we arrived at the ferry terminal in Koh Tao late afternoon to take a ferry to Krabi. this was a big cargo boat and would take us and all the rubbish off Koh Tao to the mainland. once we were onboard we started talking to an irish couple who were traveling to Koh Phi Phi. and after a while we all went to bed. this was a suprisingly comfy journey and we didn't wake up at all. but josh stupidly left his bag on the floor while all the water from the ship washed around it. destroying most of his brouchures, toilet roll etc.

when we woke up at 5am we had to rush off the boat and get onto a ferry to take us to Krabi. we loaded the bags into the cramped minibus and found that we were traveling with the irish couple. the journey was bout 5 hours and there was nowhere to put your head to sleep. so it was a bad trip.

we eventually arrived at Krabi ferry terminal for all the people going to Phi Phi to get off. this included the irish that were telling us stories about how nice it was, so we looked out the window and thought "this looks s**t!" so we decided to jump off and join them on their way to Phi Phi. the driver didn't like this and started protesting but we outnumbered him and pursuaded him otherwise!

we had to run for the ferry that was inconveiniantly placed at the end of a jetty about 1km long. so we ran in our flip flops and had two bags strapped to us.

once we were on the ferry it didn't take long before we could see Phi Phi. it was a really small island that had recently been hit by the boxing day tsunami in 2005. and was still recovering.

the island had two mountains on either side and were joined by a beach in the middle that was about one meter high. and as you can imagine it was the worst hit.

once we got off the ferry we started to make our way with others to where ever the hell they were going! we ended up being herassed and being made to buy a really expensive room because we "wouldn't be able to find anywhere" so we tried anyway being cheap skates. after walking around for about an hour we managed to get lost and josh broke his flip flop so he had one shoe and i was pacing round trying to beat other tourists to cheap accomodation. it was quite stressful.

we stumbled over a builders yard and they told us to follow one of them so we did and he took us to a nice place where we could sleep. after settling in the manager told us we had to be kicked out in the morning because he had been booked up. so we went in search of accomodation for the second night.

after a while we found accomodation down the road and asked them to reserve us two nights. it was run by a small family and was quite hospitable. we walked around in the very humid heat the rest of that day and saw the beach and alot of Tsunami warning signs and how to get to the highest point of the island so that started to become abit daunting.

the second day we moved our stuff to the other hostel and made our way to the beach to hire some sea kayaks. we ended up paying a small sum for the hole day, thanks to some hard bargaining. we set of in our two man kayak and went the completly wrong way around the island and saw nothing but speed boats and long tailed boats. so after aproxamatly 3km we turned back and went to some other coves on the other side of the island. we visited a place called monkey bay where there are hundreds of macaques that swarm round and take food of tourists and theres was some nice snorkelling we did on this beach aswell. before we left we bumped into the Irish couple we met on the ferry and he kept telling us that the snorkeling here was "Savage!" abit random,i know, but it was very funny at the time.

we then kayaked back around the other way and onto another beach to watch the sunset. this was a nice cove and was pure white sand. we were later joined by some English and waited for the sun. i eventually fell asleep and awoke slightly sun burnt but ready for the sunset.

after watching the sun go down we made our way back to the beach chasing the English guys that set off ahead of us. (im competative) im glad to say we won them back and had done about 8km in total, which is alot in a bloody kayak, against the current half the way.

that night we went to get a thai massage. Josh had pursuaded me it'll be good. so i payed my money and layed down. and i have never been in so much pain. all i could think of is why the hell am i paying this women to hurt me for half an hour.

josh decided he liked the pain so he stayed for another half hour while i went to get a milkshake and a falaffel!

after that we just went to bed and tried not to make our "massaged" backs any worse!

we decided to take a trip out to the other island where no one lives and see the famous beach where they filmed "The Beach (2000)". we found a tour operator and it took us out to the other island and show us some sights that included a huge cave full of human residents, the beach and afew snorkel spots in remote locations.

the snorkeling was the best i have ever seen in my life it was just so clear it was unbeliveable. i think the visiblilty was about 20-30 meters easily. the beach where they filmed "The Beach" was actually a bay and they just use camera trickery to make it look enclosed. bust still the sand and the sea look just as they are in the film; Paradise!

we got back to the main island soaking we t from a days snorkelling and traveling round in a low boat powered by a V8 car engine! and josh decided he wanted to sleep under the stars! so i said OK, as you do.

that eventing we decided to go out for a few cheap drinks then go and settle down on the beach for the night. and as it happened we met the four Americans that were on our PADI course, so we ended up watching Thai boxing and getting absoultly plastered with them. but it was great fun and they payed for alot of our drinks; Bonus!

after leaving them to go to a comfy bed me and josh headed for the beach for the night. this ended up being quite comfy but extreamly hot. we knew there would be mosquitoes so we slept in our sleeping bags on a tropical island! (good idea Josh!) we woke up with the sun and found that josh couldn't quite manage to get into his sleeping bag as effectively as i could and he ended up covered in bites all over his upper half, while i just got my face bitted to s**t! i looked like the hunchback of notradame after my face swelled up.

that afternoon we went into the town to get tickets for the ferry to phuket. we left the town and went to the ferry to find that she only gave us one ticket so josh ran back and couldn't find out which tourist information place we had bought it from becasue we had been to too many on the island. so he returned untriumphant. so i had a go, ( the boat was still there by this point) so i ran down the jetty and into town to find this bloody tourist desk. after about 5 minutes i managed to find it and had to stand there arguing with her for 15 minutes telling her that she only gave me one while she said she gave me two! it was very stressful as i knew the boat was leaving at any time.

the only way i could get some tickets back was to go to the police and tell them my predicament and see what they could do. as usual they were useless and because im a tourist they fobbed me off. so i went back to the tourist information place to get it sorted out myself.

eventually she dictated to me, making me say "i had lost the ticket" so when she was happy, she gave me a ticket to the next boat!

we stored our bags and went off to kill some time for the next ferry.

we got onto this boat without a hitch and traveled to Phuket. when we got of the ferry we were aproached by an English bloke who told us Phuket was abit crap and we were better off going to another place further up the coast. he sold it us pretty good and it sounded cheap. so we shared a taxi with them and went to this mystery place.

we arrived at the hotel and we got to reception that it was going to cost us 11 quid instead of 7 that they had told us, this was because it was a busy season. so we payed the money and it wa the best room i have ever spent a night in!

that night we went for food and found a place that did lasagne for josh so we ate there. and it was the most disapointing lasagne i have ever eaten. anyway after that we decided to go to the seven eleven and get some beer and crisps and watch some films on tv.

so we got back our room and layed on our own double beds and fell asleep. what a nights sleep i had!

anyway in the morning we were flying out to Kuala Lumpor