Since I wrote last time I have left Thailand and headed to Malaysia so I guess I better go back and recap!
After leaving Khao Sok national park Andy and I headed to Ko Phi Phi. I had never been to Phi Phi before and heard that it was stunning so I had pretty high expectations and it didn't disappoint! The island is beautiful, tiny and very backpackery... by that I mean crammed with backpackers and bars and beach side bungalows. The beach was lovely to look at but not the best for swimming cause the water only comes up to your knees if your lucky, but it was lovely and relaxing all the same.
The first day w headed to the beach Andy and I managed to lose each other - we didn't have a very good pan for where to meet, so just chilled out on the beach by ourselves and met up later. It was very chilled out and relaxing. We ate lots of seafood and drank sang som!!
On the second night we decided to go to watch some Muy Thai (Thai Kickboxing). There were kids that looked about 9 in the ring at one point which I found a little disturbing - basically we were paying to watch kids beat the crap out of each other, but overall it was pretty fun. Lots of buckets of rum punch were drunk which resulted in us missing (or postponing) our boat trip which was booked for the fallowing day in order to lay about on the beach instead.
When we finally did make our boat trip, we were in for an eventful day!!!
The boats left at 11 am in the morning and we all piled in with our fins in hand ready for a day of snorkeling! The first stop was monkey island - an island full of monkey's strangely enough, and then it was around to bamboo island where the real fun started!
Our boatman (Tam) told us we had 30 mins then we had to get back on the boat to leave for the next spot. Andy, me and 2 Canadian boys Nick and Ben that we were talking to followed our boatman back to the boat but the rest of the passengers were no where in sight. Our boatman was getting quite agitated and we couldn't work out what the problem was until all the other boats started taking off and we got stuck on a rock. We all got out and between us managed to lift the boat and dislodge it from the rock (I say all of us but in reality I let the men be men and take care of this while I stood and watched. It was obvious that the tide was going out quickly and we were in danger of being beached if we didn't get a move on but still there was no sight of the rest of our boat so tam made the decision to leave without them!
Obviously at first we thought this was hilarious as we were in the boat so it didn't effect us. We even joked that Tam's policy must be no speedos on the boat being that two of the 3 guys we were leaving behind were proudly strutting around in their budgie smugglers!
One of the couples managed to hitch a lift on another boat and caught up with us and we were powering away from the beach but the other two couples didn't seem to make a move for it at all and where left stranded on the beach unable to reach us because between where our boat stopped and the shore was spiky corals. All the other boats had disappeared at this point and here we were stranded just off the beach with half our passengers standing on the shore refusing to even try and get across!
Tam and Nick had to end up swimmming out with fins for everyone and although watching then try to walk in fins over the corals was amusing for those of us on the boat, those involved were pretty peeved and had cuts and scratches by the time they finally made it back aboard. - oops Meanwhile we had now wasted about half our boat trip and most of our petrol.
We finally got started again and were going along nicely when the motor started to cut out. Tam was having obviously trouble steering the boat and then the motor cut out altogether. We had got the propeller stuck in rope that was being used to secure lobster pots (or something similar) One of our speedo clad heroes and Ben were given knives to jump into the water and cut off the rope and we were on our way again.
We finally made in to Phi Phi Laay which is where the film the beach was set and it was truly a beautiful beach - so worth all the hassle (for those of us that weren't involved anyway!)
Andy and I went for dinner and drinks with the Canadian boys that night and ended up back at Hippies bar on the beach where we had been a few nights before, till late.
We decided it was about time we moved on from Phi Phi and so we headed to Rai Lay just near Krabi. The beach here was truly stunning and I wish we had more time to spend here but after 2 days we needed to head South to get to Malaysia.
The trip to Malaysia was a long journey involving a boat, a mini van, another mini van and a taxi through the south of Thailand and over the boarder to Kota Bharu.
Yesterday was another full day of travel but this time on the jungle railway from Kota Bharu to Jeruntut and the scenery was stunning, then a boat to Taman Negara where we are now.
This is a huge jungle that is older than the Amazon and is supposed to be full of creatures. So the next few days will be spent trekking and exploring! I like the jungle.....
When we finally did make our boat trip, we were in for an eventful day!!!
The boats left at 11 am in the morning and we all piled in with our fins in hand ready for a day of snorkeling! The first stop was monkey island - an island full of monkey's strangely enough, and then it was around to bamboo island where the real fun started!
Our boatman (Tam) told us we had 30 mins then we had to get back on the boat to leave for the next spot. Andy, me and 2 Canadian boys Nick and Ben that we were talking to followed our boatman back to the boat but the rest of the passengers were no where in sight. Our boatman was getting quite agitated and we couldn't work out what the problem was until all the other boats started taking off and we got stuck on a rock. We all got out and between us managed to lift the boat and dislodge it from the rock (I say all of us but in reality I let the men be men and take care of this while I stood and watched. It was obvious that the tide was going out quickly and we were in danger of being beached if we didn't get a move on but still there was no sight of the rest of our boat so tam made the decision to leave without them!
Obviously at first we thought this was hilarious as we were in the boat so it didn't effect us. We even joked that Tam's policy must be no speedos on the boat being that two of the 3 guys we were leaving behind were proudly strutting around in their budgie smugglers!
One of the couples managed to hitch a lift on another boat and caught up with us and we were powering away from the beach but the other two couples didn't seem to make a move for it at all and where left stranded on the beach unable to reach us because between where our boat stopped and the shore was spiky corals. All the other boats had disappeared at this point and here we were stranded just off the beach with half our passengers standing on the shore refusing to even try and get across!
Tam and Nick had to end up swimmming out with fins for everyone and although watching then try to walk in fins over the corals was amusing for those of us on the boat, those involved were pretty peeved and had cuts and scratches by the time they finally made it back aboard. - oops Meanwhile we had now wasted about half our boat trip and most of our petrol.
We finally got started again and were going along nicely when the motor started to cut out. Tam was having obviously trouble steering the boat and then the motor cut out altogether. We had got the propeller stuck in rope that was being used to secure lobster pots (or something similar) One of our speedo clad heroes and Ben were given knives to jump into the water and cut off the rope and we were on our way again.
We finally made in to Phi Phi Laay which is where the film the beach was set and it was truly a beautiful beach - so worth all the hassle (for those of us that weren't involved anyway!)
Andy and I went for dinner and drinks with the Canadian boys that night and ended up back at Hippies bar on the beach where we had been a few nights before, till late.
We decided it was about time we moved on from Phi Phi and so we headed to Rai Lay just near Krabi. The beach here was truly stunning and I wish we had more time to spend here but after 2 days we needed to head South to get to Malaysia.
The trip to Malaysia was a long journey involving a boat, a mini van, another mini van and a taxi through the south of Thailand and over the boarder to Kota Bharu.
Yesterday was another full day of travel but this time on the jungle railway from Kota Bharu to Jeruntut and the scenery was stunning, then a boat to Taman Negara where we are now.
This is a huge jungle that is older than the Amazon and is supposed to be full of creatures. So the next few days will be spent trekking and exploring! I like the jungle.....
