Koh Phi Phi - 15/05-19/05

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The next day was an early 7amstart, which came as a bit of a shock to Lisa, in order to get to our next island Koh Phi Phi. God even gave us a FREE lift to the pier! We probably won't receive this kind of hospitality in a while!

The boat to Krabi had really overkilled the aircon (-6 approx) and despite comfy chairs inside, char opted instead to sit outside on the floor. 2 more buses and a boat later we arrived in Koh Phi Phi. We made our way to our home for the next couple of days 'Phi Phi dream guesthouse', there was much deliberation about whether this was the right place to stay when booking but we were greeted by a very friendly French lady who showed us to our rooms which was just the job! We'd opted for a fan whilst gage and Lisa were living it up with aircon down the corridor (how the other half live!). That day we wondered into town to get some grub. Jacks large chicken and cheese baguette with chips turned out to be 3 pieces of bread without crusts and 1 piece of plastic cheese.... note to self - we won't be dining here again. Char had been given a flyer for 'banana bar' who's happy hour was 4.20 to 6.20. Those are our kind of numbers so decided it would be rude not to....... great decision easily the best place on the island.

The next morning the four of us had pencilled in a snorkelling beach day. We decided to let Gage and Lisa lie in as we'd come to realise we are much earlier risers and they still were needing to buy snorkels. So we went down for breakfast about 08:30 and asked the nice French lady where to head, she gave us the names of two beaches for snorkelling (long beach and Koh ma dee) and said she'd give Gage and Lisa the same message when they headed down. So off we trotted to the beach which was the best part of an hour trek and little did we know that the plan didn't really figure out and Lisa met us later that afternoon whilst Gage went exploring the north of the island. That evening we had pizza and booked onto a snorkelling boat trip for the next day. We played beer pong and decided it would be fun to go and watch the Maui Thai boxing where people from the audience are allowed to fight for free alcohol. That was all the encouragement jack and Gage needed and soon they were both in the ring. Jacks fight was first and after ciggys and beer he did amazingly ... then threw up... twice.... and then his black eye came out! Totally worth it.

The trip was in a long tail boat with about 8 other people. We had a lovely driver and his beautiful 9/10 year old son as skipper. The sea was very choppy at the first reef so we ended up diverting to the same beach we had walked to the day before (just our luck). We then headed to bamboo island followed by monkey beach. By this time the weather was on the turn and life jackets were donned for warmth instead of buoyancy. After a quick but fierce rainstorm we headed for Maya Bay - the main reason for doing the trip. It is a beautiful cluster of islands just off the shore of Phi Phi where the beach was filmed. This was definitely the highlight of the trip and despite the sun disappearing the water remained hot as a bath so we loved it. Then unfortunately the storm really set in and it was torrential rain and really choppy seas so the decision was made to cut the trip short and we didn't get to see the plankton.

The rain didn't really stop all night and was still going when we woke up so we decided there was only one possible solution, head to banana bar and chill for the day. It's such a comfy spot and we settled down and watched cartoons and wrestling on TV, perfection. We did manage to pull ourselves away for a few hours when the sun had come out to climb up to the view point with Gage and Lisa. The views from the top of the mountain were breathtaking and you could see most of the island from there. Well worth the very sweaty hours climb. After we thought we deserved a break and so we headed back to our spot in the bar for some more chilling!

The following morning we walked with Gage and Lisa back to the peer, said our goodbyes and headed our separate ways, next stop Phuket to catch our flight to Chiang Mai.

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