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Chris n' Mel in Thailand
So after 5 days here we finally managed to muster the energy to do a trip off the island: gettin quite into the chilled out island mode now!
After the usual breakfast in bed consisting of pancakes and a movie we mosied on down to the front where we found ourselves one of the many longtail boat men to take us across to the neighbouring Phi Phi Ley island, where 'the beach' was filmed.
We doused ourselves in tanning oil and propped ourselves across our private boat. After a gentle start we passed the part of the sea sheltered by our island and entered open sea where we wondered how much wave crashing the rickety boat could take, but we made it. We'd expected to just pay the guy to take us over, drop us off on the beach then pick us up later but it seems you get a mini tour of about 3 hours for your money (about 900 baht - a tenner) too.
We slowed down next to the island where there were people seemed to be living in the caves in the side of the cliffs (Viking Cave), and later learnt they were there to catch the ingredients for the ridiculously expensive delicacy of Birds Nest Soup; something to so with bird spit so i imagine it would be expensive as you'd have to have a lot of flippin spit to fill a bowl.
Next stop was the stunning, and i mean STUNNING Phi Ley Bay - theres some photos here that we took just before our camera died on us, grr, but they really dont do it justice. The water was so clear and you're just surrounded by soaring limestone cliffs. We jumped in to snorkel and swim and headed for a small patch of beach in one of the coves. After Chris had a tussle with a fiesty trigger fish and we were mobbed by millions of tiny fish that clubbed together to make a giant ankle biting barrier, we decided that maybe the beach was sacred for some reason and we'd best just leave it alone before the big fish guarding it got involved.
We didnt really want to leave this spot as couldnt imagine anywhere beating it, but we moved on anyway. The next cove we stopped at was much deeper and looked good for snorkelling. Chris leapt in and our guide amused himself and me for a while throwing bread near Chris' head so he got swarmed by literally hundreds of fish - much bigger ones aswell, and he was equally alarmed every time trying to swim out of their way. Once he'd realised they weren't trying to eat him it wasnt as funny so i jumped in too to get a closer look. If snorkelling was this good everywhere you wouldnt need to go diving!
Our guide then told us that to get to Maya bay, the famous 'beach' itself, we would have to swim and walk through somewhere he was pointing. What he should have said was, 'you see that cave with no apparent entrance well you have to swim through the treacherous maze of rocks, with your head under water to spot the jagged rocks and use your hands which will get shredded to bits to prevent your head from getting crushed when the crashing waves throw you all over the place, and its too shallow to swim or you'll rip your knees to bits, so you have to physically pull yourself through then balance on slippy rock at the other end. oh and you might want to take your shoes.' But hey, where would the fun have been in knowing that???
Eventually we popped out on dry land in the cave and staggered through the jungle to emerge onto the beach. It was a beautiful beach and somehow the journey of getting there made it seem more special. Bit gutted though when we saw a couple of boats pulled up on the beach; obviously want impossible to get to by sea after all. We took a bit of time sat on the soft white sand and in the sea then headed back for the return journey, which knowing the strategy was a lot less painful. We climbed back on board and headed back to our island we called home.
We'd worked up a real appetite on the trip so grabbed some lunch and headed to the beach again for a bit of sunbathing and playin around in the sea. Football season was in full force in most of the bars and restaurants so we had Thai dinner watchin liverpool then over to Reggae bar with its massive screen for the Arsenal match and got drawn into more Thai/Brit boxing for the rest of the night, putting away more singhas, changs and buckets.
Next day we decided to take it easy for a change and just headed down to the beach for the day and had a pretty chilled out night. I tried a conconction of seafood in a big hotplate which had delish prawns... and some other things. Then we found a great seat in the old fave 007 bar (where you leave shaken, not stirred) to watch the Man U game and headed back to the air con heaven of our room for the rest of the night.
Ok i've been writing for a while now and meanwhile Chris has been returning with numerous shopping bags and now i want to buy things so im off! we've been here 8 days now and todays our last day :(, feel like we could spend the whole time away here! but we best move on, im sure theres plenty more cool places ahead. See you in the next island! x
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