14. 21- 26th Sept. Spank that monkey!!

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21/09/07 Four of us gathered by the pool in the morning with one exception. Matt was in bed and did not turn up till an impressive 1pm. We basically played and relaxed by the pool side all day today entertaining the staff at the hotel with our childish ways. Also they had nothing else to do being that once again we were the only ones there anyway. After a very lazy day it only felt right to follow it up by having a lazy night. We found a bar that showed films and watched a film called Perfect Stranger. It was suprisingly good even though it had Halle Berry in it. Everyone decided to go to bed after that but Lee and I stayed and watched Saw 3 and dear god are some of the scenes disturbing! On the way back we walked past the bar where the foam party was and it was on again to our delight. We looked at each other and at the same time asked "fancy a quick drink?". We played pool while looking onto the dance floor and realised that it was mainly children and their parents dancing away in the foam. The funny thing though was that when i was going to the toilet i bumped into a bloke and his young daughter and he felt like he had to explain to me that the girl was his daughter. I suppose the word funny is the wrong word to use and the correct word would be sad. Anyway Lee was not feeling great so we headed back. Made the mistake of telling some Thai girls that we could not go in their bar as we were tired and going to bed and yep...they asked if they could come back with us! Nothing like playing hard to get!!ha

22/09/07
So today was the day when i would find out if the bank had my card or not. I was awake by 10am, got my clean laundry and headed to the bank. It was a different person at the bank so I had to go through many different hand actions to help explain the situation. Hoping he understood he walked off to a tin box, opened it up and lifted out about 50 cards...obviously it happens alot which made me feel better! The very top card was mine so you can only imagine the delight! I went to Harrys to have breakfast and tell all my adopted mothers that worked there that I had got my card back. I said my goodbyes to them all as we were now definatley leaving the next day. I met the others by the pool and partied some more playing volleyball. Lee, Chloe and I tried to beat the record but failed in our efforts. We gave us all adventure names for the few weeks to come. They were as follows. Lee was Banana Barnes (his surname). Chloe became Chloe Croft. Matt was Superman Salmon. Amy was named Indiana Amy and I became Barrie Cuda! Yes we are all in our twenties but it was fun! We had dinner at the food market again knowing that we would al miss eating here as its so tastey and more importantly its stupidly cheap!ha Lee and I went to the Irish bar to watch Liverpool play against Birmingham and the others joined after a bit of shopping. Matt bought his first pair of O'Neil surfing shorts...something he would never wear before he came out (not the closet but came out travelling!ha). At his bar though there were three tvs all showing live games so by the end of the night all our necks were killing from turning round all the time. We were back by 11pm ready fir an early rise the next morning.

23/09/07
Woke up at 5.30am to get the bus to the ferry port. Even though i have had a really good time in Lamai i was looking forward to moving on. I think that was the feeling shared by everyone so I appreciated the others staying an extra day to wait for my card. The bus only took us to a resting stop where we were to get on another mini bus. This next bus had four Israeli girls alreay on it who were less than willing to give up any space. So me climbing to the back to sit in between two of them and almost dropping my backpack on one of their heads did not go down that great!ha Trying to get a conversation out of one of them was like getting blood out of a stone but luckily they slept most of the journey and I had the pleasure of watching one of them keep hitting Matts arm with her head as she was drifting off to sleep. I tried sleeping but with one of them keep dropping her arm on my thigh and the other shoving her bum in my other thigh while trying to get some more room was proving to difficult to do so. We got to the ferry port and were on our way by 3pm. We were sat on the top once again dangling our feet of the side enjoying the amazing scenery while listening to our i pods. We arrived at Ko Phi Phi by 5pm where we had to climb onto a long b oat to take us to shore. This was another amazing dock placed in the middle of a beach that you would normally only dream about. A bit different to the ones back home! We took another long boat to Long Beach where we thought all the other backpackers would be staying if there was any. The only affordable accomodation left were huts for 200b a night with outside sharing toilets. The huts were set right back in the middle of a the jungle so we had a muddy path to climb up to get to them. The toilets and showering facilities were also about 40ft away so those with a weak bladder had the option of fighting of the mossys and running through the trees to get to them at night time or just go there and then by your hut. I think everyone went for option b! Within 30mins of being there everyone had been attacked by mossys and i think Chloe suffered the worst. I loved being back to basics but i new the others were planning on leaving as soon as they could and I could understand why. Not everyone is as wierd as i am. There was a bit of daylight left so we got changed for the beach and moved as fast as we could trying to avoid any more mossy ambushes! The beach was covered in stones which made playing frisbe very difficult and painful so we soon gave up knowing that another injury was about to occur! I have only just stared to walk pain free for the first time in ages so another injury was high on my list!ha We had dinner at the beach restauraunt and headed back to get changed for going out for a few drinks. When we were climbing up the mud path a bush moved right next to Lee and I and i have never seen a man jump as high before! I have to admit we all (including me) rushed past that bush as fast as we could as none of us wanted a close incounter with whatever it was! We went to the one main bar on that beach which was showing the Man U game against Chelsea. They also had a fire show on which kept the girls amused. After that Amy and Chloe sat on the beach and talked while us boyere s were talking to other lads at the bar about football and other pointless matters. We were all back in bed though after the football surrounded by the mossy nets provided! The best invention ever!!ha

