November 22nd

Another beach day. Consisted of lazing, swimming, more lazing some eating and some sleeping.

November 23rd

Today we were booked on to a tour of Koh Phi Phi and the surrounding islands. We were picked up by a pick up truck early doors and transported to the pier about 5 mins down the road. Here we got on to a speed boat. Like children me and Laura raced to the front to get the "best seats". Turns out they werent the best seats. As the boat raced off at break neck speeds the front was bumping up and down like crazy. There were times we were completely lifted off our seats before being slammed back down on to them. It was awesome fun though, and ended up staying at the front for all the boat rides. Others came up the front before quickly turning back after realising they couldnt handle it!

Anyway, first stop of the day was Maya Bay, made famous by being the bay they used to film "The Beach". It was every bit as stunning as it looks in the film. The water was the clearest I'd ever seen, and looked just like a massive swimming pool surrounded by huge cliffs......this beach actually trumps Rest Bay.....just. We were one of the first boats to arrive, so we got to see it fairly deserted which was nice, because about 10 minutes later, there were at least another 10-12 boats all pulling in which made the beach pretty busy.

After a bit of swimming and exploring Maya bay it was off to another part of Koh Phi Phi Leh. Here we went snorkelling. It was incredible. From the moment you jumped in, you were surround by loads of tropical fish, all brightly coloured. The coral was just as colourful as the fish and looked amazing. Laura got spooked when she saw what she thought was a rock move. Not sure what kind of fish it was, but I've never seen Laura swim off so fast! We spent about 40 minutes exploring this area checking out all the wild life before it was time to get back on the boat.

We were then taken on a tour of another bay/lagoon on Phi Phi Leh. We didnt get off here, we were just taken into the massive cove and shown around on the boat. There were quite a lot of other boats milling about in there too. It was a huge cove all covered from the sea by cliffs and looked amazing.

Next we went past Viking Cave. Couldnt really make out what the guy was saying, but I think he said 4 people live in the cave permanently. Laura thinks it was something to do with them collecting the spit/mucus that the birds produce for birds nest soup or something!

Next stop was Phi Phi Don for a buffet lunch which was nice. Unfortunately we only had an hour on Phi Phi Don, so didnt have long to explore. Originally we'd wanted to stay on Phi Phi Don, but it was a bit too expensive.....maybe next time!

After lunch we were back on the boat, and headed for Monkey Beach. Here the monkeys know they will get fed by all the tourists that turn up in the afternoon. They all hit the beach and get fed bananas and stuff. One of them even stole a bottle of coke and sat in the tree drinking it. We only had about 10 minutes here to take a few photos before getting back on the boat.

For our next stop, the boat moored up in the middle of the ocean. You could see it was a lot more shallow though due to the colour of the water. It was a huge coral garden, so again we were all off the boat and snorkelling around. Here there were even more fish than before. It actually got a little freaky with the amount of fish there were, they were everywhere, and it was amazing.

One more stop before we headed back was bamboo island. This was apparently made when the tsunami hit a few years ago. It washed loads of coral up and made it into a stunning beach. We just lazed around here and did abit more snorkelling in the water before heading back to Ao Nang. We ended up at a different bay and were transported back to our hotel. After a quick shower we headed back down to the beach to catch the sunset. It was seriously one of the best days ever, perfect!

November 24th

Today we were booked on another island hopping tour, as we enjoyed the previous day so much. This time to keep the costs down we went for a longtail boat rather than the speed boat. It was much the same as the last tour including swimming, snorkelling and chilling on some of the best beaches in the world. We stopped off at this one island, which was basically a huge limestone karst in the middle of the sea. It was a bit different to the day before as when we jumped straight off the boat, you couldnt see the bottom. This freaked Laura out abit, but it was all ok as when you swam towards the cliffs, it got more and more shallow, and there were huge coral reefs about with loads of things to see. We even saw lots of "Nemo's" down there swimming in and out of the plants just like the film, so that made Lauras day.

I forget the names of all the other islands and coves etc, but you get the idea. The last stop however was called Phra Nang Cave. It was a beach with a massive rock face at one end which had a cave in it, in which there was some statue thing which the thais were praying too and stuff. You could also walk out around the cliff edge in the water which was pretty cool. The rest of the time we chilled on the beach until it was time to get the boat back.

November 25th

Today we left Ao Nang for Koh Samui. No dramas this time, as we were picked up just like arranged. A pick-up truck took us to the bus station where we caught the bus to Surat Thani. Here we changed our tickets for the boat tickets and caught the bus to Donsak. From here we hopped on the Seatran boat for an hour and half over to Koh Samui. After we had got on to dry land we took another pickup bus to Chaweng beach which was the other side of the island. We eventually arrived at our hotel about 7:30pm. Again this is an amazing hotel for the price. We are staying in a huge room with a massive balcony overlooking the landscaped gardens and awesome swimming pool. There doesnt seem to be many people staying here, so its quite quiet. We get the free shuttle bus into town (its only about a 5 minute walk.....but its free to get the shuttle bus, so it would be rude not to get it!) for a quick explore before bed time.