24/12/09 Krabi to Koh Phi Phi

We checked out from the P guesthouse and after a small discussion over payment for the room we were collected by taxi to drive to the port. When we arrived at the port there was quite a long walk to the departures which was a pleasure with our heavy bags !!! We were given boarding passes and then had another long walk to the end of the pier to get on the boat. Once on board we had to go down to the lower deck to hand over the luggage. The guys piled all the bags in one small corner all on top of each other despite the fact the boat was pretty empty with loads of space. We took a seat on the lower deck and we set off to Koh Phi Phi where we were spending Christmas.Phil went to go up on the top deck to take some pictures but the door was jammed so he wondered how we would get out in an accident. The Lonely Planet says the beauty of the Phi Phi Don is enough to bring tears to your eyes. Koh Phi Phi is made of two islands, Phi Phi Don and Phi Phi Lei, and we were staying on Phi Phi Don near to the main village area. As we approached the island we were greeted with the sight of white palm fringed beaches and a clear blue sea. We were very excited and were pleased we had made the right choice for Christmas. We got off the boat with our bags and were greeted by staff from the Phi Phi Don Chukit Resort where we were staying. They took our bags into a large barrow/trailer and led us to the resort through the beach side pathway. As we walked through we liked the atmosphere of the place straight away. The main street was a bustling area with many shops and restaurants and it was car free so just bikes to negotiate . The locals were all very friendly with big smiles as we passed by. we saw adverts for Christmas eve parties and another for the Tsunami Remembrance Celebration to be held on the 5th anniversary on Boxing Day. We got to Don Chukit and were shown to our room. It was such a disappointment, it was a big room but was really shabby and was probably the most we had paid for a room in SE Asia. We had a fan and cold water shower so it was pretty basic, not really where we would choose to spend Christmas. Phil convinced Liz that we wouldn't really be in the room much so it would be ok for the few days we were booked in. We had booked until boxing day so we thought we'd see if there were any better rooms available for us to move to until we left Phi Phi on 30th. We went off to explore the little resort of Phi Phi Don which is a village on a small strip of land between two bays with beaches on either side, Loh Dalom and Ton Sai. Koh Phi Phi is one of thailands best dive sites so we had planned to dive there. We called into a tour office to book our ferry to Phuket and were advised to use a dive shop in the village called Island Divers. We called into Island divers and booked two dive trips. An afternoon dive for 27th and a morning dive on 28th which added up to 5 dives in total. The diving was alot more expensive in Phi Phi then in Koh Tao but the diving was supposed to be better as it wasn't monsoon on the Andaman Sea side of Thailand. We wandred through the village which is a series of linked lanes alll lined with bars, restaurants and shopping all decorated with Xmas stuff. We had some food in one of the eateries and then got to the Loh Balom beach and walked on the sand there. It was pretty busy with people sunbathing and swimming but was a lovely beach. We had seen a sign for Tsunami memorial village and viewpoint and so followed the signs up a steep hill behind the village. The signs seemed to disappear and so we ended up returning to the village without seeing either thing. we collected some flyers for parties happening that evening and then went to use the internet for a while. At about 7 we went back to the room to shower and change for the evening. We wore Santa hats out as were many of the locals and tourists alike. We went to a bar on the beach called Bora Bora who were having a free barbecue and fire dancers as well as a good view of the later fireworks. We settled down on some cushions and ordered two buckets of drink !!! At about 9 pm we had a BBQ of meats and rice to eat and watched the fire dancers for a while. There was a short firework display and many klanterns also lit and floating up into the sky. We were unsure if they were in memorial for the Tsunami or just for Christmas but it was a really lovely sight. At about 10.30 we left to explore the other party options we had seen and called into the Apache Club where we ahd another drink and got roped into a game. We all had two balloons tied to our ankles and had to pop each others till there was a last person. Liz did quite well but got popped so we didn't manage to win...After that we walked through the lively villlge center where there were masses of young backpackers all drinking shots and buckets in Western bars. We got to Loh Dalom beach and went to the first bar called SLinky which was playing some great tunes so we stayed there, drinking and dancing a good few hours away. We had blagged a free shot with Liz charming the doorman into giving us a flyer and later we both drunkenly jumped through a burning ring of fire ( I know a song about that) .Liz had a power nap for 10 minutes in the middle of the banging party!! The whole beach was alive with people and lights, Christmas trees, fire dancers and it was a really fantastic atmosphere there with everyone wishing each other a Merry Xmas. At some stage the Slinky bar finished and so we went next door to Apache Bar where the music was good and we sat on the beach chilling out with more drink...oh dear!! At about 4.30 the bar closed and we staggered back to our room and collapsed into bed.

