Krabi town when we arrived was a sleepy place, a ten minute walk put us anywhere in the town we wanted to be. Set in the south west of Thailand, Krabi had been the obvious choice for a launch point from which we could reach the Indian ocean islands.

An overnight stop in the town was sufficient for us to have experienced the nothingness, so the next day we took a bus then boat to reach the island of ‘Ko Phi Phi’. An Island made famous for two reasons, one of which was from the devastation caused here in 2004 by the Tsunami. Which flattened almost everything on the island, but like a phoenix from the flames the Thai’s rebuilt in record time. Bringing both new and old buildings to life, the old having been built from the rubble left from the old buildings that where flattened.

We spent two mornings on Phi Phi beach which is where the Tsunami hit first, there are now evacuation routes that lead behind the new big buildings and towards the inland area of relative safety. Along with early warning systems and horns resembling air raids sirens, but how early the early warning is we are not sure, however anything has to be better than nothing! The beach area itself though is quite a stunning sight set in its horseshoe bay of green mountain sides and turquoise sea just longing you to dive in. The horseshoe shape contributed to the Tsunamis impact on the island as it acted like a funnel and a guide for the waves, increasing the pressure and directing the hit.

In the afternoons we had time to rest and read our books indoors as the rain as in most areas of the south tends to have a bit of a pour around this time. Following on from that we would have a little tour round the shops and price up our next move, before taking our regular table at a back street restaurant called ‘Papaya’. This place is unbelievable in every sense, it looks like an indoor street stall. But its reputation that proceeds it doesn’t let it down, the owner welcomes everyone at their table personally with a hand shake before taking your order himself. He then proceeds to cook most of them and sends them out so highly piled you think they have got the order wrong and sent two of the same on one plate. But oh no, its all yours and for a change its piping hot!

If you don’t manage to plough your way through the mountain of what actually is fantastic tasting food, you can have it in a take away box for later and at no extra cost. On top of all that though the price of these meals is less than half of any other food place on the island and yes it was packed every time we went.

Now If all that wasn’t enough it has comedy too, now you need to accept that this is Asia. Cats and dogs are adored by many here, this particular place is the cat side and has around six including kittens roaming around the place all the time. The daddy cat is the one that caused the hysteria though, he calmly padded over to the big drinks fridge and meowed at the staff with a longing look! Without hesitation the owner came over opened the door looked at the cat who promptly leaped two shelves to a space and settled down in a cosy ball to sleep. The door was then shut and that was it, cat in fridge asleep after asking to get in there!!!!!! Allegedly this is not a one off, he is like no other cat as he doesn’t like the heat and goes in there regularly.

What puzzles us though is how that came about in the first place?! And just so you know there was no open food in the fridge!

Nigh time on the island was party time for most and a lot of it on the beach, so we took a look. The locals would set skipping ropes and hoops on fire for people to jump through over and sometimes land on after too much alcohol! At this point we decided to keep our distance and entertain ourselves at others expense.

A morning tour took us to see the other reason this island is so famous and that is a place called ‘Maya Bay’. AKA ‘The Beach’ from the same named film. A long tail boat stops in a small bay where you must battle the waves to swim to the rocks, where a ladder of branches gives access through a gap in the cliff side into a jungle area. Here you follow a path through lush green plants and trees then down to an opening directly onto the beach.

The trail up to the point you reach the beach is as beautiful as you would expect, the sight from the beach is sadly not so. The film was shot from a very particular angle to make the entrance from the open sea look almost non existent, hence its secret location from the world. But the roaring speed boats of the posh and rich demolish all calm and picturesque views as they roar through the gapping entrance and on to the beach. Although this is government national park it seems here the money talks over the preservation of the bay!

An other place we visited after ‘Maya Bay’ allowed us to snorkel and show Alicia a real life clam with a bright purple inside that would close and open at any movement after you had floated still over it to allow it to open first.

Last but not least we visited ‘Monkey Island’ which is exactly what it says, an island and beach completely controlled by monkeys! These cheeky chaps waste no time in taking bottles of water and cans of pop from any unsuspecting tourist and continue to drink from them as any human would. “Don’t believe us? Look for your self”. Oh and just to remind you who’s boss the monkeys tug at you shorts before chasing you down the beach with the assistance of half a dozen friends! But if your smart you run for the sea as the furry clowns wont get there feet wet for anything!!

By now all three of us had taken a shine to Phi Phi and could easily have stayed longer, it was now nearing the end of Alicia’s second week with us and we still had places to get to. So it was book, pack, move yet again and on to the next adventure.