselves comfy, before heading out to have a look around Phi Phi.

We wandered through the narrow streets of uneven cobbles until we popped out at the beach north of Tonsai, on the opposite side of the narrow spit of land joining the two higher areas of the island. The tide was out, leaving a huge muddy flat area before the actual shoreline, but the bay itself was pretty, surrounded on one side by tall overgrown cliffs and the other by sloping hillsides dotted with bungalows.

We had a fruit shake at a bar at the end of the beach then wandered down the sand, the concentration of sunbathing posers increasing the further we went down the beach. We then cut back through a street to Tonsai beach, and wandered back a long way through the streets to our bungalow to see more of the 'town'. Overall we felt the place was far too crowded for such a small and otherwise picturesque island, but there were a few fun-looking restaurants and things around the place.

Back at our bungalow we chilled out on our quiet porch, with Lucy on our wooden swinging bench and me suspended from the rafters of our overhanging roof in a hammock. We spent a few hours here, then in the evening went out again into the town.

Not far from our place, we stopped at one of the many massage parlours throghout the streets. We both had our feet washed in a bucket then sat back in some big comfy chairs for an increadible foot massage, followed up by some kneading of our necks and shoulders by the skilled masseurs. After our hour of pleasure we carried on through the streets, which were now very busy and made us glad to be staying in our quiet little garden corner, until we found a nice little restuarant to have dinner.

We had some pad thai and a creamy chilli curry with chicken whilst listening to the English owner of the restaurant discuss sexual customs with his Thai employee and simultaneously watching the guy at the restaurant across the path try to attract custom by wiggling the head of a fish lying on ice via an attached string. The food was tasty and with the added free entertainment we had a very enjoyable meal.

After eating we walked back past the bars which were now getting busy, and relaxed in our little jungle haven before retiring to bed.

The next morning we had a lazy start, and didn't leave our bungalow until after 11. We only left then to wander down the path to a nearby bakery and cafe owned by the same people as our bungalows. We had some sandwiches and cakes as well as some fruit shakes, then sauntered back to the bungalow. On the way I stopped and booked on for a half day's rock climbing the following morning.

I spent the next while just hanging in the hammock outside our room, trying to finally catch up on our backlog of blog entries and pottering about on the internet. Lucy wasn't feeling great so she had a nap in the room.

In the mid afternoon we bought some more fruit shakes at the stall which had been set up apparently overnight in the reception area of our accommodation, then sauntered down to the beach for a stroll. The tide, although on its way in still had a long way to go and the beach was once again more a field of soggy mud. We walked up a path around the beach to see some of the other accommodation and bars up that end, then headed back to our place, in a very lazy mood.

We once again took up our positions, me in the hammock and Lucy inside in our air conditioned room. Lucy mucked about online while I fell asleep in the hammock.

In the evening we made our way out again, this time to get some dinner. We set a course through the cobbled maze to Papaya restaurant, which we found to be a small 'hole-in-the-wall' place which was packed. We managed to get a seat as some people left and perused the refreshingly short menu. Sometimes less is more when it comes to choosing food! We were hungry having not eaten since our brunch hours earlier, so went a bit overboard, ordering massuman curry and tom yam with chicken, some spring rolls and a papaya salad. When we saw the huge portions we started to regret ordering so much. That is, until we tucked in and found all the dishes to be amazing. We didn't find it too hard to polish off the delicious curry and spicy soup, with the spring rolls suffering a similar fate. I was only able to squeeze in half the papaya salad, so had the rest put in a box to take back for a snack.

No sooner had we paid our bill than an unbelievably heavy rain started falling, instantly turning all the awnings of nearby shops and bars into waterfalls, and the pathways into rivers. We hung about under Papaya's awning for a few minutes, then decided just to go for it, and set off into the rain. We had a hilarious walk home through the downpour, getting a few funny looks from people sheltering in various establishments we passed. Within a minute we were saturated, but since we couldn't get any wetter we just kept walking, eventually reaching our bungalow and sheltering from the downpour.

After a warm shower we played some backpacker and did even more relaxing before getting to bed.