25/12/09 Merry Christmas Everyone

We regained conciousness at about 11 am and Liz went back to sleep while Phil gave Pammie some Christmas loving for a while. The room was really roasting and about 10 degrees hotter than outside so we were severely dehydrated. Liz felt really rough and so we went out once we'd had showers to find somewhere to eat and have a drink. It was about three by the time we emerged to wish the world Merry Christmas and it didn't really feel like Christmas at all. It was a beautiful clear sunny day and lots of people were dressed in red with santa outfits and hats on which was nice but just not like waking up with the families at home. We wandered around for a while to find a turkey dinner but failed as most were for the evening. We called into the pharmacy and chatte dto the pharmacist for a while. We asked her about the Tsunami memorial and she told us both her parents had died in the floods and she would be at the memorial on Boxing Day herself. We had a meal in an Italian place instead. Phil had Hachis Parmentier (shepherds pie) and Liz had pasta, very festive!!! We felt a bit better after eating we went to call home to wish our folks Merry Xmas. Phils parents were still in bed and Lizzies were on the phone but we managed to speak to Phils grandparents and Lizzies Dad and Marian so it was a start. We went back to the room as Liz was feeling bad again then came back out later to call again. Thankfully everyone was now able to take our calls and we spent a good hour on the phone being passed around everyone...very nice. We had to yell down the street when we spoke to Phils deaf Grandad which was quite funny. We hadn't found any rooms cheaper than Don Chukit so resigned ourselves to several more roasting nights but the tariff was much lower so the financial blow wasn't so hard as we'd expected. We quickly checked the internet for any mesages and sent some to friends then found a place for Phil to have turkey dinner. Liz had no appetite after poisoning her system the night before so just drank water as Phil got a plate full of turkey and veg. He was a bit disappointed as he had no crackers and no pudding and said it wasn't the same as mums home cooked dinners. We wandered back to Loh Dalom beach, the scene of the night befores party and found Slinky bar closed off with a police cordon. Some local women told us that there had been a fight there in the early hours and a local boy had been shot dead and two others were in hospital with gunshot wounds . It turned out that this had all happened while we were there dancing on the beach !!!!! There were so many fireworks and so much noise that we hadn't heard a thing and there was no big police raid or anything either, we couldn't believe it. We walked along the beach and realised we were quite lucky as a stray bullet could have hit any of us !!! We didn't feel quite as relaxed there then and walked back through town to go to bed as we were both pretty tired but got accosted by one of the many young Western lads dragging people into bars. The bar really stank so we didn't stay too long and then went back to bed....pretty average Christmas day in Paradise !!!!

