Ko Phi Phi, Thailand

The ferry arrived at Ton Sai pier and we made our way with backpacks for the short trip to our accommodation at The White 1. Gee it was hot! My first impressions of Phi Phi were that it was a lot more compact and crowed and younger than what we'd just experienced in Kata Beach in Phuket. Not a bad thing though as the highly built up waterfront in Phuket complete with 5 star resorts and the guests and restaurants that go with them do tend to diminish the otherwise beautiful beaches.Sandra was exhausted so while she cooled down with the aircon in the room, I did some recon around Ton Sai in the afternoon. We decided to do a long tail boat ride at 3pm at the last minute to take in some snorkelling and also cruise over to Phi Phi Leh to see the famous Maya Beach which featured in the movie The Beach. Really was great scenery and snorkelling and Maya Beach was fantastic but quite crowded with tourists.Back on dry land after sunset we found a nice place for dinner and a beer or two and called it a night.

We had a slow start to the day and Sandra wasn't feeling too great so I went and found a bakery and brought some food back to the room, plus it was way too hot for wandering around in the sun until later in the day.Late afternoon we headed to the beach for some swimming and relaxing and Sandra even got a Thai massage while I read a few chapters of my book. We had a late dinner and then checked out a couple of bars including first Regae Bar which actually had a proper boxing ring installed for some Thai Boxing bouts, as well as some customer-versus-customer bouts which was actually more entertaining to watch than the professionals.We also spent maybe an hour at the Rolling Stoned Bar which had a fantastic live rock band giving some great (but loud!) renditions of classic rock tunes.

OUr last day in Phi Phi today, it is still so hot that I've decided to pass on a possible dive trip and wait until we get to Ko Phangnan which is apparently also a great diving location. Instead we walked north along the beach from Ton Sai to Long Beach until we couldn't go any further and turned inland. Along the way we came across a small shack selling drinks and the like and asked them if there was a way through to the beach further north and they said "yes, no more hotel there you can go no problem!". As we wandered down a deserted dirt track the scene was amazing, like something from The Beach...just before gun wielding drug cultivaters tried to shoot them! We anxiously proceded past two "PRIVATE" signs but received no objections on our way down to a nearly deserted bay which was well worth the hike. There were maybe 10 people at most there, some of them apparently camping in tents under makeshift huts with no walls.There were plently of crabs running around in the water and the whole scene was quite sureal but nice. We tried to head even further north but hit some rocks and so we turned back and retraced our steps to the shop on the hill before taking to path back to Ton Sai Village.Our last night in Phi Phi wasn't a late one but we did enjoy our first "bucket' at a bar during happy hour, which is bascially a smallish plastic tub which they fill up with 7 shots of alcohol, ice and the mixer of your preference. We finished with a late dinner and then to bed ahead of our early start and travel day to Ko Phagnan tomorrow.