Arrived in Phi Phi in the morning and found accomodation straight away which was a relief. It is so much nicer than Phuket you wouldn't believe. Its a lot more rural than ko tao, almost like a jungle, with loads of huge cliffs and forests going up the mountain. If there hadnt been these cliffs im sure the tsunami would have been a hundered times worse! Its hard to know if they have developed it fully again since the disaster but, there is a lot of stagnant water in the streets and our guesthouse looks like it will fall down if you shut the door too strongly never mind a hurricaine. It is a lot less developed than Tao though. there isnt one car on the island. not even scooters; everyone seems to have a bike, although there are that many people in the road i am pretty sure they are more of a hindarance than a help!

Went to a couple of the diving shops and settled on barakuda. The prices are the same all over the island 2500bhat which is about 50 pounds, but the diving is supposed to be a lot better and you get lunch on the boat so i guess it is ok.

Went out on the first night to watch "the best fire show in Thailand". It is a much more party town here, you can pretty much work your way around the island getting free buckets in every bar if you time it well, but after you've hadf a couple you are so drunk you wouldnt have a clue what you are doing so it doesnt really work. we tried it the first night and ended up getting lost on our way back to the hotel. I woke up the next day without my flipflops and it transpires from what we have pieced together that i suddenly declared "i dont need these anymore" and flung my flip flops away only to have no recollection of this and say ten minutes later "gem where are my flipflops". ahe said "you said you didnt need them and i was too drunk to stop you!" so they are gone. but i bought some black ones for 3 pounds so its fine. i have found i am buying myself a lot of presents while i am away, however i have not forgotten other people. bartered a guy down to give me 7 braclets that should have cost 980 bhat to 650 bhat the other day!! and another lady gave me 2 headbands for 2 pounds the other day and i quote "as its you"...i am sure i have never met this woman before but im not going to argue with her.

In fact i am a bit of a hit in Ko Phi Phi. we went for lunch the other day and the waitress came to take our order but before we could say anything she had writtren the word "sexy" on her pad showed it to me and said "that is what i think you are!" I was slightly in shock i will admit so just said thank you and hasitly ordered an orange shake!! Gem isnt doing too bad either, she bought a anklet the other day and said how much is it to be told its 80 bhat but you can have it for 60 she didnt even have to barter!!

We have been sunbathing on the beach for the last couple of days but i hate the beach at the best of times and i just had sand everywhere so we came across this great hotel with a swimming pool. Obviously we cant afford to stay there so we just sneaked in but were spotted. This guy came over and said we could sit by the pool but couldnt go in it because technically were not allowed there at all. So we were sat there for a bit then he came over and said we had to move to the other side of the pool (diont know why) but then he gave us free towels and said we could go in the pool. Not sure why he had a change of heart. Anyway went back the next day and he said we could sunbathe again but only till half four. been on a boat trip of the island today so am going back again tomorrow to try our luck!!

Boat trip was good. was from 9am to 4pm and included lunch. got to go to the beach where "The Beach" was filmed. Luckily we got there at 9:30 because by 10am it was rammed and a bit of a disappointment. Got to do some sunbathing and snorkelling and went the whole way round phi phi don (the big island you can stay on) and Phi Phi Ley (with no accomodation and tiny!)

Went diving at the beginning of the week which was excellent. Our dive master was a canadian called claire who was lovely and a bit crazy. But she knew what she was doing and found us a leopard shark (i cant belive i went swimming with a leopard shark, to be fair it was just sat at the bottom of the sea doing nothing, but i would have panicked 3 weeks ago) she also found us a sea horse, trumpet fish and a stingray. was a great dive. Visability here is so much better and it was definitely worth the money. cant afford to do it again though!! Unfortunately we hadnt budgeted for getting a new hobby so we have to pace ourselves!!

Trying to save money so not ben out that much, also its a bit more dancy here so not really our scene!! i have now read 16 books and really need to slw down. I keep buying the biggest longest ones i can find from second hand book shops. You can sell them back but its a case of dragging them about until gem has read them too.

Leaving here Thursday morning for Krabi for a quick stopover before heading to Cambodia! Cant believe we will ahve been away for 2 months soon!!