Southern Thailand - The Islands

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I arrived back in Bangkok after Claire left a little bit anxious.. I was on my own again after having one of my best friends with me for the past 2 weeks. But I didn't need to worry and soon found my feet again..

I booked a bus/boat to Phi-Phi the next day and on the boat over to Phi Phi I met a really fun Canadian girl called Natasha. I met her whilst sunbathing on the boat deck.. before a monsoon started, rain chucking down like crazy! I almost thought my little backpack was going to be swept off board and had to hold my skirt down whilst trying to get inside the boat, it was an absolutely nightmare but funny at the same time! Once inside we chatted more about our travels so far and got on really well. She was part of a Canadian tour group but said she didn't want to spend her whole trip socialising with Canadians so invited me out that night.

On arrival in Phi Phi I couldn't believe how small it was, you literally get off the ferry and walk to your guest house as everything in Phi Phi is within walking distance! It's a tiny little island crammed full of little shops, bars and restaurants.. oh and the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen! That night I met Natasha and her friends..we started in a bar called Doho's right in the centre of Phi Phi which was good fun. Music blaring, beer pong being played, everyone dancing and having a laugh.. it was basically like being in Malia or any of those clubbing islands but better because you're in Thailand!! :-) All the bars were so much fun and it definitely lived up to it's party island reputation. After getting suitably drunk on buckets we headed to Slinkys which is the 'beach bar.' It's where everyone goes to party on the beach, there is a wooden stage to dance on and a mass of people just raving it up on the sand..there's a long wooden pole as well which is just big enough for someone to stand on but only just. So many people had a go on it and hats off to them, I could not get up there drunk.. and definitely would not manage to stay up there! It's so high too..absolutely lethal but it was funny to watch nutter after nutter raving up there!

The following day was quite rainy and miserable (stupid monsoon season ruining my fun!) but we didn't let that stop us.. Natasha, I and another girl we'd met called Suzie walked around the whole island and visited long beach which was well.. long! We also went to the viewpoint and took some snaps of the island from above.. the water is such a beautiful turquoise colour, you really do feel as if you're in paradise! That evening was pretty much a repeat of the evening before.. for the next few nights we just got very drunk in the bars and then partied on the beach at Slinkys! On my final day in Phi Phi Janine, a Canadian girl I'd met on the Halong Bay Boat trip in Vietnam arrived and we went to visit Maya Bay. For those that don't know Maya Bay is where the film 'The Beach' was filmed. This was such a good day.. we took a taxi boat out to the bay which we actually had to swim out too as the taxi boats apparently couldn't go round.. funny how they tell us that once we're actually on the boat and have no choice! I am not a strong swimmer so I had to use a bright orange lifejacket to get to the island.. not my best look haha! However on arrival I realised it was so worth it. The beach may be a bit overcrowded with tourists taking pictures BUT apart from that it is just what I remembered from the film.. absolutely beautiful, white sand, beautiful bay, turquoise water.. PARADISE! If Leo had been there too it would have been perfection. So Janine and I got very snappy happy! And then we went from there to Monkey Beach.. this is a beach where monkeys live, no joke! It's mad.. they are just chilling on the beach eating bannanas, running around and doing what monkeys do.. and they didn't seem at all phased by all the people around them taking pictures. In fact I heard stories of them nicking a bottle of orange juice of one guy and swigging it in front of him, wish I'd seen that! We also got the chance to do some snorkelling which was absolutely unreal..the water was so clear as it was a gorgeous day and we saw so many fish in an array of colours. Loved every minute and just writing about it now makes me want to experience it all over again!

After Phi Phi Janine and I headed to Phuket. We had a nice dinner the evening we arrived but sadly Janine had to leave early the next day leaving me alone in Phuket which I hated. Phuket is horrible.. do not go there! It doesn't even feel like you're on an island.. maybe it's because I came from Phi Phi but it is HUGE, and just felt to me like a big, polluted dirty city. Plus it's full of ladyboys and prossies. I've heard the nightlife is good but I didn't stick around to experience it. After one and a half days I decided I had to leave and made a last minute decision to bus and boat it to Koh Phangan..

I'd already experienced Koh Phangan 2 years ago when I went with my uni best friend Rach and we had such a fun time that I was a bit worried it wouldn't be as good 2nd time round. I was wrong. I had the best time ever yet again. I got nostalgic when I visited the same little Mexican restaurant 'Bamboozle' that I went to with Rach. I even sat in the same place on the wooden platform.. where you get to sit around a little table on cushions instead of chairs. And the food was just as tasty! All the little shops were the same.. selling luminous full moon t-shirts, bangles etc. The atmosphere on Koh Phangan leading up to the full moon is just buzzing.. and if you like to party you have to go here at least once in your life! I only had 3 days and 2 nights here until I had to head back to Bangkok to go home so I made those 2 nights count! The first night I dragged my friends to the famous Coral Bungalows pool party where I met up with Sophie my friend from Thailand. It was so good to see her again and we had so much fun dancing on the tables and drinking alcohol like there was no tomorrow. Later on I got chucked in the pool by some guys I was talking to.. just like I had last time I was at Coral! Things don't change..I always say I'll never get in that pool (the amount of people that have had sex in there is not worth thinking about!) but always end up in it.. yuck! It was funny though..YOLO!

The second night I got to see Alex and the Canadian guys that Claire and I had hung out with a bit in Cambodia which was cool. We all drank buckets on the beach.. Alex and I managed to spill a full bucket and so got another.. and I handed it to him thinking he was ready which he wasn't so we spilt another FULL BUCKET! In the end we managed to finish a bucket before drunkenly spilling it but it was a bit of a challenge! Later on in the night I met up with Sophie again, and we all danced the night away quite literally.. suddenly it was 5am! And my ferry back to the mainland was at 7am so I went back to get ready and rested my eyes just for 5 minutes.. and then it's 10 past 7 and I've missed the ferry... WHOOPS! The first thought that entered my head was 'Ohmigod I'm going to miss my flight home and my parents are going to KILL ME!' Because I had a flight to catch on the mainland to Bangkok and if I didn't make that flight I wouldn't make my international flight back to London, and I had absolutely no money left. How do I always get myself in these situations? I am reminded of that time in Cancun when Rach and I found out our flight back to America was cancelled because the flight company had gone bust.. but we still went out that night thinking everything would be okay, spent all our money on alcohol and had to ring our parents crying because we were stuck in Mexico. Anyway, I rushed to the travel agent at 9am to explain the situation, asked if there were any more ferries or anything I could do.. 'No sorry, the next ferry is at 2pm.' My flight was at 4pm (on the mainland.) You can imagine the panic that was setting in. I eventually found a way.. I had to get a ferry to Koh Samui where ferrys to the mainland were more frequent but time was not on my side. I got the ferry praying the whole way that everything would be okay! When I arrived in Koh Samui I had about 40 minutes to get to the other side of the island to catch the next ferry so I jumped on a motor bike taxi with my backpack squeezed in front of the driver. He whizzed to the other side of the island and I just made the ferry.. phew! I then took a bus the other side to the airport to catch my internal flight to Bangkok and life was good again! Except of course for the fact that my travels were over.. 😞

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