Thai islands - west coast

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Krabi:

Arriving in Krabi town we decided to take a taxi to Ao Nong Bay as to be near the beach and also for a little more peace and quiet. The town was really small... made up of just two roads and a beachfront. Upon arrival we went in search and checked into Chompu guesthouse, lovely place... very clean rooms, friendly and helpful staff and not to mention free coffee. Our days here were spent lolling on the beach playing bat and ball and frisbee, other times playing pool and drinking huge jugs of beer chang. We also found a great place for elephant trekking where we knew that the elephants were well taken care of... here we had the chance to ride elephant back through thick jungle as well as feed them lots of long green beans. Nightimes on the other hand were spent at our favourite food market stall eating our favourite local dishes of yellow and masamun curry. Since this was a quiet town with not much going on we decided to make tracks to ko phi phi don (home of THE BEACH).

Ko Phi Phi:

After exiting the boat and paying our 20baht entrance fee to the island authorities we headed in search of accommodation.... immediately we realised that the island was so small that there were no roads or motor vehicles, everywhere could be reached by foot in a matter of minutes. Our first day we couldn't wait to see maya bay (the beach), so after finding accommodation we headed straight back to the pier to hire a longtail boat to take us to our destination... it really is as good as you think it would be... the whitest sands, impossibly clear blue water and dramatic limestone casts surrounding the bay!! Back in the town later on we dedided to sample the nightlife and found ourselves in the reggae bar watching local mauytai (thai boxing). Within minutes of sitting down we noticed a sign offering tourists the opportunity to win 2 free buckets of whiskey if they are successful in the ring.... this was an offer to good to resist so within minutes chris donned the gloves and thai boxing shorts and stood into the ring to challenge his opponent in the form of a 1/2 thai 1/2 indian twice his size. After 3 rounds, in which chris insisted on drinking his bucket of whiskey rather than water at intervals, the referees decided that all 3 rounds were awarded to 'England Man'... victory was sweet and the whiskey was strong, job well done!!!
Our second day here we decided to take a full day boat tour around the island, stopping at various beaches, snorkelling sites and bays including monkey bay which, as the name suggests, was overun by wild monkeys who insisted on stealing peoples food and attacking those who came to close... so we happily kept our distance.
The next few days were spent exploring the many other beaches on the island, as well as climbing the mountain for great views of ko phi phi. The nights were spent dancing and rope jumping at the many beachfront clubs, and drinking yet again more whiskey buckets. It was really hard for us to leave this place but the flights were booked from phuket to Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia, so we packed up our things and said goodbye to phi phi, promising oursleves this would not be the last time we set foot on the island.

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