Krabi and Phi Phi

Thursday 7/10/04

Packed up early and headed by minibus to the beachside town of Krabi. The place is stunning with its clean, white beaches and karst formations climbing randomly out of the ocean and there are so many restaurants preched on the side of the ocean taking advantage of the view. Clearly, we spent quite a bit of time in said restaurants. We stocked up on dodgy CDs and Glenn had a suit made by one of the many tailors along the frontage.

Island hopping in a longtail boat.

We took a trip to Rai Leh island where we were wet from the word go. Wet from the longboat trip over, wet from the tropical rain and wet because we figured we couldn't get any wetter and got in the ocean for a swim. There is an interesting cave at the end of the East Beach which is actually a shrine to fertility and is, in fact, full of wooden carved penises of all shapes and sizes. The true definition of the 'foot long schlong'!!!

Rai Ley Island

Glenn went to a Thai boxing match back on the mainland which he describes as a cross between a tribal dance and the latest nightclub moves.

Thai boxing match

We took a tuk-tuk taxi to the township of Krabi itself where we had a look around and did a bit of shopping before again being dumped on by monsoonal rains. Our tuk-tuk driver was nearby so we started our trip back to the beach but didn't end up getting to far before we had to get out of the tuk-tuk and wait for the water to subside. We were up to our knees (hips if you're short like me) in water and couldn't go any further. Eventually we made it through, with a bit of encouragement to our driver, to the beach side of town.

Road block!!

That night we had (quite) a few drinks with a few people we'd met along the way and had a fairly comprehensive tour of the Ao Nang night life.

Needless to say and due to an overly generous and overly intoxicated Irish guy (love the Irish), cheap Thai spirits and eighties beatbox music, neither of us were feeling too flash the following morning. The ferry boat to Phi Phi Island was made more unpleasant by Glenn's inability to retain food. Glenn was left on the beach under the premise of minding the bags while Bec took off with the first tout she could find to secure the nearest airconditioned room. Glenn spent the afternoon in various stages of consciousness while Bec delighted in the fact that 14 out of her 14 dodgy CDs actually worked in her 10 quid Brick Lane discman!!

Approaching Phi Phi Island

The next morning we were up quite early and were successful in our quest to find some slightly more authentic beach front accommodation in the form of ocean front cabins (open door, step onto beach). We were quite pleased to see our buddies Helen and Steve and Gavin had the same idea about coming to Phi Phi Island. Did some snorkelling, watched the sunset then off to a seafood restaurant for dinner with Helen and Steve and Gavin.

The view from our front door on Phi Phi Island

Hired a longtail boat and it's driver and went out the next day on a snorkelling trip around the islands. Plenty of bright fish and movie-scene scenery (The Beach, Leo De Caprio). Saw a few monkeys swinging through the trees on the way back in. Dinner again with the usual suspects then spent the night sitting in our deck chairs under the stars.

Got up at the crack of dawn (ok, not really) on our last day on Phi Phi Island and hiked up the mountain at the end of the island to the viewpoint which overlooks the whole of Phi Phi Island. The walk was almost vertical (ok, not really again, but it felt like it) and fairly exhausting in the humidity but the view from the top was worth every minute of it. We had a cup of tea in a very small but perfectly positioned cafe on top of the mountain and then slowly made our way back down again.

The view from the hilltop on Phi Phi Island. And one equally as knackered cat.

• It was never my intention to highlight the fact that a lot of this has been blogged retrospectively, but I can't write about this part of our trip without mentioning the tsunami. We were on Phi Phi Island two months before the tsunami consumed most of the island and its surrounding areas. The people of the island are beautiful people and helped make our time there brilliant. It broke my heart to see the island and its people so badly devastated and I hope that one day we can go back to Phi Phi and its people.*