Koh Phi Phi:

After our all-nighter, as is becoming tradition with us before long journeys, we were sad to wave goodbye to Laos. The journey to the airport was spent fantasizing about McDonalds which Nat promised us would be there. It was not. Much to our delight, the golden arches were replaced with neon coffee cup signs and a tepid Thai buffet. Helen even indulged in buying pudding, neon green and orange cupcakes - they appeared to follow suit with the interior design. It tasted like sick. So feeling more than a little unwell we boarded the flight and the journey started well after being upgraded to hotseats. Our transfer to the hotel in Phuket however was not so great. We shared the bus with 4 Israeli men, 1 of whom decided to adopt the role of an incestual father; saying inappropriate things, advising us on the dangers of drugs and where we can get silk suits fitted. Excellent.

On arrival in Phi- Phi we spent a sweltering afternoon searching for accomodation. All the decent budget hotels were taken ,so after narrowly avoiding booking ourselves into 2 prison cells for a week, we swung it the other way renting a 6 person bachelorrette pad which hosted a number of memorable experiences such as; 2 girls 1 electrician, Robyn and Stephs burns clinic, a contemporary dance show and a pizza and movie night. We also held a mass Bucks-style pre with names such as Ross and Brad Matthews, Emily Ford and Wayne Bate on the guestlist after bumping into them on the dancefloor of one of the beach clubs SLINKY.

The nights in Phi Phi were eventful to say the least. Helen,Steph and Georgia decided to get piercings on a night out- in hindsight a potential regret when the Hep B/AIDs results come through; Georgia and Brad tag-teamed in a fight against 'The Situation' and Macy Gray involving buckets and bottles being thrown and Nat did many weird standard nat things such as dancing on tables in empty bars and borrowing hula hoops from thai women.

Perhaps the 2 most memorable days we experienced were a boat trip where we enjoyed a strip tease from our driver down to his Y-fronts. A treat for all. And a night camping on Maya Beach where the film 'The Beach' was shot. Our tour guide was a cross between a monkey on crack and a cheshire cat. He was a short,bouncy man who replied to every question or even statement with "Just do it man, yeah!" and insisted on getting us all in the sea in the rain. Bizarre. Part of the camping package was a free dinner to which Helen and Robyn took full advantage turning this free meal into an 8 course banquet thus rendering the free buckets pointless. So the night was spent stargazing, watching incompetent thai men (cheshire cat included) burning themselves while trying to give a fire show, being shouted at by an angry drunk Georgia and swimming with the flourescent plankton before settling down in our sleeping bags to sleep on the beach.

After waking up on the beach feeling more and more like Leonardo Dicaprio/ members of Shipwrecked or Lost, we were ushered on to an evacuation boat feeling and looking like survivors from the Titanic. The rain had started and however hard cheshire cat/monkey man tried- he couldn't lift our spirits. As we had no accomodation anymore and desperate for a shower after our night "roughing it" we were left no choice but to adopt the toilets at our old resort as our new room. Due to the lack of shower facilities we wereforced to hose eachother down with the bum hoses from the toilet. So feeling fresh as daisys after our good hose down in toilet water we left Phi Phi to board the ferry and begin our next long journey to Koh Tao.