The island and it's surrounding little siblings are amongst the most beautiful archipelagos in the world (isle of wight not included). We pretty much spent our entire time in awe of the dramatic limestone cliffs dropping into the ocean, stretches of bamboo trees lining the white sandy beaches and everything else it had to offer. To get the best possible perspective on thailand's gem we thought we'd get involved in a cruise around the islands. Now when I say cruise I don't mean the luxury yacht you have in mind, I am talking about the tuk tuk of the ocean...the long tail boat. For 450 Baht we were noisily motored around for an entire day rocking up to each beach which turned out better than the last - none better than Phi Phi Lei, the famous setting of the film 'The Beach'. A true highlight of this trip so far was snorkelling off Shark Point completely surround by pretty blue and yellow fish, friendlier than most locals.

Having seen most of Phi Phi's wonders we decided to pop round to Long Beach for a chilled (grounded) day of hammocks, books, lunching and snorkelling.
You may think that this sounds like a perfectly normal day on holiday, but nothing would be quite normal without a little bit of drama.... Casually making my way down to the sea for a dip, of all things on the beach I was able to kick a dead fish (by accident). This was no normal fish, I happened to boot the ugliest monster ever to emerge from the ocean and as my big toe was pierced by its horn (like a tooth pick) I let out a 'f@&k!' for all to hear. After insisting that I needed to piss on my foot, I then proceeded to talk about how much I need my feet, explain that these things lead to infection and then suggest amputation was a possibility. Thankfully Sai was on hand to calm me down and procure disinfectant (thank god). Expecting to wake up with a toe the size of a pear, needless to say... I'm fine and still have working use of both size 11s.