The next morning I got up, leaving Lucy to sleep, and got ready to go climbing. I got a banana shake and banana muffin from the little stall at our accommodation to take away, then wandered down the path to the climbing shop. I arrived a little early so had to hang around chatting to the instructors until the others turned up. There were a group of 3 Swedish guys, only 2 of whom were climbing, and a separate group of 2 Swedish girls. Once we had been issued with our harnesses, climbing shoes and chalk bags we picked up the ropes and set off through town.

We walked through Phi Phi town to Tonsai beach, then followed the path all the way along this beach to the towering cliffs at its far end. Here we had to climb, with the aid of a rope banisters, up a steep slippery path through some jungle to the base of the cliffs some 30m above. Once we got there we found a few other groups of climbers and got our first proper look at where we were going to climb. We also met an American couple who were going to be joining us for the climbing but had been late arriving at the shop.

The irregular yellow-white limestone rock face rose massively in front of us, gently overhanging with huge stalactites running down its face in parts. I could see loads of metal anchor bolts in the walls denoting routes, and was immediately keen to get climbing. I didn't have to wait long, as our guides agilely climbed up two routes to attach ropes to the anchor at the top, then rappelled down, unclipping the rope from the other bolts as they went.

With the rope attached, two of the Swedes tied the rope to their harness and, with the two guides belaying them, started climbing the routes. We watched from below as they both successfully made the top, then rappelled down. Then it was my turn. I tied the rope onto my harness with the guide's help, rubbed some chalk on my hands and started my climb. I hadn't been climbing for a few years, and even then I had only done indoor climbing, so I was pleased when I made pretty good progress climbing the first route, only about 15m or so. The main problem was strength in my arms which soon started to flag after so long without climbing. However, I managed to make it to the top and rappelled down safely.

After the first route, we managed to climb another 3 routes, some of which were considerably higher than anything I'd climbed before. I found that the nerves I had used to feel sometimes climbing indoors were gone, as I trusted in the equipment and just enjoyed the experience. The best part of the climbing was reaching the top, sitting back dangling on the rope and turning around to see the amazing view from some 50m up over Koh Phi Phi, with the thin strip of land between its two main beaches widening to the hilly central part of the island, and the turqoise water almost glowing all around.

After climbing 4 routes, some of the group had to leave as they were on a full day trip including snorkelling and cliff jumping. As I'd only signed up for the climbing, I was able to stay with the American couple and climb one more route. I was the only one who managed to climb this route, apparently a 6a rating, since the others were too tired. Even I was struggling, and I had to drop from the wall and rest my arms a few times before carrying on, but I was determined to make the top of the route, which I did. It was a great feeling of satisfaction, and an inspiration to get back into climbing when I got home and to get stronger.

After rappelling down from the last climb, we packed up the gear, interrupted by some monkeys who kept trying to steal some bananas we'd brought with us and which we had to chuck stones at to scare off, then set off through town to the climbing shop.

I left my guides at the shop and walked back to our bungalow where I found Lucy relaxing in the cool, shady room. It was a warm afternoon but, although the morning had been lovely and sunny, it had become very overcast and showery by the mid afternoon. After I had a shower, we nipped down to a cafe and had some fried rice and some chicken and vegtables in oyster sauce, then came back to our bungalow. We had been planning to walk up to the viewpoint on the hill above our accommodation but, since the weather was a bit poor, we decided not to as we wouldn't see the island at its best.

Instead, we relaxed in the bungalow as it rained on and off outside until the evening, when we went out to get a massage. We went to the same place as we'd gone for our foot massage a few days earlier, and we both decided on a full body coconut oil massage. I gratefully lay down on the soft mat and let my masseuse get to work, rubbing the oil into my muscles in a vigorous but relaxing manner. I got so into the massage that I fell asleep for a few minutes during it, and by the time the hour was up I was thoroughly relaxed. Lucy hadn't enjoyed her massage as much, finding some of the methods a bit uncomfortable and being unable to relax. She decided that the next time she'd stick to the foot massage.

