Koh Phi Phi Island, Thailand

In order for us to get to paradise, it was inevitable that we had to do a bit of travelling. We decided to get the night boat to Surathani. What an experience it was. The ceiling must have been less than five foot and the sides of the boat were lined with mattresses on the floor. It was pretty cool. Poor Jason got a little bit scared as there was a slight storm while we were in the middle of the ocean. Luckily enough, it didn't materialise into much. When we got to Surathani we had to get a bus to the bus station, where there was the cutest little puppy. While he was very playful around all the other dogs, he kept on starting fights with some of them. I think he will be the domineering one when he is bigger. After a little wait, we then got a bus to Krabbi where we finally boarded a boat that was to bring us to paradise. On the way over, there were beautiful limestone rocks as we travelled through the waters of the world. After a short period of time, we eventually arrived in paradise. Hello Phi Phi. What a truly beautiful island it is. The island itself is very small, so there are no roads, which means no traffic and no Tuk Tuk's which equals peace and quiet. Everyone gets around either by foot or by bicycle. After a bit of headache, we eventually found some where to call home, if only for a few nights. It was above The Reggae Bar where an MTV movie was shot. I think it must have been Jason's dream to live above a bar. Inside there is a boxing ring where people can have mess fights. It's really cool. Enough talk about where we are sleeping, I'm sure you all want to hear about the amazing beaches. They are truly amazing. The beach beside us is stunning it's a shallow inlet with large limestone rocks jutting out either side of the island with a small opening. The water is so clear and the sand is amazing. It's paradise. That evening, we went for dinner in a nice Indian restaurant. The food was amazing and Kathrin even made a new friend, Leo from Israel. Really nice guy. After a nice meal and good company, it was time for a few drinks on the beach. We are on holidays, so why not? All good things must come to an end and it was time for us to go home and hit the hay. After a nice long sleep, we finally woke up. All four of us decided to get a taxi boat to the Long Beach. Another stunning beach. It was really nice with lovely deep water and amazing beaches. When we arrived, I put my sandals down and the sea took one of them. It was very greedy of it. What does the sea want with my sandal? I never found it, but if your ever there and you see a big giant sandal that must be for a monster, it's mine, so keep it safe for me, thanks! You will all be glad to know that it didn't ruin my day, it was hard but I pulled through for the sake of the team and we all really enjoyed our day out. I even got to bury Jason alive, which was fun. So all in all, a really enjoyable day. Because of the St Stephens Day Tsunami in 2004 which hit the island, there is now an evacuation route which is signposted throughout the whole island. I don't think any of us can imagine what they went through. As you all know, we really like our food, so we thought we would all spoil ourselves in a lovely French restaurant. I got the most amazing duck with five spices and creamy mash potatoes. It was divine and only cost us €15 which we thought was very expensive, which is laughable considering an average restaurant at home would be at least double that for nothing special, and that was special. Absolutely jamazing. Myself and Jason finished off the night in the Reggae Bar watching amateur boxing matches, drinking a bucket of whiskey. Sure, why not! We may have gone to sleep late, but we managed to get up nice and early for breakfast and a morning of exploration throughout the island. There is so much beauty throughout the whole island, especially all the limestone cliffs surrounding the sea. Even the wooden longboats are pieces of art. Walking along, we noticed a monkey high up in a tree, which was really cool. A local was trying to get him down and probably make money from him. We walked up a little bit further and there were two monkeys dressed in kids clothes. One was wearing dungarees. They were both very cute, but the poor things, they should just be left alone. After a lot of exploring, we all needed a Thai Full Body Massage. It was amazing. They even used lovely oil. I was right beside the window where I could look out onto the sea and the stunning limestone cliffs. It was so beautiful and all I could hear was the crash of the waves. Breathtaking! We then decided to stop at a restaurant for lunch where we were able to enjoy more stunning scenes of the sea. In a small basket were tiny little kittens. They were so cute. I don't think I've ever seen kittens so small before. After our food, we noticed a little kitten. Kathrin, 'The Mad Cat Lady's' heart melted. He was such a playful little thing. So small and so cute. I think we were all in love with him. The next day was by far one of the best days we've had so far. We had all organised to go on a day tour around the whole area. It only cost us €10 each and included breakfast and lunch. Ok, the food wasn't the best, but we went to some really amazing places, including snorkelling with tropical fish at Shark Point and in a large lagoon. The lagoon was amazing. There were large limestone rocks everywhere, turquoise water with stunning fish in all different colours. It was so beautiful. We also went to Bamboo beach, which was another beautiful spot. However, it wasn't as good as Maya Bay where The Beach movie was filmed. The whole island is like being in paradise. It is the most stunning place we have been to so far. Pure white sandy beaches with clear, turquoise water and stunning limestone cliffs in the distance. This is one place you have to visit, if you come to Asia. We did have one problem, we had a lot of monkey business to sort out, so we had no choice but to visit Monkey Island. While they look very cute, they are very aggressive and really scary, so don't mess with a monkey. I got to close to a baby monkey and the mother and another monkey came down and chased me away. It was very scary. We saw a mother who had her baby underneath her, clinging on to her. One of the guys gave one of them a big bottle of water. He managed to open it up, messed around with it for a bit, trying to figure it out and then started holding the bottle up, like we would, and drank out of it. It was amazing to watch. They are such clever creatures. We spent a bit of time going from place to place in a longboat which was packed with other tourists. While the weather is normally really nice out here, that day, it started off good, then out of nowhere, dark clouds started brewing. A storm was on the way. Even though we had dark clouds over us, elsewhere there were clear, blue sky's. Then the water started getting really choppy, which was an experience, especially being on a wooden boat. At one point, there was this huge wave. The guy had to turn the engine off. We went right up and back down again, just like a seesaw. It was really cool and a perfect way to end our trip in Phi Phi.

By Andrew

#paradise #nightboat #monkey #mayabay