The Life of Greek…
Koh Phi Phi, Ko Lanta, more Koh Phi Phi and a load of traveling…

Koh Phi Phi – 13 Dec to 17 Dec
When I arrived on Koh Phi Phi, it wasn’t quite the serene paradise that I had read about and imagined after seeing the film “The Beach.” It is packed with tourists and the bay is heaving with boats. I bumped into a French guy called Ben on the pier, holding a sign saying he had a spare bed in his bungalow and wanted to share. I took a quick look and gambled. The room was in a nice location but had no hot water (something I am now accustomed to), no flush on the toilet (bucket), a noisy fan (sweats!), and a bed of springs to sleep on. On the other hand, Ben turned out to be a scuba diving instructor and so were his two friends. That meant 1-to-1 lessons for my Advanced PADI which takes me to 30metres depth. Happy days!! Every cloud….

We went on a snorkeling trip around the island and its sister Koh Phi Phi Leh, home of Maya Bay (where the beach was filmed). It’s a fantastic setting - light blue sea and towering cliffs on either side of the bay – you literally are surrounded. Then a big fat momma from Blackpool walks into your view…always nice! Snorkeling was cool too, diving to depths of 5-6metres on one breath, swimming with some Nemos, eels and hundreds of other colourful fellas.

Highlights from scuba diving were floating along inside a huge school of barracuda, seeing a lobster at work and a couple of fish taking turns to dig a home in the sand. The best was during an underwater test, when a turtle swam past about 2 metres away – that was unreal! On the last day we dived a wreck, a car ferry sunk in 1993 under dubious circumstances (hit a reef or blown up by the captain after the dive centers bribed him?) and saw 3 Leopard sharks! Woooooo!!

Ko Lanta – 18 Dec – 20 Dec
Phi Phi wasn’t really the chill I expected so I went to Ko Lanta. This time it really was time to chill, so I decided to get my own bungalow and literally read, listened to my iPod and watched the footy in the evenings for 2days before heading back to Phi Phi for Xmas. I even managed to squeeze in a non-alcoholic day, subbing Chang Beer for every flavoured shake on the menu! A day of diving on a speedboat wrapped up my time there which was terrific, seeing a school? of squid which made me pretty hungry and what looked like an underwater skyscraper – phenomenal.

Phi Phi again…21 Dec to 26 Dec
My second stint on Phi Phi involved the build up to Xmas – not like any other Xmas I have ever had. The prominent feature was the BUCKET. Have you ever had a bucket of Whisky and Coke with your Christmas lunch?? Welcome to Thailand. I also chipped my tooth when doing pressups – the floor moved up I swear!! What a sh1t way to chip your tooth by the way…get in a fight or crash on a moped, that’s fine, but head butting the floor?!

I left on Boxing Day to catch the 9am ferry – which is possibly one of the most painful things I have ever done. I had until noon to get to Phuket and pickup my passport which was in an Indian VISA office. Surprise…the boat was delayed because two mugs got on the wrong boat! I sh1t myself. If I had missed the 12 deadline then I wouldn’t have been able to fly to Kuala Lumpur and I would have been stuck in Thailand with no passport and an expired VISA. I think the other description for that starts “Up sh1t creek..” Luckily, due to a fast driving, money STEALING cabbie I made it with minutes to spare. Phew!

I spent the rest of the time since Boxing Day getting to India. I flew to KL and chilled for a day watching DVDs and then left early for my 3 stop trip to Cochin for Paul’s wedding. Lets just say when I landed in India it was like I never left… :-)

More to come next time….

Ciao for now – I have a pre-wedding dinner to attend.

Will