After our massage we realised we were hungry again, so we walked through the late evening streets, buzzing with bucket-wielding revellers and foreigners handing out flyers for bars and clubs. We ignored all of this and made straight for Papaya restaurant again, where we had some delicious penang curry with beef and some vegetable pad thai to share. We thoroughly enjoyed the food again, as well as the setting where funny street cats lounged around on the various surfaces around the restaurant. None of these were as funny as the cat which lived INSIDE the beer fridge in the restaurant.

After our meal we walked back briskly to our bungalow, hoping to beat the rain which was threatening to fall, signalled by the wind which had picked up significantly. We made it and chilled out in the room before dropping off to sleep, exhausted after a busy day (on my part anyway).

The next morning we slept quite late and got up to another disappointingly overcast sky. We had been hoping to sign up for an afternoon longtail boat trip to some of the nearby beaches and Phi Phi Lay island, where Maya Bay, the beach from 'The Beach' was. We had some fruit shakes, a muffin and a cinnamon roll from the stall at the reception and sat out in the hammock and on the bench outside our room. We'd only just finished breakfast when the heavens opened, and the place was soon soaked. We initially wrote off going anywhere, but the rain shower was short lived and soon gave way to beautiful blue sky.

This was just in time for us to sign up for the afternoon sunset trip via longtail boat, so we paid for our tickets and chucked some stuff in a bag before waiting at reception with a German couple from our place. A chap soon turned up and led us through the streets, stopping at various tourist shops to pick up more boat trippers, until we arrived at an alleyway behind some buildings facing onto Tonsai beach. There was already a big group of people gathered here, actually huddled underneath the buildings which were raised up on stilts. We hung around, all a bit confused as to what was going on, as our guide walked out into the surf and started pottering about with a longtail boat.

As we waited, even more people turned up and they were led onto one boat, while we hung around. Eventually we were ushered towards the longtail boats, thinking we would be split into two groups as there was about 20 of us. However, this was not the case, and we were all squeezed onto one boat before our driver shoved off from the beach and tried for a few minutes to get the engine going on the boat.

Once the engine finally sputtered into life we set off from Tonsai beach towards the long line of cliffs on the right side of the beach. We sailed past the tower where I had been climbing the day before and along the foot of the cliffs before pulling in at a small beach. As we neared the shore we could see groups of monkeys crawling around in the eroded overhangs at the base of the cliffs and along the thin sandy beach.

Our driver told us we had 10 minutes at the beach as the tide was going out and would soon leave the rocks just off the beach dangerously close to the water's surface. With this reassuring news in mind, most of us hopped out of the boat into the shallow water which was unfortunately full of jaggy rocks and broken coral. We had to pick our way over this to the beach where we looked around for a few minutes, both down at the monkeys running around all over the place and up at the massive cliffs soaring above. Then it was back out to the boat across the death-coral and into our seats while we watched the driver try to maneuver out into the open sea with lots of ominous bangs and scrapes along the bottom.

What then followed was one of the most harrowing boat journeys of my life and, in Lucy's words 'the scariest thing I have ever done in my whole entire life.' It started off pleasant enough as we cruised down by the cliffs of Phi Phi Don, taking in the magnificent view. Then we moved into the channel between Phi Phi Don and Phi Phi Lay, and things got a little choppy. Our small longtail boat powered on through what felt like huge swells at an unfortunate angle meaning every wave came in from the side above us, then rocked the boat horrifyingly from side to side. Lucy was immediately terrified, and clutched onto me as we made our way across the channel. Her fear started to get to me and we weren't alone. When particularly large waves crossed our path and we lurched at horrible angles, there were a few worries noises made by the other passengers. Our driver, however, just smiled and carried on across the channel.

When we reached Phi Phi Lay it wasn't much better, as the swell was coming in from the sea across us towards the island. We continued down the east side of the island past more incredible cliffs and the Viking Cave, a gaping hole in the side of one cliff strung with all manner of ropes, ladders, and wooden platforms used in the harvesting of swallow's nests for culinary purposes. We passed the mouth of an awesome bay, with towering cliffs on either side, but by this time we were just hanging on for dear life and Lucy was now dressed in her life jacket, tears in her eyes.

