The journey down to the Andaman Coast was long and very hard work. We initially took the train from Ayutthaya to Bangkok which took a couple of hours and cost the grand total of 15 pence each. From Bangkok we intended to take the overnight train to Krabi in the south of Thailand. However, as it was a Thai public holiday, the train was full for the next 2 days with only 3rd class seating available (a seat on a wooden bench for about 15 hours). So, after discovering the flights were just too much money and required an additional night at a hotel, we opted to take a VIP overnight bus with a due sense of dread and impending doom (we had been warned off these buses as 'bad' nothing more - direct and to the point). We waited it out at a local cafe drinking endless cans of coke and mentally prepared ourselves (sometimes it does no good to think positive).

At the allotted hour we headed to board the bus. By now the weather had come out in sympathy with our mood - it was pouring with rain torrential of course. We boarded and began to head upstairs when we were re-directed to the lower section of the bus. It was not VIP unless VIP stood for very impractical positions to sleep in. We had 2 reclining chairs obstructed by a table and 2 chairs facing us. Nothing like the proffered brochure.

Departure was late due to a fracas from 2 customers equally not getting what they paid for. After an hour on the road we stopped at a garage for no apparent reason before another stop at 1am at some Thai greasy spoon. Our cellmates in the depths went from strange to annoying to downright bizarre. It was a long journey which actually arrived an hour ahead of time (something at least).

We hitched a ride to our hotel, the Bates Motel, with a passing boy racer, sorry taxi driver. We had a fairly relaxed day sleeping (or at least trying for the first part before heading out for lunch. and completing the last few bits of shopping we had to do. We ventured to the

We had a further few days as a pit stop to recover from the journey at a small hotel by the beach (near Au Nang) which we were sharing with a gecko and a very large spider. It was the perfect location for getting a ferry to Ko Phi Phi. It had a beach opposite which was pretty much deserted.

The route to Koh Phi Phi was a very picturesque, limestone jutting out of the sea in little islands and some stunning beaches along the way such as Railay.
It gave us some great photo opportunities even passing Chicken Island and island that happens to look like a Chicken no less! The mood soon changed as upon approach it began to rain, never a good omen when getting to an island miles from the mainland.

We got of the boat by crossing the 2 other boats it parked alongside and were greeted by a queue to a toll booth where everyone had to pay a nominal fee for the upkeep of the island, we argued the toss feel disheartened by it all and reluctantly coughed up (hotel having already charged us taxes and fees). We then headed to an ATM to top up on cash and was constantly bombarded with requests for taxi boats, hotels and diving opportunities. The Thai people here were all out to sell, sell, sell. The place had an altogether less relaxed feel to it and this island has no roads so getting to your hotel at first glance seems tricky. Having not a clue which way to head for our pre-booked hotel we asked a few people and was told our hotel was actually closed (insert sinking feeling). We dropped our bags having gone in a small circle and we stood with a chap trying to find out if we had a booking or not (we had already paid and was feeling fraught). 5 minutes passed and a man came along with a cart signalling us and we presumed there had been a misunderstanding and proceeded to load our bags and follow him and his hand cart and our luggage towards who knew where? We walked for about 10 minutes past the local hospital, turning sharply away from the sea front and down a back alley past some noisy smelly generators and through a passage way. To our surprise it opened up to a private beach with a stretch of sand with a few longtail boats bobbing up and down, and towards a hotel signalled as the one we booked.

The man then took our luggage up a spiral staircase to the building next door (presumably owned by the same hotel) it was a different hotel, half complete in some places but he room had all the amenities we'd booked and we were on a beach. Not too bad afterall.

We'd booked a couple of nights on Phi Phi with a view to being able to make a call to move or stay as we saw fit. Later that day we did some exploring and found the island to be a bit more of a club 18-30 destination with bars and restaurants and night clubs. Being low season it wasn't too manic but we were glad that we booked somewhere before arriving, as there seemed to be a number of people going door to door seeking cheap accommodation dragging some heavy looking bags around and in the more noisy part of town!

We actually had a few nights out and had a few drinks and unwound, we went to one bar with Muay Thai boxing on and watched the American WWF (wrestling) on TV before it started. The Reggae bar was expensive charging high season prices, but they had live entertainment which seemed very showy for the tourists. We decided against the buckets of booze on offer at a rennet a go, literally a bottle of local spirits with a can of fizzy pop in a kid sized sandcastle bucket. We've both been no strangers to the odd drink but also no strangers to the associated hangover and that looked like trouble. It did make us laugh though seeing sunburnt kids looking red nosed in more way than one. I guess it was a way of trying to encourage tourists to have a go in the ring against a Thai boxer as you'd get a free bucket if you did.

We headed back to our hotel and could her the music blaring across the bay from one of the nightclubs in a resort for partying on the island and we were a good mile or two away, I'd have been deaf for a week if we'd actually been there it eventually finished around 4 am so both of us didn't get the peaceful night sleep we were craving. The next day we had a beach to ourselves and were pretty zonked out, more shopping and general loitering around and a semi early night, thankfully no loud music and got the good night sleep we were craving. Phi Phi was spoiled somewhat by litter and a feeling of being un-finished and a bit in disrepair but I guess this had become a sum of it's own parts down to the type of resort it was trying to be tourists dictating somewhat for the party atmosphere. A shame really as the island is a beautiful place, limestone cliffs, lush green and golden sandy beaches and some very blue ocean surrounding it. I guess though we'd also been spoiled somewhat by Fiji, we booked our ticket off the island and waved goodbye on a ferry to another Island where we hoped for better things. Next stop Koh Lanta
Kelly & Mike