Last Day in Koh Lanta and Koh Phi Phi

Hi all!!!

Hope you are all well and not too bored of these posts yet!!?

28/01/08
We last left you after our terrifying trip into the Emerald Cave! We decided to treat ourselves to a relaxing day on the beach seeing as it was our last night in Koh Lanta. So that's what we did! Sat in our little hut on the beach just chilling and chatting and having reaccuring thoughts about our cave adventure. As the day drew on we decided to look on the interent for suitable accommodation for Koh Phi Phi and how to get there. We booked ourselves on the ferry which left at 8am the following day and booked a place to stay. The accommodation cost us a fortune as most places were fully booked. We ended up paying 1700 Baht per night which is about 30 pounds!!! As you can probably imagine, we're not used to paying so much so decided that we'd stay there for one night and then look elsewhere! In the evening we ate at the hostel restaurant. had a couple of beers and had an early night as we we're up at the crack of dawn the following day.

29/01/08
Up at half 6!! Our earliest start yet but we did ok. We got to the ferry port on time and departed for Koh Phi Phi. We had a picture in our mind of what we thought it would be like, coupled with descriptions from other travellers and bits we'd read on the internet. All in all its really not as bad as they made out! It's a beautiful island what is larger than I first expected. As we got to the island we were greeted by the guy who was going to take us to our hostel. Beacuse it was so early we couldn't check in until 1 o'clock so we decided to walk around for a bit and Rick had been reading about the view point on Phi Phi which you can see the whole island so we set out to conquer it!! First of all we went the wrong way so we had to back trach for 10 minutes until we finally found the steps to get up there. As we began to ascend the steps were very steep and very plentiful! There are around 310 steps and even then you're still not at the top! After the steps there is a steep path which winds through the trees and after a further 15 minutes we reached the top. By this point we had both literally sweat half of our body weight and were very pleased to find a little shop at the top which sold very cold water! After soaking in the view for a bit we made our way back down which, as you can probably imagine, was much easier than the way up! We then made our way back to the hostel to check in! We were pleasantly surprised with the room even though the twin beds had been pushed together!! We got showered and changed in air con luxury and then went down to the beach to catch the last few rays! We ended up on Loh Dallum beach which is gorgeous with the warmest water ever. The only downside (albeit very minor) was that it was a little busier on the beach than we were used to from Koh Lanta. Had a beer at 4:30 (the end of the working day!!) and had a pizza each and decided to walk back at around 11 o'clock to get an early night after our long day. This however did not go to plan!! Phi Phi is actually quite a lively place in the evening and we ended up in Reggie Bar which has it's very own Thai Boxing ring right in the centre of the place, accompanied with the sing "Fight your friend and win a free Bucket" (for those of you who don't know...a Bucket is drink with A LOT of alcohol in it!!). Naturally we decided that it wasn't worth it and just watched as two "friends" repeatedly kicked and punched eachother! Sat next to us was a lovely Swedish bloke called Amir who had come down with his mates to watch the fights. He told us that he liked to gamble so to make the evening more interesting Rick suggested that we put a little money on each fight (only 20 Baht, in case people back home think we're going to come home with a gambling problem, is about 40 pence!). Rick, however, got very licky and won all three fights that we bet on! We had a couple more beers and then made our way back to the air con room to get some sleep.

30/01/08
As mentioned above we needed to locate some new accommodation and managed to find a nice little place called Gipsy Village for less than half what we were paying for the night before!! Pretty bog standard fan room with a double bed! It was the only room left so we had to make do. We also booked oursleves onto yet another snorkelling trip (not wanting to have a fear of them after the previous experience) for the following day to go around a few islands around Phi Phi including Phi Phi Leh, which is the isleand where the film "The Beach" was filmed!! Went down to the beach and then at 5 o'clock (beer o'clock) we went up to the bar and got chatting with an Aussie guy called Kurt and 3 of his female friends. We chatted about Australia and the best bits etc and arranged that if we saw them later that we would join them for a drink. As it tuurns out we went for some food in the 007 restaurant as recommended by them and the Lonely Planet travel guide. Half way through Rick's Sausage, Chips and Beans (he was missing home) and Matt's 'THAI' red curry they walk past, spotted us and decided to join us (all 9 of them!!!). So there we were, eating food, watching Anchorman and conversing with 9 Aussie chicks! Finished our food and then went to a couple of bars and then to a bar on the beach before heading home at about 1 ish.

31/01/08
Yet another early start in order to go on our second snorkelling trip, which was stunning! The whole thing lasted about 7 and a half hours and included places such as: Shark View Point, Bamboo Island, Monkey Beach, Phi Phi Ley, and Maya Beach (The Beach!). Snorkelling was even better today than the previous trip in Koh Lanta, with different fish and clearer waters!! Each point at which we stopped to swim just seemed to get better and better before finally ending up on Maya beach to chill out beore sunset. On the way back the driver cut the engine and we just floated around watching the sunset. As we were doing this the driver and his friend froma nearby boat started to pull up a rope from the ocean floor, attached to which was a lobster trap in which they had caught............ a squid!!! Dissappointed not to have seen a lobster but it was still pretty cool! We got back to the pier and then home to shower and change before coming out for food and update the blog!! Matt's has just come back from booking his scuba diving trip for tomorrow morning (which leaves at 8:15! hahaha Rick will stay in bed!).

So here we are, all up to date and ready for more adventure. We'll update you soon with Matt's scuba diving antics!

Take care all!

Rick and Mattxx