Sinking ships, Half Moon Party & Thai boxing

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We had to be up; showered and packed early to catch the ferry to Ko Phi Phi. We got a banana shake then boarded the open bus for our transfer to the port. Settled on the outside deck of the ferry and basked in the morning sunshine. We stopped in the middle of the sea, and there was an announcement (which we didn't hear) then people seemed to be packing their things away and looking a bit bewildered. Was it just me or was the boat tipping??! The Captain popped his head out of the Control room and said "Excuse me, Excuse me, you must board the other boat, this boat can't balance". All the passengers formed a queue and started clambering accross to a nearby yaught. Amazing how we all remained calm and no one tried to push in.
The yaught was fantastic and we made our way to the front deck to sunbathe. Lots of people joined us which was a shame as we had it to ourselves at first. Arrived at Phi Phi at 11.30am. Tropical fish surrounded our boat in the turqoise water beneath us. We watched in horror as our bags were litterally thrown from the yaught to the pier - a nervous few minutes. Hotel touts lined the pier and said we had no chance of finding anything less than 1,500THB. Up the road we agreed a room for 800THB.
The guy on the desk warned us not to be disappointed, but after The Jungle Shack in Ko Phangan (aka The Spider Sanctuary) we are prepared for anything! The room wasn't so bad afterall, it was huge with a monsterous mattress, and had been dusted and shined to within an inch of it's life.
We went for a walk through Phi Phi centre - it's like a massive market, all the interlinking alleyways are filled with food stalls, tattoo parlours, and shops selling beads and sarongs. We ate skewers of chicken, pineapple, and peppers, then sunbathed on the beach. It is a pretty bay with calm water and very little breeze. It was full of young people and reminded me of Ibiza, which may sound ideal, but people drinking, covered in body paint and thick Scouse accents fighting for attention seemed to lower the tone, and it was far from relaxing.
We stayed for an hour but the heat was unbearable without a breeze, and we realised just how burnt we were from the boat trip earlier, so we headed back for (yes you guessed it) another nap in the room. We've both noticed we're getting pins and needles in our hands a lot since arriving in Thailand - can anyone shed any light as to why?
Got dressed up for the Half Moon party on Phi Phi beach and stopped for dinner at The Rock, a place recommended to us by the lads from Kent. The venue was built like a ship and you climb lots of stone steps to get to the entrance. The food was good, the wine served in tiny Martini style glasses. After dinner we bought two bottles of white wine and a pink bucket, and sat on the beach lit by the bars nearby. We watched the fire throwers at one bar and listened to Greenday blaring out. Walked to an Irish bar and ordered a bucket each while chatting to some guys from Melbourne who gave us a list of places we must visit in February.
Saw a lad having a tattoo done so went in to watch. His name was Kai and he was also from Melbourne. Wandered back to the beach, still drinking from our buckets from the Irish bar and joined the crowd dancing and watching the end of the fire throwing show. They brought out a limbo pole, soaked it in petrol and encouraged tourists to duck under. The crowd cheered people on and went crazy when the DJ played Kings of Leon "Sex is on Fire".
We met a lady in the toilet muttering something about being on Acid, then watched as she burnt her hair a number of times under the limbo pole. The proffesional Thai entertainers joined in and were able to limbo under the last rung. It was fascinating to watch. Bumped in to Kai again - who'd transformed from a surfer dude to a clown by adding a hat and waistcoat to his (already daring) zebra print hareem pants - a kooky concoction to say the least. We spotted a Thai boxing ring so left Kai and mooched off to see what all the fuss was about. We really got in to it and each fight we choose a man each to support. I generally chose the person in red shorts as a nod to my Dads love of Man United.
The referee called on members of the audience to fight each other, he even tried to drag me and Ellie in the ring to fight each other, which we laughed off at the time but looking back - what a horrifying thought!
We got a spring roll and a skewer on the way home, which I have no recollection of eating. Apparently we rolled in sometime after 3am.

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Comments

[Mam]

Keep on blogging Zo it's great entertainment, I see the tans are coming on beautifully. Lots of love mam xx

[Mrs Cowgill]

great piccies
this blog is by far becoming my favourite read girls, love the updates and pics and your both looking gawjussss! make sure your not get too sun burnt though! miss u loads cant wait til you get back to her the tales! and keep away from any horribble scouse boys love ya xxxxx

[Nicola]

Pins and Needles
Hi Zo So glad you're having a fab time - try upping your water intake as dehydration can cause pins and needles and there isn't much H2O in THAI BUCKETS!!!! In the Thai heat you should be having at least 3 litres of water a day, each! xxx