Island Hopping

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I got another night bus down to Phucket, a popular stopping point before heading across to some of the islands. Phucket town is pretty quiet as most people head to Patong but it does have a few good bars. We left an impression of drunk westerners in one after the accepting the bar musician's invitation for anyone to get up and join him in a jam for as long as you want. This offer was then detracted after 2 performances of guitar and drums abuse by my friend and I as the less than impressed musician told us "we could sit down now". We must just be ahead of our time. I accidently stumbled apon a claim to fame by staying in one of the hotels featured in 'The Beach' film, a great dull fact to annoy people with.

Patong is the main draw of Phucket and I got a tuk-tuk across town for the short journey. This was one of my most harrowing journeys yet as an addition to my hangover this morning is the feeling that I have something stuck in my chest prompting the urge to throw up every 5 minutes. I managed to just about hold on and set about finding a place to stay, the tuk-tuk driver having no idea just how close he was to having a bad day. Here is where the main difference of Patong to the rest of Thailand hits you. Everywhere is pricey (relatively to Thailand) and there doesnt appear to be any backpacker places. Patong is a place for the rich and the older european sex tourists. There are ridiculous amounts of men with thai girls here and a lot of the bars on the strip are dedicated for these chance meetings. Its fair to say I wasnt a fan of the place but I was feeling pretty ill the whole time so couldnt really give it a proper look. I was gutted to miss out on the paragliding that they have on the beach, at this point I'm starting to believe something crawled down my throat at night and its actually quite painful to eat. I figure I'll ride it out.

I caught a ferry across to Koh Phi Phi island, hailed as one of the most beautiful islands to visit. It was hit pretty badly in the tsunami but I'd read a noticeboard in Singapore saying that they were rebuilding and needed tourism to get back on top. I wasnt quite sure what to expect but when I got there I could see the tourism is now booming again. Lots of people I've spoken to dont like Koh Phi Phi, they think its too crowded and has been ruined by tourism. I can sort of see their point, its a stunning place - incredible white sandy beaches and amazingly clear water - but it is rammed with people. However you can a have a right laugh there as there's loads of bars, a fun atmosphere, and loads to do by day. Its just like an 18-30s holiday destination but with some subtle differences. One of these is a bar that has a boxing ring in it. This place is nuts, they have some muay thai boxing by locals as the evening kicks off but then offer the incentive of a free bucket of whiskey to anyone who wants to participate. This is a masterstroke as you can guarentee some drunk westerners are gonna fancy their chances, some of the best entertainment you can see in Thailand. I wish they'd open bars like this back home, you can beat watching drunk people fight. Koh Phi Phi is also meant to be a great place to snorkel but my illness was still in its fragile phase so I had to give it a miss unfortunately.

After Koh Phi Phi I jumped onto a boat for Koh Lanta after some rave reviews from other backpackers. Its an unbelievably laid back place with plenty of beach bars and not too many people. At sunset I was sitting at a table on the beach front with an ice cold beer and meal just delivered to my table. Paradise. Until 20 seconds later when I was joined by an entourage of ants and mosquitos. You cant have it all. Koh Lanta is the perfect place to relax and has got the best atmosphere yet. There's plenty to do too and but I did as little as possible, obviously a well deserved break from all my recent hard work. The only tricky part was the fact that my hut was a 20 minute walk along the beach from the main beach bars, its quite surreal walking along the beach after a night in the bars and no stranger than when I managed to bump into a cow on the beach. Of course I didnt realise it was a cow at the time (no tell tale signs of 'mooing') and went about the rest of my journey pretty sharpish.

Next I took a boat over to Railay in Krabi, a mate had tipped me that this was one of the best places in Thailand. I wasnt disappointed. I jumped off the boat in the blistering heat lugging my backpack across the beach looking for the entrance to Ton Sai Beach which was a good backpacker place. After stupidly turning down lots of long tail taxi boat offers I found that the only way to Ton Sai in high tide was to climb up and across the lower part of the cliffs. With the help of a woman on the beach I located the beginning which looked an unsuitable climb with a 2 tonne (not confirmed) backpack as a prop. I mentioned this to the woman and she said that it was a pretty easy climb, but upon finding out my nationality, remarked "maybe not for english". This was all the motivation I needed and I valiantly sweated my way across almost getting stuck between some narrow boulders at the end. As I jumped (fell) onto Ton Sai beach I could tell the sunbathers were impressed. Railay is a good place for rock climbing so I thought I'd give it a bash. I did one half day course and found it pretty easy, I was a natural I thought, good fun too. I enjoyed it so much that I booked a full day eager to take on the much harder climbs that only pros would attempt. How naive I was, absolutely useless the next time, couldnt even climb up the easy parts of the cliff. Pretty embarassing considering I'd spend the journey there asking my new instructor to break rules and teach me some of the tougher stuff usually for those more experienced. I made excuses to the effect of a hangover and the fact I had endured the arrival of the nocturnal animal orchestra the night before. I only managed half day and sauntered off feeling properly shown.

All in all these islands have been my favourite places on my trip, the atmosphere is great (Bob Marley is God here) and you cant beat living on the beach for a few weeks. It was very difficult to leave the area but for the promise of further beaches further up.

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