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The nerves had properly hit on friday morning, kate and i woke up early go get a good breakfast before our separate journeys. In no time at all it seemed that we were in the hotel lobby and the van arrived to pick me up to take me to the ferry. Saying goodbye to Kate was hard, we had had such an amazing time and I knew I was on my own journey from then on. After a few hugs I got on the bus. The ferry left from Ao Nang pier to Ko Phi Phi. I sat down next to a friendly looking couple. Sure enough they were and we were chatting the whole way. Glen and Alix are from New Zealand and had been travelling round Vietnam prior to Thailand. Arriving at Phi Phi was pretty hectic, straight away we were bombarded with locals asking us to stay at their resorts or if we wanted out bags to be wheeled in a trolley (there are no roads on Phi Phi). We wandered through the alleys of the town and a nice guy from a Paddi dive shop showed us where we had booked to stay in out huts and luckily enough we were extremely close each other. This guy also pointed us in the direction of a good 'quiet place' to eat some nice local food for lunch which was handy as the place we tried before we were shepherded out of straight away as we were not Chinese tourists?! We had lunch at Papaya which was a lovely family run restaurant with the most delicious food. I was booked in to the 'Phi Phi Backpackers' for two nights, it was super cheap and I thought I good to spend my first couple of days in a shared room. It was basic but clean with air con there were six beds to the room. I quickly got changed into my bikini and met Alix to go to the beach. It s beautiful. A long white beach with clear water so shallow that we swam out for ages and could still touch our feet on the sand underneath easily. We spent the afternoon swimming and then drying and then swimming again. That evening the three of us went out in search of dinner, some people at the end of a little ally asked us if we wanted to watch a film on the rooftop whilst eating dinner, it sounded good so off we went! We walked up a dodgy long spiral staircase and came out to this amazing den like space made out of wood with extra balconies above. They had two giant screens made out of material with the film being projected on them. The food was yummy and the setting was awesome. We wandered the alleyways of markets and shops and walked along the beach. Pudding was some yummy coconut doughnuts and Thai pancakes which were delicious. The pancake batter is more like dough which they stretch like a very thin pizza base we had banana and Nutella . . . Nom nom nom.
Glen and Alix decided that it was 'Durian time' for me on Saturday morning. Kate and les had warned me about this fruit and told me not to try it as it is disgusting . . . Alix and Glen were having none of it! Durians are a big spikey fruit and opens they contain these yellowy pods. We bought a couple of pods in the market and headed to the beach to try. Alix was kind enough to try it again with me for support, Glen was pretty adamant that he did not want to (not a good sign) I bit into the pod and caught back gagging as the strong custard like gew ozzed from the strange skin. The texture was so alien and the taste so strange! I did finish the pod but let's just say . . . I've done it now so don't have to again! That day we took a boat trip over to Maya Bay which is the beach from the film 'The Beach' about 20 of us were shoehorned into a long-tail boat at phi phi. The first stop was Monkey Bay. This was really disappointing. It was a beautiful beach but tourists who came over on the boats had littered everywhere, there were a few monkeys around but they were being followed by Chinese tourists who didn't give them space and were feeding them coca cola. It was cruel and not enjoyable to see. Then it got exciting, as we left the bay and headed over to the other island we were met by really choppy waves! I have never been afraid of boats but on this was a little different! The boat was rocking dramatically from side to side whilst water was pouring in the front of the boat. We were all soaking wet! I was enjoying the excitement mostly until the boatman shouted quite urgently for us all to 'move to the right!' even e seemed scared! We did make it there though safe and drenched! Which didn't really matter as we then had to jump out the boat and swim (in the choppy sea) to an awesome ladder up a small cliff made out of loads of lengths of colourful roap. We then walked down a path and came out to Maya Bay. It was stunning, just how it looked on the film. We swam in the blue blue waters for most of the time we were there. The best bit was when the heavy monsoon rain started whilst we were swimming it was pretty epic, and did remind me of the point in the film with the shark attack! No sharks though :) on the way back we stopped of in another sheltered bay to snorkel, it was awesome, so many colourful fish! The boat ride back to the island was pretty much the same as on the way there but we were prepared this time . . . Alix and I looked rather dashing with life jackets on for warmth and goggles on so we could see through the splashing! Once back on dry land we squelched our way back to have a well needed shower! That night after dinner Alix and Glen headed to bed and I wandered down to the main beach to watch the fire shows on the beach. It was pretty cool and I took a few snaps. I got to bed in good time ready for the trip to Ko Lanta the next day.
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