Koh Phi Phi

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The 1 1/2 hour boat ride to Kho Phi Phi Don was rammed and pretty hot and sweaty. Larry and myself kept ourselves amused by attaching Dan's belongings to the lifejackets as he slept. We got an absolute deal for our accomodation, right in the centre of it all, but we'd opted for fans instead of air con, and the nets didn't keep the mosquitos out, of which there were loads.

Koh Phi Phi was awesome, and my favorite place in South East Asia by far to date. We spent the first full day chilling on the beach in deck chairs, and floating in the sea. The nightlife on the island was pretty awesome too, with bars offering all kinds of entertainment from huge fireshows to live ladyboy fights.

One afternoon we took a tour to Maya bay, which is the beach were the film, 'the beach' is filmed. On the way we partook in some cliff jumping which is not the best idea on a hangover. The cliffs ranged from 9 metres to about 20 metres. Larry had had enough after the first 9 metre jump and sat back on the boat nursing his hangover. After I dived in head first, the challenge was set. It was Will who braved it first, after I'd shown him for a second time the perfect technique. Dan then held up the group for a further 10 minutes, whilst he minced about trying to work up the balls to dive, and eventually he did.

We got to the 20 metre drop and out of us 3, I was the first to go after Will, who was next in line told the guide "he's next!" and pointed to me.

I'll be the first to admit that although 20 metres doesn't sound high, it bloody well is when you're standing on the top. But as all experienced daredevils know, you cannot hesitate and you have to have complete confidence, otherwise you can really injure yourself. The jump itself involved jumping out a few metres first, to avoid the rocks sticking out below, and then rotating the arms in backwards circles to pull yourself back into an upright position, tucking the arms in and pointing the feet just before impact.

I left the pointing of the feet a bit too late and the family jewels took some of the impact, which I took a few minutes to recover from. The 9 metre jump compared to this one was childsplay. I stayed under the cliff treading water for the next 5 minutes and could see the boys sitting back from the cliff edge chatting with the guide. Will then came to the edge and was about to jump when he went back to the other two and sat down again. A couple of minutes later he was back in position and after literally 10 minutes, and a lot of taunting (chicken noises etc) from me he took the plunge. It was then Dan's turn. After about 10 minutes of mincing, Dan asked the guide to show him how to do it, therefore leaving himself up there on his own. About another 15 minutes later, with everyone else in the boat, bored of waiting, Dan finally jumped. And this is the reason why you'll only find 1 video of the cliff jumps.

Next we headed to Maya Bay, and the island where 'The Beach' was filmed. Here we snorkelled in some of the clearest waters yet, with hundreds of tropical fish. We then clambered across somerocks and through a hole in the cliff, eventually finding ourselves on the beach. This unorthadox way of getting to the beach is due to the restrictions imposed on docking in the bay. We set up a game of beach footy with the Thai lads running the tours, which we played until it was time to head back home.

That night, as I was suffering from earache, I stayed in and got an early night. The other boys went out, and found themselves in 'reggae bar', where there was live Thai boxing, and you got a free jug if you got in the ring. Will was brave (stupid) enough to get in the ring with what turns out a psycho Irish lad, and is now sporting a rather nice shiner, but seriously, fair play to him, I've seen the video and it looks like a really intense fight.

After another day of chilling on the beach due to a cancelled big game fishing trip (boo!) we took the ferry across to Phuket, where we planned to meet up with Natalie, a mate from home now living in Bangkok.

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