24/09/07
I woke up at a leisurely 9am to find out from Lee that Chloe was awake at 5am since she couldnt sleep and wanted them to go doen to the beach to watch the sunrise. Ahhhhh...the joys of being single!ha We got a long boat back to the other main part of the island and walked to the next beach resort where we were greeted by a lovely sandy beach. Our accomodation was 350b a night and was in the middle of a construction site but since the tsunami destroyed just about everything here you cant be suprised. The tsunami evacuation route was right beside our guest house though which was good to know! We could see the beach from our windows which was awesome. With the beach so close we dumped our bags and gave it a visit. It was a perfect setting for the american football to come out as you had no stones threatening to break your toes. Although i could probably be able to find the one stone on the beach to do so knowing my luck at the moment!ha We decided to rent two kayaks for three hours to go on a mini adventure. To start of with Lee and Matt was in one and Chloe, Amy and I was in the other. Im not to sure how that worked out as in the three persons kayak only two of you can paddle anyway! Lee and Matt done well!!ha Chloe and I took up the challenge and i must say we done very well. We went to Monkey Island which took us about 20mins and suprise suprise we were greeted by...monkeys. The beach was very quite as the only way of getting there is by boat or kayak. We pulled up our Kayaks and walked down the stretch of beach. It was a fantastic beach and the feeling of being deserted was hightened by the fact that there were no roads or any others man made features there. When we were at the other end of the beach we heard some noises. The monkeys were taking things out of the other groups kayak so obviously they rushed out of the sea to stop them. We were laughing till we realised that their kayaks were close to ours so at that point Matt and Lee ran back to ours! Nothing had been taking thankfully! Would have been funny though if they had! The other people left shortly afterwards leaving the beach all to ourselves. We grabbed a coconut and started to smash it against some rocks to try and feed it to the mokeys. We were doing ok till one of the bigger monkeys decided enough was enough and thought he could do better himself. The next time we threw it the monkey grabbed it and...well...would not let it go! At first Matt took the challenge and approached it making a hissing noise until the thing showed its teeth. Needless to say Matt turned straight back round and said "f**k that!". We then came up with the idea that we would overwhelm the monkey with numbers as our advantage ofsize was not working. Matt and I feeling confident, approached it once again making hissing noises. Since my concentration was fixed on the monkey, I had not noticed that Matt had obviously realised before me that this was not going to work and had stopped in his tracks. What happened next was scarey for me and halrious for the others! As i got closer the monkey got...mmm...angry and decided he could take me on. He left his coconut and ran straight towards me! As you can imagine I was not best pleased with this situation that had been brought upon me and I took a fraction of a second to decide to act like a man... and run away as fast as i could! I headed straight to the sea hoping that i could out swim the devilish thing unless it was some sort of super monkey on steroids!ha It took me 5 seconds to reach the water and i turned round to see two things. Firstly, the monkey had returned to his trophey of a coconut (which i was very pleased about!) and secondly, my friends were almost rolling in the sand with laughter! Unfortunatley (fortunately for me) Amy had stopped filming the monkeys up to that point. Otherwise you would have been abled to see that bit of film on u tube! A daddy of all monkeys came on the scene and forced the other monkey away to my satisfaction. My ego (if i had one anyway) took a bit of a battering though!ha We were able to get our coconut back when some other people arrived and all the monkeys went over to investigate. We eventually opened it up (after i had to collect it!!) and fed the monkeys. We left the island but this time Amy and I were in one Kayak and the other three were in the other. We got back an hour early since Matt was getting a bit stressed. Matt is the opposite of myself and alot more comfortable on land so fair play to him in the first place for getting in the Kayak. The weather was getting worse so i think he got a bit freaked out. We were back by 2pm and stayed at the beach as the day was young. Lee, Matt and I played frisbe and then went hunting for crabs as the tide was out reveiling rock pools. We managed to catch quite a few and went back to show the girls and not suprisingly they were not impressed. Us boys were proud of our hunt which was the main thing. Chloe, Amy and Matt decided to nap on the beach so Lee and I went shopping for some new clothes and then head for a pub for a well deserved beer. The others finally joined us later on and we went for dinner. We ended up at a bar playing cards. Lee and I were well tired but we were being forced to stay since the rain was hammering it down. We finally got back for 11pm.

