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Published: October 11th 2009
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Lazy day! We left Raily in search for Phi Phi. As soon as we hoped onto our long tail boat it rained. And I mean rained, hard! Matt and I jumped off the boat in search of shelter as there was no cover on the boat. We were then asked to join the boat where we were taken in the rain to a larger boat with a roof! We were wet thought and sat on another choppy boat, this time to Phi Phi taking us only a few hours.
Luckily enough it was fairly warm when we arrived in Phi Phi so dried in the sun and found some food and decided on a place to stay for the night.
After dropping our bags off in our room we went in search for boat tours around phi phi and to Maya bay where the beach was filmed. All tours were really expensive apart from those via long tail boats and even they said they might not be able to go due to the water being so choppy and waves so big. We only had time for one night’s stay in phi phi and so wanted to go out and see the island
on arrival however we decided to get drunk and play drinking games on the beach. And see if we could get a trip tomorrow morning. We found a tsunami garden in memory of those who died. It was surreal to be there with their tsunami warnings and escape routes still standing. That evening we were eating and Matt noticed a tsunami alert on the news, something had happened in the Philippines and Singapore had felt an earth quake, we were a little socked and hoped nothing would happen in Thailand. So we carried on drinking and found a party on the beach. They had skipping ropes made of fire and lots of drinking games that we all joined in and got to meet lots of people including a guy from London called Effy. Matt came second in fire limbo, I never knew he had a limbo talent I was impressed however very shocked when I realized he had burnt his head and now has a little less hair in that area of his head! (Don’t panic he is ok!).
In the morning we met Effy and joined a group tour around the Phi Phi on a long tail boat.
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Skipping rope of fire I was already nervous as I’m not a strong swimmer and have experienced and didn’t like the waves in a big boat net alone a long tail boat! One big wave and it would sink! (Please see pictures for how small and unstable they are!). We stopped off to snorkel in a bay, there were millions of stripy fish the water was so clear. I gave it snorkeling a go however wasn’t keen on how choppy is was and so left Matt to go exploring with Effy.
We then carried on in our long tail boat to Mayya bay where the beach was filmed. We were unable to take the boat into the bay due to the waves being so big. So instead we were told to jump off the boat and swim towards this rickety wooden ladder along the side of a rock with a narrow walk way to walk through the island to the bay. There were huge waves crashing up against the side of this ladder and with rope to cling onto. Without hesitation Matt jumped into the water. I needed a little more persuasion but after a while lowered myself into the choppy water. As soon
as I started swimming and felt the strength of the wave I freaked out. I was out of breath, and crying. I really wanted to see what all the fuss was about and so swam my hardest however I was getting extremely tired. Matt came over and calmed me down and rolled me on my back. After I got my breath I just went for it, I swam my hardest to get to this rope, ladder thing and once there was bashed hard against the sharp rocks. People were scrambling on and off this ladder and I hadn’t realized I had caught Matt underneath my arm as I was holding on so tightly to the rope trying not to get dragged away by the current. Eventually we both managed to climb up the ladder and noticed cuts and bruises on our arms and legs. I can safely say that was the most traumatic experience ever! Even Matt was flabbergasted, and nothing ever seams to faze him! I really did think I was going to drown and the pull of the water against and pulling away from the rock was something else! Once we pulled ourselves back together we took a
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Drinking games slow walk to ‘the beach’. It was beautiful, a lot smaller than I had imagined, and my immediate thought was, ‘I nearly died for this, what’s the fuss about!’ Matt and I spent some time taking in the scenery and then we headed back the way we came. I was shaking with nerves already; somehow we had to swim back towards the boat!
There were two ways out. One route was through a small cave where water was crashing through. The other route was up and over this ladder rope thing. Matt opted for the cave and after he started going through it got really rough. He had to really hold on as he got push back up into the cave. As it was getting rougher I opted for the up and over route. Matt waited for me holding the rope until I had reached the part where I had to just jump off the ladder into the crashing wave. People had warned us to wait until a wave comes in and to jump and swim as it pushes away from the rocks otherwise you will get sucked in a pushed against the rocks. I took my time and
tried to read the waves but I was clueless, a few smaller waves came in then a really big one. Matt shouted jump and without hesitation flew off the ladder into the water swimming my hardest. Matt jumped too and caught up with me, we didn’t stop and just swam until we got to the safety of the boat.
We couldn’t believe how dangerous that was; health and safety would have a field day! Next stop on our boat was some stupid money island. I wasn’t impressed I was far too traumatized and watched people from our boat get chased along the beach my monkeys. We then headed back to phi phi and in time to pick our bags up and hop on a ferry to Puket.
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