Koh Phi Phi

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Side note: Photos have messed up or got a virus, so will upload them when we have fixed the cards :-(.

28th - 29th Jan

SO we set off from Koh Tao to go to koh phi phi… this involved the "night boat" - a 9 hour boat ride to a port where we would get another bus before another boat to phi. We were told that these things had mattresses and you could sleep. However, by the time we had got there, all the mattresses on the top level were taken, leaving us with the wooden floor covered with mats. Also, by level I mean a 1m high 'crawl space'. We thought we would get in the middle to be in the thick of it - turned out to be a bit of a pain when scrambling over sleeping people trying not to wake them to get to the toilet! Also, going to the toilet gave us a view of the lower deck - which was filled with water and had to be pumped out the whole journey continuously!! Felt like a ride to a concentration camp! Met a couple of English guys who we would later see in phi phi. We eventually got to Suratani port (at about 6am), and had some comp toast and tea and got on the most uncomfortable minibus to Krabi. Booked accommodation here as well as we were advised that it wasn't cheap and can be hard to find a place - our hostel was called 'uphill bungalows'…not a good start. Got to koh phi phi after a second boat ride and met couple of girls (Cat and Lucy) - they happened to stay at the hostel next to ours. As we got to phi we there was a man with a wheel-barrow type thing who wheeled our big bags up to the hostel…problem was that we kept walking…right through the main part of town…over an open sewer and then up a hill…hmmmm. Total journey time - 16 hours. Still the room was nice - was good to have a mattress rather than wooden plank that we had in tao.. We needed to chill and had a schloff - halfway through I was awoken by a lil monkey staring at me through our window!! He jumped on the roof and then poked his head down at us before we could get a picture - don't see that in England!!

Went out that night as we felt we owed it to ourselves (for whatever reason lol). There are 4 main bars/clubs that people go to before 2am. We went to Tiger Bar and started with a couple of buckets. Started chatting to a random guy (Toby) next to us from the UK and it turned out he was the owner of the bar! He offered us some free shots - and you cant turn down free shots from a bar owner - even if they did happen to be tequila…in an oversized shot glass.. Had trouble keeping them down but manned-up. We then got talking to a couple of Aussie girls (Veronica and Kate) and went down to the beach and had a couple more drinks before calling it a night.

30th Jan

Day two - woke up, feeling fragile, got some food and sat on the beach. Went back to the room for a schloff and aimed to be out by 10… However… the last couple of days had taken their toll and we didn't get out of bed till the next day!

31st Jan

Got up early, as in 6am, to go diving. Koh Phi Phi is meant to be much better than tao and I was able to dive as was not bedridden. I had to do the DSD (Discover Scuba Diving) and Si used his shiny new PADI to do a fun dive. After a short journey to the site - next to the Bida Noc island we jumped in. Bit weird for me as was first time but after a short skills lesson was ready to go. Was absolutely amazing, Si went off in another group and saw a Leopard shark! I saw Nemo and a poisonous banded sea snake! Got back on the boat and had some lunch, then went to Bida Nai island for the second dive. Si came with this time, saw a couple of cool sea slugs, one giant fish with massive teeth and some lil crabs. Not as eventful as the first but was still good fun..Si was gutted as if he had gone with his first group he would have seen more... Back on the boat and back to phi.
We had met some NW Londoners that Si knew from Leeds (Claudia, Katie, Rachael) who were staying at 'The Rock' - cheaper accomodation (that we didnt know about) in the centre. Turns out we saw Ellen Cohen there - bit of Newberries in thailand... Also met the two Dave's we met on the boat over... Got a huuuge bucket, and took care of this in about 2hrs then all headed to Apache bar as it was their closing night - they were giving out free buckets as well - had at least two more. Music was good, bumped into Lizzie and Sarah also and spent the rest of the night having a good 'ol dance with everyone. Finished later than usual for phi - bout 3am, got some fried chicken and called it a night.

1st feb

Got up early early for our trip round surrounding islands. Felt rough - still, snorkelling near an island with crystal clear water wakes you up! Next stop was Bamboo island - not entirely sure why it was called this as there was no bamboo, was an amazing island, white soft sand. Ate, had a look round and chilled before setting off to the next island. Monkey island - so called cos there are monkeys there... We managed to see and feed some monkeys. Also, being so mature, we nearly wasted the camera battery taking pictures of their giant kohanas ;-). Then went past the Viking island and had a look at the caves and went for a swim in on of the alcoves. Murkey water, didnt stay in too long. Leaving the best til last was Maya beach - the beach beach as in the film. This is the most amazing beach we have ever been on - the water is crystal clear and bright blue, sand is the softest and whitest we had ever seen! Spent about an hour and a half til the sun started to set then went back to phi phi.

That night went to see some Mai Thai kickboxing. Started with lil kids kicking crap out of each other, and after a bucket we were cheering them on and betting with swedes. Met couple of swedish sisters, a cool english guy and a nuts dutchman (Mike). Then headed out to Reggae bar in town. Bit of a crazy bar - the bottom floor allows anyone to challenge anyone to a bodge version of kickboxing, and you get a bucket for competing. We thought better than to try clock up more injuries.. Instead spent most of the time in the upstairs with a dancefloor - there may have also happened to have been a wet T-shirt comp... Stomped home about 2-3am. Was a good night.


2nd feb

Had to get up early, hungover and run down to reception to book another night as we loved Phi Phi so much - was then back to bed until we felt more human. Spent most of the day on the beach just chilling and were pretty tired. Thought we would have an early one and just go watch the Spurs match. Met up with the crazy Dutchman randomly as happens in phi and went to an Irish bar. I was falling asleep and Si was gutted that spurs drew in the last minute after leading the whole match, and mike convinced us to go out for one drink. It never is just one drink though and we went to Tiger bar and Rolling Stoned bar. Met some French girls that mike knew and we all went down to Calitos Bar - had a club on the other side of the road - have never sweated so much - even though it was outdoors! Spent about an hour there then went to Hippy bar (the only bar open after 2-3am although they have to turn off the music). Met the other guys from the Rock and some English girls (Jo) and all sat on the beach chilling and talking - learnt some Sweedish also. We had to leave phi the next day, were originally going to go for the 9am boat (hence the early night), but it was now 4am and not a chance in hell that we were going to make that so 'decided' on the 2pm one.

3rd Feb

Got up, packed, checked out and paid a guy 100baht to wheel our bags to the pier (best 50p spent ever! :-p). Got a ferry and a minibus to Patong...

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