26/12/09 5th Anniversary of Tsunami

We were awake at 8 as we wanted to go to thew Tsunami memorial event in the village. The Tsunami came onto Phi Phi from both sides of the village destroying pretty much everything in its path. 5800 people lost their lives in the Tsunami both tourists and locals. Many people escaped to the higher ground but as there was no warning system in place many perished uneccessarily. We walked to a piece of open ground in the village where the memorial was taking place and found there were lots of food and drink tables set up with free refreshments for everyone. There were four tents for Muslim, Thai Bddhist, Chinese Buddhist and Christian for people to pray for the dead. The mood there wasn't sombre but was quiet and upbeat. The local people all bring along food donations for people to help themselves to so we had a drink and icecream and sat on the grass to watch. The governor of Krabi province came along and read a statemnt from the president and it was translated to English. There were quite a few Westerners there and many older people who you imagine had lost children . After the speeches and a few religious services had taken place everyone was given a white rose and we all walked to the beach to a large Banyon tree where the roses were left in memorial. Next to the tree was a board with pictures of peole who had died in one resort which is no longer there. There were photos, just like ours, of tourists having a great time on Xmas eve just like we had been who were then killed two days later in the disaster. It was really moving and we stayed to read through a book left detailing all the staff from the resort who perished. They set up a fund to send their children to school and college and had photos of the orphaned children too. We walked back through to the open area and had some of the food which was being dished out by the happy locals, it really was a positive event. The village had been rebuilt under strict development controls apparently, but from what we could see the place was overdeveloped with far too many banging bars and clubs both on the beach and in the middle of the village. Money can buy most things in Thailand and permission to build or open a business is probably pretty easy. We had enjoyed ourselves on Christmas eve but the place is really targetted at binge drinking backpackers looking for cheap buckets of beers and free shots.. We are up for nights out but just not every day !!! Don't want to sound like old farts but we do feel a little past drinking every night. There are a couple of nice beach bars but they close really early as they have very little trade unfortunately. apparently you can stay in really idyllic resorts away from the main hub but of course there is a premium and Phi Phi is expensive already. It was still early about 11 and we went to find some lunch but called in to get a couple of t-shirts in a shop flooded by the tsunami in 2004. We then went for a quick drink then found a sports bar which had a good menu and we had lunch there. Phil had a "mild Chilli" which burned his tongue off and Liz had tuna jacket potato...not very Thai !! We walked back to Loh Dalom bay and blagged acouple of deck chairs there. We spent the afternoon lazily people watching and swimming in the bay. it has a long 200m shallow shelf before it drops off which made the effect of the tsunami so much worse as it channelled the water. It makes it a really nice beach for small children though as they can safely play in the shallow water. At sunset we dragged ourselves off our bums and went back through town. We bumped into the Alexs again sat in an Italian Cosmic restaurant eating pizza and we joined them to share a pizza. They had spent their Xmas at the half moon party on Kho Pangan so we caught up with their tales while we ate. They made Phil very jealous showing him pictures of their lovely looking Xmas dinner from the Masons Arms !! We went down to the beach Monkey Bar for a drink watching sunset with them, went back to change and get some money then joined them in the sports bar as Alex's beloved Tottenham were playing. We watched the game and shared a chicken tikka sandwich which was like a proper doorstep sandwich. We all went to use the internet for twenty minutes then found the rooftop Banana Bar where we had a few cocktails. We went down to the beach to see what was going on and went to Ibiza and Apache bars as Slinkys was still shut. We played a game where we had to hit balloons with darts to win drinks but were all pretty rubbish and came away with a few cheap cans of beer!!! At one am the music came to an abrupt halt in the middle of a tune and the clubs along the beach all closed. Apparently the police had stepped up security since the shooting and so had closed the bars. We all stayed on the beach for the next couple of hours putting the world to rights and then wandered back through the town. We said goodbye to the Alexs having arranged to met up with them again in a few days. We found a curry house and went to share a curry before bed. While we were eating there was a big commotion down the street and a man ran past followed by a screaming Russian. He grabbed a chair friom the curry house and launched it down the road at the other guy, followed by an angry scuffle....nice!!!! Koh Phi Phi was beginning to feel pretty seedy to us and we wished that it was all a bit less busy. we were in bed about 3.30 !!