Finally we rounded the south edge of the island and made our way along at the base of more eroded, fantastical cliffs adorned with alien-looking stalactites until we were sheltered from the swell by the island. Then we pulled around one huge cliff into the famous Maya Bay, where the waters were blissfully calm. We puttered over to where some more longtails were moored and tied up to a buoy, then we were able to hop into the water and do some snorkelling. The tide was low which meant we were close to the corals on the bottom and all the colourful fish swimming among them, but it also meant the beach didn't look its best, with lots of rock exposed between the water and the sandy curve at the base of the bay's cliffs.

We enjoyed snorkelling for a little while then got back onto the boat, ate some pineapple provided by the woman accompanying our guide, and waited as we were ferried across closer to the beach. Our driver got the boat in as close as he could to the beach, then we had to hop out and wade through the shallow, again rocky water to the shore.

We got there and collapsed on our beach towel at the foot of a cliff, glad to still be alive. As the tide was out and the sky was now overcast, the view of the bay, ringed by huge cliffs with a gap between two sheer faces out to the open sea, wasn't as great as the many pictures we'd seen of it. It was also chock full of longtails and other tour boats, with people all over the small beach. These facts, combined with the hellish boat ride we'd gone through to get here, made us wonder why we had decided to sign up on yet another tour which only ended in disappointment.

We didn't have long to dwell on this thought though, before it was time to wade back out to the boat and awkwardly climb on board. Then we set off through the cliffs and up the calm west side of the island, admiring more cliffs like gigantic fortress walls with ramparts jutting out jaggedly at the top. Then it was back out into the channel of doom. This time the wind had picked up and the white caps topping the big swells were an ominous sight. We hadn't long cleared the shelter of Phi Phi Lay before the wind started blasting the spray from our plunges into the troughs of the waves straight back into our faces. Blinded and soaked by the spray, we rocked and rolled our way back across the channel, with some more hair-raising lurches to and fro, until we reached the tip of Phi Phi Don. We were supposed to stop here to watch the sunset from between the islands, but our driver suggested we just carry on back to shore 'because of sea'. He was met with urgent screams of assent and ploughed on, through the big swells until we were sheltered by the eastern end of Phi Phi Don and were able to cruise gently back into the beach, as our heart rates slowed to a normal pace.

We were so glad to jump off the boat and wade up onto the sand. We didn't go quite as far as getting down on our knees to kiss the ground but I'm sure the thought passed through Lucy's head. Despite being soaked, we headed straight for the trusty Papaya restaurant as our lack of lunch and near-death boat trip had given us a mighty appetite.

We enjoyed another helping of the awesome mussaman curry as well as some creamy coconut tom kah soup along with a well-deserved Chang, before walking, still damp, through the streets and past the poo garden back to our bungalow.

A warm shower soon had us feeling alive again and we spent the evening doing some online research about Bali and trying to finally get our blog up to date. We then got to bed for another relaxing sleep.

We got up at a reasonable hour the next morning, and were pleased to find it was a lovely sunny day. We had some fruit shakes and muffins on the patio, then set off with our camera to climb to the viewpoint on the hill above our accommodation. We'd been planning to do this since we got to the island, but every time we planned to go it was either cloudy or raining, meaning it wouldn't have been worth the effort.

This time, however, the weather was perfect, and we sweated our way gladly up the steep concrete steps straight up the hillside, in between bungalows built onto the slope. We had initially though about staying in a bungalow on the hill for the view, but seeing how out of puff we got just climbing halfway up the hill made us glad we were staying on ground level. We eventually made it to a little gate where to our horror we saw we had to pay 20 baht entrance fee for the veiwpoint. We hadn't brought any money with us. Thankfully though, the young guy on gate duty took pity on us and let us through quietly as there was no-one else about.