25/09/0 7
Today was the day we planned to take boat trip around the surrounding islands including going to the beach where the film Beach was set. You can imagine our disapointment when we woke up to find stormy weather instead of blue skys! We decided to head to this awesome bakery we had found to have breakfast and keep our fingers crossed with the hope the weather would get better within the hour. As it turned out the weather did get better and the long boat trip was on. To be honest i think they would take you out in a hurricane they want your money that badly! Our first stop brought us to crystal clear lagoon surrounded by amazing cliff faces. The sea changed from blue to green depending on the sea bed and the many species of fish visible from our boat awaiting for us to jump in with our mask and snorkle had us all really excited. Matt however was more than happy to stay on the boat as the idea of being surrounded by fish does not appeal to him. Once the boat anchored up the rest of us jumped in and the water was that clear it felt like you could see a fish a mile away. There was one thing that amazed more than anything else...Matt actually conqureded his fear and jumped in. Not only that but within a few minutes he was loving it and swimming down to the sea bed to get a closer look! We had four big angel fish keeping us company along with many other colourful fish. We almost had to drag Matt out of the water when it came time to depart! The weather was getting better by the minute as well making the day that much better. Our next stop was very similar in appearance to the last one but it had a hidden extra. Our driver gave us a waterproof bag ( im going to buy one now they are that good!) for our camera and told us to head to the cave where we would find The Beach once we climbed through it! There were quite a few boats anchored up and some of them were throwing bread out to the fish so as we were swimming towards the cave and were literally fighting our way past the schools of fish. We got to the cave where there was rope to aid you in climbing through. This really did magnify the feeling that you were going to somewhere special. Once we had all climbed through we walked for about two minutes and there it was...The Beach. I was hoping that the French girl who starred in the film was going to be lying in the sand waiting for me but I think I made her wait to long...she was knowhere to be seen. For some reason as well we were all expecting to have the beach to ourselves after the climbing through the caves and everything (I know that sounds really nieve but we are aloud to live in our little fantasy land every now and then!ha) but seeing as there was about 10 boats there it seemed like everyone else just takes the easy option and sails in! We all had bewildered faces for the first few seconds! Up to this point the weather was turning for the worse but as we made our first footprints on the sand the sun came out. We all dived in the sea. Lee and Chloe were trying to kiss under water but each time they resurfaced all you could here from Chloe was "that was crap," and "thats not how a pictured this moment!". Safe to say that it was obviously more difficult than it looked on film! As we were lying in the water the rain decided to bless us with its presence again which turned out to be agood thing since people started to leave. We took the opportunity to take some photos and Chloe and I were the only ones sad enough to jump like they did in the film in that group photo. As we were approaching the cave a girl rushed past and pointed out some nasty looking storm clouds coming our way. This girl entered the cave first, followed by me and then the others. The waves were crashing into the rocks which made entering the water rather difficult and dangerous. I waded in holding the rope to find the easiest route away from the rocks as we all new that there were some quite big sharpe rocks about. I assisted everyone of the rocks into the water and even people I didnt know. The two or three strangers reached out to me to take their hands to help guide them in so by the time i was done my friends were half way to the boat!ha It was really choppy and a good adrenalin rush. We got to our long boat all feeling full of life! The journey back was a buzz in itself. Matt and I were sat at the front at first with rain pouring down and the boat getting thrown all over the place by the ever growing waves. Matt decided to take what little shelter the long boat provided and swapped seats with Chloe. While Chloe and I were sat at the front clinging on for dear life the rain turned into hail stones which felt like pin pricks on our backs. With that and the waves...well...what a rush! There was one point though when i noticed two or three huge waves heading our way and when i turned back round to look at the drivers reaction he had this pure horrified look on his face...which is never a good sign!ha We made it back in one piece apart from Matt who had a few cuts on his feet from the rocks. We returned to the bakery for lunch and all agreed how awesome the last three hours were. We only had an hour to kill as our ferry was at 3.30pm to take us to our next exotic island. Lee and I opted for sitting on top while the others were down below feeling the benefit of air con. Lee and I were cloud spotting and found a cloud that actually looked like a dog on a surf board having a great time! When we arrived we had to climb on board a long boat as the ferry could not get any closer. The long boat took us as far as it could but it still meant us jumping into the sea to knee height and wading to the pier. I was one of the lasts one off and i managed to find an anchor under the water with my foot and tripped over. At the same time my backpack strap broke which meant the bag got its first swimming lesson!ha My foot was tangled up so i had to hand my wet bag to a kind lady for me to entangle it. As i met the others further down the peir I found out that Chloe had done exactly the same thing. She also fell over and...dropped my other bag! Yep...my day bag and main backpack both got baptised in sea water that day! That sums up my luck which was well funny! I am one step ahead now infront of my bad luck i seem to be having. I invisioned this a few days ago and decided to wrap anything of value in plastic bags so nothing was ruined! Haha bad luck...maybe next time! All the accomodation we were finding were well out of our price range but Amy found this one beach in the Lonley Planet that sounded perfect for us backpackers. We walked trying to find it and was told that we had to take a long boat to it but some bloke came up to us and told us there was a small rocky path we could take...and there was. Bearing in mind we had all our bags, the path was over sharp rocks and boulders. It took us about 30mins for all of us to get accross! Lee and Chloes bags both weigh around 20kgs which was fun! Safe to say when we got to a the beach we celebrated not getting injured by having a well deserved beer. I stayed in a 200b beach hut which was back ti basics and the others stayed in some nicer accomodation further up the beach. My toilet light was not working and the very laid back lady at reception just said that she would fix it tomorrow. When i jokingly said that i would shower in the dark she just smiled and nodded! A shower in the dark it was to be!ha They did let me join in on their feast of sticky rice so it was worth it! I met the others at their bar which was located under an overhanging cliff face. As you were lying down on the pillows provided sipping a beer you looked up at this cliff face (hoping that it wasnt going to fall!), palm trees and stars! Not a bad location and well worth the journey. Come around 10pm we called it a night and I headed back to my beach hut. The only problem being the tide was in and i got fairly wet doing so!ha I got back to my hut in the pitch black to find out that my electricity was out. I had to find my torch in my bag. I finally found it and then realised it was a race against time to get into bed since my torch was dying! I managed to get into bed and get the mossy net over me just in time but not before headbutting the wall fan and knocking the protective grill off! I invisioned the mossy net getting caught up in the fan blades if the electricity came back on during the middle of the night so i made sure the fan was turned off!
I must say though today was a fantastic day and none of us could believe that we done all this in one day! It felt like two or three days worth. Awesome!!