27/12/09 Koh Phi Phi

We were awake lazily at about 10 and went out to find breakfast as we were due to go diving for the afternoon. Continuing our habit of eating Western food we both had sausage eggs beans and chips...yummy. We went to the dive shop and had to check the date on our booking for the morning dive as they had written 27th by mistake when the shop was shut. After that was sorted we met the divemaster who we would we diving with and another couple Nick and Natalie, doing the dives. Nick and Natalie were on a three week diving holiday in Thailand and had dived about twenty times before so Liz was the novice of the group. We had a briefing and then went to the boat with our weight belts. We chatted to Nick and Natalie while the boat went to the first dive site and the crew set up all the equipment. It turned out that Nick is a geologist who studied at Royal Holloway while Phil was there doing his PhD...small world. Natalie is a teacher in a youth detention centre hence they we able to get a long xmas break. We got on with them really well and were looking forward to the diving. They had dived on Kho Phi Phi on Xmas morning and said it was good which we were really pleased about after the poor visibility on Kho Tao. At the first dive site we had a briefing with Dru the divemaster and kitted up. We buddied together and did the buddy checks then jumped in. The dive site was called Bidah Nok and there was pretty good visibility and we dived to 16.5m for almost an hour. Dru was a really relaxed leader and we were able to take our time and have a really good look round the underwater world. There was lots to seemoray eels, banner fish, porcupine puffer fish, lion fish, trumpet fish and loads of other really pretty corals. It was weird for Liz to be able to dive without having excercises and tests to pass but it was great. We got out of the diving kit and sat on the sun deck while the boat moved into Maya Bay. For film fans that is the beach from "The Beach" where Leo DeCaprio stayed. It was pretty lovely beach surrounded by huge cliffs in a closed bay. There is no acommodation on Phi
Phi Lei island but you can camp there on an organised trip so its only a matter of time we think. The beach itself was a bit busy with tours, thats something we have found everywhere we have been in the islands. We had lunch of fried rice there looking across to the white sandy beach then the boat moved out of the bay to the next dive site only about 5 minutes away. The next dive site was called Palaya and we all kitted up after a briefing and jumped in. We dived down to 17 meters for another 49 minutes and it was a brilliant dive. As soon as we went down we saw a Hawksbill turtle really close up to us which was going to the surface to breath then came back down agein to feed. We watched the turtle for a little while then carried on to explore some more. On the dive as well as lots of coral and fish we saw a leopard shark resting on the bottom which we all pretty pleased about. We saw blue spotted rays, clown fish, lion fish and puffers too so it was a great dive and we were all pretty happy on the ride back to town. We got back to the dive shop and filled in our dive logs. We stayed there chatting and Natalie and Nick decided to go diving with us the next day too. We were enjoying a few cold beers there and were joined by some divers Nick and Natalie dived with on Xmas day from Israel called Orion and Ofir. Phil went off to get some money as we'd decided to go and get some food together. While he was gone another diver called Nick arrived and it turned out he lived about a mile away from us in Worcester...another small world. We all went to the Lemongrass Thai restaurant which had an open kitchen and the food was delicious.After the dinner Natalie went off to treat herself to a massage while the rest of us went with Worcester Nick to a bar he liked on the beach. It was past all the clubs and was a chilled bar wth cushions to laze on and hubble bubble pipes to smoke. Nick got some strawberry tobacco and we all had a few puffs whilst people watching. There was a brilliant electrical storm out to sea which were all watching for ages. The music was really loud in there though and it changed to German Techno !!! We watched the German dancing for a while which was quite funny then left to get to bed as we had an early start the next day.

