Arriving in Koh Phi Phi it seemed like it was just another island however after spending the day here it has grown on me. Its obvious that the place was gutted by the tsunami and there is a lot of building work going on but there is a sense of enormous community as everyone pulls it together to rebuild the place.

We spoke to our travel agent who said it happened at 10 in the morning with no warning. She was 4 months pregnant and suddenly she saw everyone running to the hills, she stepped out and saw water rushing towards her so instinctively followed the crowd. They reached the fisrt hill then proceeded to climb higher where they stayed until she was airlifted to the nearest hospital to check on the baby. She'd had her travel agency for 9 years and now shes had to start from the beginning. She told us this after we had just paid for a big game fishing trip and our coach to Koh Tai, I didn't mind handing my money over to her she was cool and very helpful, a deserved cause.

The following day we got up at 7am after watching Liverpool thrash Fulham 4-0 filled with anticipation for the fishing trip ahead, excited about catching huge Malin. We met our fisherman at the agency and strolled towards the pier, the omens were good as the locals said he was one of the best fishermen on the island. After waiting for the tide to come in we set off. First we stopped to catch our live bait which consisted of dropping a line of about 5 hooks into the water which the fish just seemed to latch onto. After getting loads of bait we headed towrad the island where they filmed 'The Beach', this island is stunning like a huge rock formation just jutting out from the Andaman Sea, (cool to see however the amount of sight-seeing boats to look around is a joke and took away from the ora of the place somewhat). I liked the fact that we were on an old longboat with a local fisherman using his own tools. Anyway we headed off to go fishing which was very much a waiting game, we cast the bait into the sea but after trying in 2 seperate spots for about 3 hours we came back with nothing! Gutted! Oh well we saw a lot of the island and he took us to the actual beach from the film (Maya Beach). The rest of the day we chilled out preparing for an epic journey to the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia. Overall Koh Phi Phi oozes charm however its beauty is hidden somewhat by its excessive Westernisation. Koh Phangan is by far my favourite island.