Phi Phi - Lipe (Day 29 - 34)

---

Day 29

After our final night of luxury we enjoyed another delicious breakfast and prepared our bags for our next destination. We popped down to 7/11 for a few supplies for the journey and then spent a short time relaxing by the pool before being picked up from the hotel. We got a ferry from Phuket to Phi Phi Don and were suprised to find that we had to pay 20 baht at the pier to enter the island (to help them keep it clean!). We wandered through the steets and headed for our hostel, PP Inghu Viewpoint which was located up a steep hill (Mandy had a little strop half way up and decided to sit on the road side due to being tired and hot!). We arrived at our tree top bungalow and although much more basic than we had gotten used to in the land of luxury, it was fine. We decided to head out to dinner and also to organise our next couple of days. We headed down to Loh Dalum Bay just in time to watch the sunset which was really beautiful and went to a restaurant on the seafront and enjoyed another Thai meal, a few drinks and a game of pool (although the balls kept getting stuck so we had to improvise!!) and a quick lie down in the hammok.

Day 30

We had orgaised a boat tour today to go to Phi Phi Ley and other local islands. We went to Maya Bay which is where the film 'The Beach' was filmed. However, rather than going the conventional way, the boat stopped off shore at Loh Samah Bay (the other side of Maya Bay) and we had to swim to some rocks where there was a load of steps. This would have been fine apart from having to take our flip flops with us (which is quite difficult whilst swimming!) and the strong current near the shore which caused you to hit the rocks even when holding onto the ropes!. A few scrapes and grazes later we climbed up the steps and down the other side and then walked onto Maya Bay. It was very nice although was a bit spoilt by the row of tourist boats and people packed on the beach! We spent a while here and then headed back towards the boat for round two but when we got to the rocks a guy offered us a lift in his canoe which we immediately accepted!

Back on board we visited Viking Caves which you currently couldn't go in as they were trying to encourage some of the wildlife back there which had been scared off by all of the tourists! We also went past another island but couldn't stop there due to our boat being too big!

Following some lunch on board the boat stopped just off shore of Bamboo Island where we could do some snorkelling. Brett was really enthusiastic to try this out and really enjoyed it whereas Mandy was a little apprehensive and after a few minutes realised that she is still a little bit afraid of putting her head underwater and is very much afriad of lots of fish swimming around her, however pretty they are (maybe this stems from the fish in the hair incident at Prideaux?)!! Mandy headed to the shore for a much needed sit down on land, whilst Brett slowly made his way to her enjoying all of the underwater activity, with dozens of fish swimming around him! We decided to do a bit of canoeing on the clear waters, which we both really enjoyed.

We then headed off to Monkey Island but due to all of the jelly fish in the water were told that we would head to Monkey Island II instead! We were initially disappointed that there were no monkeys waiting for us here until we saw loads of them making their way down from the trees and rocks, looking really cute. However, when they got onto the beach we soon realised they were only interested food...and then as we tried to take some photos they bacame slightly scary, hissing and chasing us into the sea!

Our final destination of the tour was Shark Point where apparently there are only sharks in the morning! However, it was another chance for some snorkelling and whilst Mandy stayed safely on the boat, Brett had another go and got a little scared when someone dived off of the boat and all of the fish he was looking at underwater started darting towards him!!

After the tour we headed out for dinner and decided to have a few drinks, including our first 'bucket' (the equivalent of a load of vodka red bulls!) which took us a while to get through. We were in a busy bar which kept playing a song that was a mix between something from the 50s and a dance tune, we decided we must try to find it when we get home!

Day 31

We decided to head up to the Phi Phi viewpoint before having to catch our ferry to Ao Nang which we thought would be a leisurely stroll. After what seemed like as many steps as The Great Wall of China and a few steep hills we finally got to the viewpoint where there was a panormaic view of Loh Dalum and Ton Sai Bays. We sat there for a while on a rock with an ice cream and then headed back down to our hostel to collect our bags. We decided to have lunch on the way to the pier and ended up in a Pirate Restaurant and had a really yummy cheeseburger! We caught our ferry and arrived in Ao Nang late afternoon and got a taxi to our guesthouse which was a little way from the beach in a residential area. The lady here was lovely and due to it being low season we were the only ones staying at the guesthouse which made it feel really nice! There was a lovely little restaurant (mostly used by the locals and was as cheap as chips) just next door so we ate there before walking down to the beach to organise our plans for tomorrow and onward travel to Koh Lipe.

Day 32

We had organised to go Elephant Trekking today which we were both really looking forward to!! We headed off early in the morning to the Nosey Parkers elephant camp which was only a few miles away from Ao Nang. We had a wonderful morning trekking through the forest on our 43 year old elephant and then feeding her some bananas to say thank you! It was so amazing to get so close! We also had a little walk through the forest and then got to see two elephants having a bath in the river! We headed back to Ao Nang with plans of going to Railey Bay but Brett wasn't feeling well so after a quick bite of lunch on the windy (and slightly cold!) beach we went back to the guesthouse so that Brett could have a lay down. We decided just to go to the restaurant next door again for dinner and enjoyed another local meal.

Day 33

We had organised our transport to Lipe the day before and were picked up early, suprisingly by car, and after some confusion as the driver couldn't locate the last person to collect we travelled to Pakbara Pier (along with an Irish guy who stank of alcohol and kept falling asleep on Mandy!) and then caught our speed boat to Koh Lipe where we were met by an amazing view of the island where the sea was crystal clear! Apparently you usually have to get on a long boat which then takes you to one of the beaches but as this was low season we arrived on shore at Sunrise Beach and were greeted by a local who tried to convince us to stay at his hotel here rather than at Pattaya Beach (where we had already booked a room) as "Pattaya Beach was dirty and not as nice during the low season". As we kindly rejected his offer and headed for the Bundhaya Resort we soon found out what 'low season' actually meant - Koh Lipe was a ghost town!! All of the bars and restaurants apart from a couple were closed and other than the locals it looked as though there were very few tourists. We eventually found our way to Pattaya Beach which was absolutely beautiful and virtually desserted! Our resort was right on the beach front and luckily it had a restaurant where we ate dinner although they were doing alot of building work there (whilst it was quiet, haha!) which was a bit of a shame! We dropped our bags off and then had look around and found an internet cafe that was open along with a shop where we bought a bat and ball ready for our beach day tomorrow.

Day 34

We spent most of the day chilling out at the beach, playing bat and ball and swimming in the clear waters. We enjoyed lunch at a beach side restaurant at Sunrise Beach where we also bought our tickets back to Pakbara Pier so that we could head to Langkawi tomorrow. We decided to have a walk through one of the gypsy villages where the locals live in tin sheds and keep lots of chickens and dogs! We were hoping to walk to Sunset Beach to watch the Sunset but we were unable to due to the path being blocked from one side to the other with a huge puddle and Mandy refusing to wak in the long grass incase there were snakes!! After another dinner at the resort, which was slightly tainted by all the bugs that were attracted to Mandy, we prepared for our last night in paradise.

---