28/12/09

We were up at 6.15, only just waking up as the alarm is not working properly and Liz seems to have an internal body alarm which has saved us a few times. We got to the dive shop and Phil went to get us some croissants for breakfast. We met up with Nick, Natalie and Dru and walked to the boat. We were the only divers that day so it was like a private charter...brilliant. The boat went out into the Andaman Sea for about an hour before stopping near a marker bouy for our first dive down to King Cruiser wreck . The car ferry had sunk in 1997 but it is believed to be an insurance job. The ferry was losing money and went mysteriously off course and hit a known shipping hazard, Anenome reef and sunk. Conveniently, there were loads of fishing boats around that day so noone drowned and only the captain of the boat disappeared...but we aren't judging!! The ferry has now made an artificial reef with lots of marine life and corals living there. The water was quite chopppy when we stopped and we had a short swim to the drop point by the bouy. Liz got really breathless swimming over there as it was a strong current and big waves so needed a minute to catch her breath but then was ready to dive. We dived down to the wreck but the visibility was pretty rubbish. We went down to 23.5m and dived for 45 minutes. At times the visibility improved so we could clearly see the features of the boat like the toilets and cisterns. There were fish hanging about and we saw baracuda, lion fish and rabbit fish there. Liz and Natalie didn't really like the dive but only because the visibility wasn't great. We got out and took off our gear and the boat moved a really short distance to the next dive called Shark Point Phuket. After an hours break in the sun on the boat we dived again down to 17.7m for 53 minutes. We were wearing dive computers so could stay diving a bit longer which was great. Considering the dive sites close proximity to the wreck the visibility was completely different and was really good. We saw so much on this dive including many soft corals in all bright blues and purples, huge fan corals, moray eels, nemos, bat fish, trigger fish, a large jelly fish, snapper, fuseliers, baracuda and the highlight of the dive was a really lovely leopard shark who we got really close to. We were really happy when we got back on the boat as it had been a really amazing dive, We all decided to pay for a third dive and agreed to dive Anenome Reef also nearby. We sat on the sundeck relaxing and ate lunch of rolls, Natalie and Phil went to sleep for a while too. The boat moved over to Anenome Reef and we kitted up again. Wedescended to 17.4m for 50 minutes. On this dive we saw all the fish again and some huge fan corals and also saw 3 leopard sharks swimming around!!! When we were ascending we even saw a banded sea snake who swam by really closely. The sea snakes are the most venomous snakes in the world and you have no time if bitten !!! What a good dive !!! Liz had a bit of trouble with her bouyancy for some reason but otherwise the dive had been great. We were all really tired, returned to Phi Phi Don and back to the dive shop to fill in our log books. We arranged to meet Nick and Natalie the next day to go to Long Beach along the coast fron Phi Phi Don then we all went for a curry as we were starving. While we were eating our curry Acopolypto film was playing on their TV. If you've not seen it, it is a really bloody film about the South American Indians so it is pretty unpleasant watching. We were due to meet the Alexs at 8 but we couldn't leave until we'd seen the end of the film. We said goodbye to Nick And Natalie after the film and it was about 8.30 so we were a bit late. Phil noticed a football fixtures list with a Tottenham game so we chanced going to see if they were in the sports bar watching the game . They were there and had forgotten to go an dmeet us anyway so no worries. We stayed there with them chatting and watching the game then we left to go to bed feeling pretty knackered. We had arranged to meet up properly the next evening instead. Liverpool Mick was due to arrive on the island sometime too so we might see him.

29/12/09

We met up with Nick and Natalie at 10 and went to get some breakfast. The lads had a full English and Liz had a tuna sandwich while Natalie popped back to the room. We walked along the coastline towards Long Beach through lots of small bays, over rocks and boulders and paddling a bit too. It took about half an hour to walk to the beach and we walked to the far end where we stopped and got sunloungers for the day. Liz borrowed Harry Potter from Natalie and settled to have a read for a bit while the other three went off snorkelling. Nick and Natalie had snorkelled there before and seen a Leopard shark so they hoped to see one again. Natalie came back after about half an hour and we had a drink and lazed watching out for the boys. they were another hour before coming back but hadn't seen any sharks. We stayed at the beach, reading, swiming, dozing until it was nearly sunset and set off back to Phi Phi Don. We arranged to meet them in the Monkey Bar with the Alexs later and went back to our room. We showered under the cold shower which has been a blessing not a curse after all in the stifling heat of our room. We went out a bit early so we could take a look round the shops a while before meeting the others. We bumped into the Alex's out searching for Liverpool Mick who had apparently come to Phi Phi that day. We met to the Monkey Bar and met up with the Alex's and Nick and Natalie. We sat enjoying the chilled atmosphere there as it was away from the banging bars along the beach and was much nicer. We had a couple of drinks but then the waitress told us the bar was shutting. Liz said we loved the bar and would like to stay and she went to the manager and he agreed to keep the bar open longer. The Alex's went then to find Mick and the four of us stayed for more chat and drink then the lads decided they were hungry so we went for another curry. It had been a really lovely day and we went off to bed about 1.30am