From the gate we climbed up a sloping concrete path and found ourselves at Viewpoint 1, where there was a little hut and some benches. We stopped and got our breath back, cooling down in the shade of the hut as we drank in the awesome view below us. We could see right across the town built on the low, thin strip of land between the hill we were on and the rugged, green-topped towers of limestone making up the far side of the island. The tide was in, so around the two sandy crescents of the beaches flanking the town, the shallow water was the most beautiful bright turquoise. Off across the calm sea we could clearly make out Phi Phi Lay jutting from the water, and other small islands dotted about.

After taking a few photos and enjoying this view, we set off up a signposted path, taking us further up the hill on a gentle gradient. Even though it was gentle, we were still hot and out of breath when we finally reached Viewpoint 2, at a bigger hut even higher up the hill. We sat in the shade of some trees here and enjoyed the view, even more spectacular from this higher vantage point. We had definitely timed our walk well, and got to see the island at its very best. We took some more photos then made our way back down the paths and steps to our bungalow.

Back at our place, we put some beach stuff in a bag then set off again, heading down the path past the poo garden, then doubling back around it and continuing down to the beachfront at the eastern end of Tonsai bay. We bought some tickets at a travel agent here for the ferry to Phuket the following morning, as well as a bus to take us to the airport, near our pre-booked accommodation. After that, we walked along the sand until the beach ended, then continued on a rough dirt path climbing over little rises and criss-crossed by twisted fig tree roots. This path led us, past lots of little beaches, through some cool jungle, and past some amazing bungalows set overlooking the water, to Long Beach, to the east of Tonsai.

This long stretch of sand was backed by more low-key resorts than the busy Tonsai, but the beach was still quite busy with sunbathers and sightseers. We made our way to a nice-looking restuarant at a resort behind the beach and got a seat with a view over the sand to the water. We had a really tasty lunch of fried chicken with sweet basil and a panang curry with prawns, washed down with some fruit shakes. The only bad thing about the lunch was the American idiot at the table next to us bellowing some stupid story about running a marathon whilst drunk to his friend sitting 6 inches away from him.

After eating we walked down the beach, dumped our stuff in shady spot, then went for a swim in the cool, refreshing water for a while. After splashing about for a bit, we dried off then walked along to where we could get a longtail boat back around to Tonsai beach. The walk from there had taken a good half an hour from the edge of town, and we couldn't be bothered doing it in reverse, particularly since my flip flops had broken and I would have had to go barefoot.

We got into a longtail with a few others and were whisked around to Tonsai beach, where we got off at the pier. Thankfully this journey was a bit calmer than the longtail ride of the previous day. From the pier we walked down the length of Tonsai beach towards the cliffs at the far end. I left Lucy in a shady spot on the beach, where she went for a swim, while I climbed up to the foot of the cliffs where I'd been climbing a few days before. I wanted to get some pictures of the routes I'd climbed as I'd not had my camera with me at the time.

After climbing back down the rocky path from the cliff I joined Lucy for a quick cool down in the sea, which in that area wasn't quite as nice as around at long beach, being shallow and a bit murky. We watched some climbers on the cliffs above us for a bit, then wandered back through town to our bungalow, stopping to look in a few shops along the way. Back at our place, we showered and then relaxed in the air conditioned room for a while. I ended up falling asleep for a bit, while Lucy called home on Skype.

In the evening we went out for dinner. We decided we were in the mood for some western food and insted of returning to Papaya again, went to an Italian restaurant where we had some really delicious ravioli filled with spinach and ricotta in cheese and ham sauce, as well as a salami and olive pizza and some pesto bruschetta to share. After our dinner we walked around the little market stalls and shops in the town as we meandered back through the streets, and picked up a couple of souvenirs and some bargainous clothes.

Back at our bungalow we chilled out and sorted out some things for our departure in the morning, before getting off to bed.

In the morning we got up early, picked up some laundry from the reception desk at our place, then finished packing our bags. I had one more banana lassi and a cinnamon swirl for breakfast, then we loaded our bags into a cart like a giant wheelbarrow which one of the hotel staff pushed through the paths of town, down to the pier. It was a lovely sunny day, and we were glad to see the beautiful cliffs and hills of the island around us one more time before we got into the ferry and set off.