We hadn't actually planned to go to the Phi Phi islands at all. Our flight from Siem Reap (with the surprise US$25 departure tax imposed by the private company to whom the government, in true Cambodian style, sold the airport!) landed in Phuket in south-west Thailand, an expensive, tourist island that we didn't want to stay on particularly. Walking out of the airport, we saw a desk that was selling ferry tickets to Ko Phi Phi, leaving in an hour. Why not? We bought the tickets, shared a taxi into town with two very young and cringingly offensive (to the locals, not us) English girls and then jumped on the ferry for the 3 hour trip, past little rocky islands with tiny white beaches to the main island of the Phi Phi's - beautiful Phi Phi Don. We've seen so many pictures of the stunning view from this island (eg, on the introduction page of our website!) and it was quite weird to wake up every morning and look out on it! To be honest, though, it's not really a backpackers island - it's very developed (which has happened pretty recently and very quickly, judging from the horrified comments we kept overhearing from return visitors) and although not expensive to a regular holiday-maker, it was very hard for us to stay within our budget. It was the second highest price we'd paid for a room this trip (although, still only about 12 pounds) but, to be fair, it was in a lovely location on the beach, had a pool and included a yummy buffet breakfast! So, there's not a huge amount to tell but we had a fantastic time just wandering around the beaches, snorkeling and sea-kayaking out to little coves and drinking cocktails.