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Chris n' Mel in Thailand
OK nobody told me about the treacherous ferry ride from Krabi to Koh Phi Phi!!
Only kidding it wasn't too bad. About 250-300 people piled on board the ferry on monday to head for the famous phi phi islands (where 'the beach' was filmed). A big percentage being backpackers there was a first come first served scramble for prime seating right at the front of the ferry where us lucky 20 or so starting happily slapping on suncream and pulling out books for the one and half hour journey.
We all sat there smug while the Thai guys stacked everyones luggage in the hold and the majority of passengers had no other option than to sit indoors below, a few on the upper deck but still outside.
Eventually everything was loaded up and just before we set off the Thai guys working onboard starting shouting at us to get into the seating area below. after much outrage that he'd waited to tell us until now a number of people reluctantly moved inside but we were fortunate to find a seat squeezed onto the upper deck, adamant to stay outside. About a minute into setting off we realised this was going to be an, interesting, journey.
The first bit of spray to splash over the side was fun, but when refreshing spray turned to being blatantly smacked in the face and drenched by full on waves we all started to feel a little bit daft. Considering we were sopping wet now and a few people had gone indoors taking waves with them to not so welcoming dry people, we figured we'd best find the best spot and sit it out.
A few of us scrambled back to the original position right at the front of the boat, where the waves were actually missing us and crashing onto the gang still left on the top deck. Once again we felt quite smug for a while, until the water started crashing through the drainage holes in the side of the boat leaving us sat in puddles while the waves got bigger and the sea choppier, throwing everyone into the air every few seconds. This had now become a matter of life or death, never mind getting a bit wet, we were actually wondering whether we would be thrown overboard.
OK maybe we were getting a bit dramatised but either way the precious camera was at risk once again so i gave in and reluctantly agreed to go inside.
Relived that we'd made it through the hold door without sliding off the deck we sat down and checked the camera was ok. I'll spare you the rest of the journey as it basically consists of me staring at my feet whilst concentrating on not throwing up while others did just that around me, nice.
Eventually Chris spotted land, i was so happy! We all clambered off with our luggage and Chris valiantly planted me in a bar to recover while he ran off to compete with everyone else to find a place to stay for the night. Minutes later we were sorted, checked in, bags dumped, dry clothes put on and off out for a much needed feed. It was only really while we were sat in the restaurant right on the beach that we could take in our surroundings - it was gorgeous. The pier we arrived on leads onto a sloping white sandy beach backed by huge limestone cliffs covered with green, and the town itself is made up of only low rise, simple buildings consisting of bars, restaurants, a lot of dive shops and lots of little shops selling clothes and jewellery. There are a lot of longtail boats lined up along the beachfront, and some say this place has been turned into an eyesore from what it once was, but right now after that boat trip, it looked pretty damn good to me.
You can still see some of the debris from the Tsunami, for example the ao lo dalam beach has virtually no palm trees on it and there is a bit of rubble from knocked down buildings strewn over the ton sai pier area, which is very strange and is a small reminder of what happened here not so long ago..
We took our time eating and enjoying the view then headed back to our veranda at our place to just chill out for a while as Chris was feeling a bit dodgy. We've decided to stay here for about a week so we've got plenty time to sample the nightlife. Had a couple of beers and an early night.
Day 2: Koh Phi Phi
Sad to say the weather was pretty shocking today but seeing as this is the wet season we have been pretty lucky so far, and with Chris still feeling a bit dodgy we were happy sat in bars watching the movies that they play all day. Almost forgot, this is after we woke up from a shocking night's sleep in our skanky room which we quickly remedied by finding a much nicer place with air con (god bless air con!) a fridge, TV & DVD player and a good bathroom. Its luxury i know but we thought we'd splash out and spend a whopping 6 quid each and treat ourselves to some comforts :)
This sorted we then planted ourselves in the James Bond bar and watched Mission Impossible, followed by Snatch then Superman while watching passers by get completely drenched by the monsoon and the Thai people struggling to open and close their jewellery stalls while we polished off many Changs and Singhas, 13 quids not bad for an afternoon's drinking and eating!
Day 3: Koh Phi Phi
Ok we're up to date now. Last night was sooo much more comfy compared to the first place although after our daytime drinking we fell asleep quite early and i was woke by Chris about 2am after he'd had a nightmare about being chased by grudgelike creatures and needed to eat crisps and watch england play football on tele before he could go back to sleep, although im sure his body clock sensed a football match was on.
This morning we headed to the beach (a different one to that you arrive on, about 300 yards across the island), not before a lie in with pancakes chris got for breakfast in bed and watching pirates of the caribbean waiting for the sun to come out. We spent about an hour and half lolling on the beach even though it was cloudy but still warm then the sun came out for a bit. Judging by our red and white bits you obviously DO catch the sun through even quite thick cloud when the suns this hot: lesson learnt.
Just had a yummy spicy and very messy crab with fried chilli lunch and now we're off for a well earned beer...
see ya! x
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