26/09/07
I woke up at 10am and head down the beach to meet up with the others. Matt, Amy and I had some of the best porridge and banana we have ever tasted and decided to discover more of the island and went for a walk. Three became four as the dog belonging to the guest house decided to join us on our hike. We got excited as we found another part of the island with more people. After a long walk we headed back with the dog still by our side. We got back, met up wih Lee and Chloe and thats when i decided to have my second breakfast of the day! The weather was not great and since we were on a remote beach there was not much to do apart from chill out. The only internet cafe was not open till 6pm which would have been an ideal time to catch up on the travelblog. I decided to kick a ball around on the beach with one of the blokes who worked at the bar and the other dog belonging to the guest house decided to join in as well. The dog kicked our arse! While the others were relaxing at the bar I was playing fetch with the dog and throwing rocks into the water. The dog was returning rocks but rocks about four times the size as the ones i was throwing in. I thought the dogs teeth were going to get ripped out! After a while we thought enough was enough and take a risk on the weather and walk round to the other side of the island to visit the caves. The tide was completely out so we didnt have to walk over the big boulders which made it alot easier! We had lunch then the rain came down so we had to head back before it got worse. Lee and I spotted some large feet made out of sand on the beach on the way back. We told Chloe so she went to investigate. I hid behind the cliff face and waited for her return with the dog who followed me almost giving my where abouts away. Luckily Chloe was in a world of her own walking back and i managed to jump out and give her the biggest scare ofher life. I cant repeat what she said to me as it was to rude!ha We had dinner and i decided to head back to my beach hut before the tide came in and before it got to dark just incase the lights were not working still as I had to pack. We were leaving early in the morning and going to Malaysia.
I could tell I was going to miss Thailand but knew I would be leaving knowing I would return again some time in the future.

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Photos

Matt taking this photo before he jumped in!
The last photo taken by Matt before he became Scuba Salmon!ha

Matt after getting over his fear of the sea!
Heading to the BEACH!

Climbing through the cave to find the BEACH!
Before the storm came. It was slightly different coming back!

Why is there so many people there?
And why didnt we just sail in like everyone else?! Was more fun our way though!ha

Group photo just like on the film The Beach.
Nobody was sad enough to do the jumping thing!

Us in Railay.
Sitting at the beach bar under a cliff face.

Railay.
The beach we had to climb over rocks and boulders to get to.

Bye Thailand.
My last photo taken in Thailand.