The boat to Ko Phi Phi was ramed with fellow youngsters, all stripped off down to their bikini's, and shorts, and it seemed, when we arrived, thigs were little different. Initially, we had a really positive vibe about this small island, whuich Lonely Planet told us would 'evoke tears' due to its amazing beauty. The town itself, I have to say is, quite quaint, - like that Martin? No roads, no traffic, except a few locals racng around on bicycles dtermined to knock tourists over. Small shops and boutiques line the streets, split up by restaurants, hotels and a few token bars. We loked it already, and quickly found a hotel and bagged the last double room with air con, for a good price.

As dusk rolled in, no correction, even before dusk arrived, the scne began to change somewhat. Groups of lads roam topless, can of lager in hand, already rowdy. We couldn't quite believe that this was what Phi Phi was all about. But, it seems verywhere around here is the same. Scantily clad Brits, and the scene is all about the alcohol. This is too, the only place we have seen to date where hoards of Vrits are working, flyerig, beghnd bars, and eve in tourist information. We felt as though we had been transported to some seedy resort like Magaluf. Every br advertises for staff, one such sign reading: 'Staff wanted: get paid to get laid'. We couldn't quite believe our eyes! Needless to say, we were shattered that night, so had an early night, but our hotel was full of rowdy Irish blokes, a cockrl woke us up at some rdiculous hour, and, in general it was a pretty poor nights sleep.

The following day. we headed straight for the beach, which, beautiful yes, was sorely ruined by bottles of beer and general rubbish. People clearly have no respect aroud here. We were nejoying the sun, when a fw hours later w looked saorund to see a jam packed beach, and once again, we felt as though we were on some European packed package holiday. To get away for a while, we rented a canoe for an hour, but didn't feel so confident as we began going towards the open sea, and the waves became larger. Nedless to say, we soon turned back, but we managed to be out on the water for forty minutes so I didn't feel too bad.

That evening, we arranged to meet a few girls w had met on the boat over here for a few driks. This was fine, but I wasn't looking forward to drinking, as I'm ill, yet again. However, when we met them in the bar, we were relieved to see that they were on the water too, and we all had fun not drinkng, and enjoyed watching all the drunk people and their rediculous behaviour. A part of this bar is taken up by a boxing ring, which Thai boxers took to and apparantly stage fought for the audience. Once they had the crowd going, tourists took to the rig and fought, and this time, fuelled by alcohol and their mates, were violently brutal. I can't even count how many guys I've seen here with broken legs, black eyes or other injuries. It all seems rather pathetic to me. But neverthless, we had earlier splashed out abit of cash to stay further north on the island, to hopefully see the real Phi Phi, and ts real beauty, which, hopefully hasn't been ruined by tourists. We are really looking forward to it, as we are sorley disappointed by Phi Phi so far, especially after haering so many good things, But perhaps the problem is, that everyone we meet is out to get hammered every night, and we're not?

The following day as promised, we were met outside of the travel agents, buy not one, but three people. WE had an entourage escort us to the pier, (I'm sure we could have made it there ourselves), and the two men present, even carried our bags for us. We boarded the ferry for the half our ride nirth, but stopped short of the shore, where we had to climb into a longtail boat to take us to shore. Problem was, the tide was out, and exposed the jagged rocks beneath, meaning even the second much smaller boat couldn't reach the shore. There was barely any water, and I would have happily walked through the water, sand and rocks. But no, backing up to us, was some sort of tuck, which appeared to be made out of metal. It was like a pick up truck, and once the staff had loaded everyone's luggage onto it, they ushered us on aswell. We were cramme like sardines, perched on either side of the truck, the luggage splayed inbetween. It was quite amusing, the effort gone to, to get us safely and dryly into the hotel, where we were greeted with drinks and cold towels.

We stayed here for four nights, only because there was an offer on, and we got the fourth night free. Unfortunately, our first full day was ruined due to the monsoon. We didn't leave the hotel room all day and the rain hammered, threatening to break in through the doors, as the wind relentlessly rattled them. What a great start. The next day wasn't much better. However, when the sun did shine, the beaches were gorgeous, similar to those of the Maldives in some respects.