Phuket - Phi Phi Islands

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So we arrived in Phuket, lovely flight which took 1.5hours and met a nice group of lads from Liverpool which was a breathe of fresh air seeing as we seem to have mainly met girls...

We went straight to our researched budget location for sleep which was advised by The Lonely Planet and got a lovely room with aircon which we abused to hell, consequently making the room a freezer though when we left for a few minutes we came back to find the lights being turned on and off, so Will burst through the door, knuckles clenched, to find a Thai man who couldnt speak any english making strange noises. Turns out he could hear the aircon in hyper speed through the door and had to turn it down....Git

So we went to the main strip of Phuket called Bangla road...or something?... to see what it's all about. Very busy, a constant battle to fight through middle age western men and there wives/hookers, lady boys and ping pong show promoters - also in comparison to Chang Mai we noticed a heavy price increase. So to be honest this sleazy place was all just totally...sleazy - so we decided to join them and ventured into a ping pong show. To avoid explicitness we shall list a few random words and you guys can fantasize what happened here. Long String. Ping pong balls. Multiple cigarettes. Fish. Birds. Moving on...

After the best nights sleep, and definately chilliest, we got our boat to Phi Phi were we made friends with an american couple and a guy from north london who were cool, and got our first bit of sun.

Now Phi Phi was amazing. Tom's definate favourite place so far, and Will may have to agree however it wasn't long before we spotted the 'brits abroad' 'lads on tour' all over the beaches placing frisbee and screaming 'we are the champions' everytime they successfully through the piece of plastic. Apart from this though the place was stunning, white sands, bluey-greeny clear waters, palm trees. Gorgeous.

We got a boat trip, where our poor appliance of sun tan lotion lead us to get fried and burnt, and this involved parking up on beaches, snorkelling to see loads of lovely fish and nice coral, and also of course saw the beach from the movie 'The Beach'. Although obviously busy with tourists it was still a beautiful sight and nostalgia setting in has lead us to have an intense craving to watch the film again. We also walked up to the view point on the island, which felt like the stairway to heaven. Extremely steep! But great view, check Tom's facebook profile picture for it.

In all honestly theres not really much to do in the evenings at Phi Phi except party. Everyones drinking buckets of SangSom and coke and redbull and theres loads of bars, which are giving free shots. There was one bar called the Reggae bar which basically has a central Thai Boxing ring where customers can put their name down and be entered into a 3 round fight, the winner gets a bucket! With Will being such a brave man he decided to do it, so after a bucket and two free shots he whacked on some shorts and pads and was standing in the ring, like a big red beacon of light, against an equally muscular hero. It was a close match, Tom filmed it all and was Will's sideline coach and as soon as it was over the contestants shook hands and had a giggle (after a nap) and we all had a great boogie at the beach parties which are amazing!

The beach parties have fire shows where "rasta-Thais" basically spin fire sticks and play games with the foreigners. It's definately clear that they don't really care for our safety though, as everytime a girl attempts fire skipping they slow it down for her, then as soon as a guy gives it a go it turns into a death trap so we definately avoided that. However we gave fire limbo a bash, and also the ring of fire which you have to jump through.

In total we stayed three nights in Phi Phi, probably sleeping 3 hours each night making the most of every day. In total it was an amazing experience but the travelling must continue - we arrived in Krabi earlier today but will fill you in on that next blog update. After Krabi we our making our way to Koh Samui, Koh Tao and Koh Phangan. Halfway through our time in Thailand and have definately settled in to being a backpacker.

Stay tuned for our next update, Tom tried to upload some pictures to facebook but it didn't work - maybe next time

Lots of love, Tom and Will xxxxxxxxxx

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Comments

[Heather]

I really enjoyed your Thailand post, and it reminded me of my own time there. Yeah, the prices seem to increase as you go south, but I miss it all so much! My blog is looking for travel reviews, photos, etc, to share. If you have the time, check it out at dirty-hippies.blogspot.com, or email me at [e-mail]. Continued fun on your travels! Heather :)