When we arrived at the island of Ko Phi Phi from Krabi, there was a mad rush at the shore's hotel agent kiosks. Milena and I took it easy, attempting to barter here and there, but they try to charge ridiculous rates for roooms, thinking people will agree when they're told all rooms on the island have gone. We believed none of it, and headed to the north east of the island and found a number of rooms at reasonable rates.

Our time on the island was spent sunbathing and walking around the island, exploring the various second-hand bookshops, souvenir stalls, restaurants and beaches.

Most people visiting Ko Phi Phi also visit the nearby island of Ao Maya, famous for its use in the Leonardo DiCaprio film, The Beach. We had heard from a friend who'd already been this way several days before, that it's best to get there well before the crowds. We heeded his advice and left on a long-tailed boat at about 7am, arriving at Ao Maya by 7:30am.

When we arrived, there were only a handful of people on the beach, including some Americans who had camped there over night. I had not seen the movie, The Beach, at that point, but my first impression was that it was really beautiful with clear aquamarine waters, perfect and ideallic. There wasn't too much to explore, so we wandered around and took photos, sunbathed, covered one of the other girls we were with in sand (ala, Joey from Friends), swam in the water and were promptly bitten by some tiny stinging fish! Well, it's not all perfect!

We had arrived early enough, that the sun had not yet peered over the high cliffs behind the beach. It was a majestic sight, seeing the sun's first rays of the day beam onto the beach, and warm up the shore. There were probably 10 people on the beach at the time and lying in the shallow waters I felt really peaceful. I could have stayed there ages.

We left the island at around 10am when the hoards of toursists on package holidays moored at the beach. We then continued our tour around the island on the long-tail boat and did some snorkling. We jumped in, and saw lots of different multi-coloured fish. They're funny, as they like to swim up to you and see what you're about. After about an hour of playtime, we headed back to Ko Phi Phi.

That night, we went to a few bars with friends, saw some fire dancing and had a good laugh. My next stop was Singapore to catch my flight home, whereas Milena was going to Cambodia for a couple of weeks. This would be our last night in Thailand.

Milena came to the jetty with me early the next morning to say goodbye and we parted company. The boat was late arriving back to Krabi and I didn't know if my bus to Singapore had already departed! Things are never as you imagine it, and although the logistics of getting people from A to B in Thailand at first appear chaotic, they actually get you to where you need to be, and usually on time! So, after being shown to a pick up truck I saw a guy I'd met back on Ko Tao. I remembered his name since he was also called Peter!

After being transferred to a van this time, we departed for Singapore. Peter was getting off at the Thailand-Malaysia border, as this was the nearest place that he could sort his Visa out, or something like that. Turns out he hadn't been back to the UK for over 3 years as he's been travelling Australia for that time.

So, with our van now full of passengers, we leave Krabi and head for the border, about 4 hours away. My journey to Singapore would take about 24 hours in total, "Not all in the van I hope" I thought to myself.