It's time to move to my next island, Koh Phi Phi, an island thats been described as sun, sea, glorious beaches and lots of partying. I took the ferry from Ao Nang which took approximately 45 mins. As soon as I arrived, I knew partying was definitely on the agenda! I'd decided not to book a hostel as I'd been told it was pretty easy to find one upon arrival and they were not wrong. At the port there were stalls everywhere advertising places to stay. I opted for the cheapest one on the island- Phi Phi Backpackers. They even provided me with a taxi (a cart like you use on the pontoon at the Marina) so that I didn't have to carry my bag. The accommodation was basic with bunk beds. This being said I was one girl in a room full of guys. Luckily for me, they are probably the nicest group of lads I've met - Angel from Spain, Cristian from Columbia and a guy from Germany.
Angel and I decided to make the most of our first night and walked up to the viewpoint to watch the sunset. It was magical! In the evening, we wandered down to the beach to watch the fire-throwing before heading off for an early night.
10 September
The day didn't start well, the lads woke up late meaning that we arrived on the boat...late! The other passengers were pretty peeved to say the least. Once we set sail, we motored to our first island- Bamboo island. As this was a snorkelling trip, one would assume that the organisers would provide the necessary equipment, no such luck; this is Asia, nothing runs smoothly. Between the group, we each managed to get a swim and see the coral reef. The water was freezing and it wasn't the warmest of days. Still we persevered on. Our tour guide was extrovert to say the least. As it approached lunch time, we moored on the island known as the National park, where we we told we needed to pay extra. It was pouring it down with rain, so as a group we made the decision to eat our lunch and therefore not go on the island. This made our guide furious as obviously he was not going to make any additional money.
The weather got progressively worse and at one point I almost asked him to take us back, particularly when we spotted an over-turned long-tail boat, no bigger than ours. Thankfully the storm passed and we stopped in a beautiful cove, just shy of the famous Maya beach. The guide suddenly cut the engine and refused to the us any further without his money. Most if not all of us had only done the trip to see Maya. As a group we made the decision to pay him. Obviously I disagreed with paying extra, but sometimes you need to look at the bigger picture; we were stranded on a boat in the middle of no where, what's an extra tenner!
We moored in a another cove just around the corner and were told we had to swim to the shore. The water was still pretty rough so Hayley and I decided to opt for life-jackets. I'm not sure if that made it easier or harder to swim. We scrambled the rocks and walked the 5 or so mins to the opposite side of the island. As we turned the corner, all I remember thinking is Wow! This is paradise. The water was crystal clear, the beach was covered in soft, golden sand and the view was just spectacular. Some people had told me it was dirty and a waste of time. I'm glad I opted to go and see it for myself.
On the way home, we stopped at Monkey beach, which unsurprisingly was a beach full of monkeys. Although, it wasn't as impressive as some of the other beaches I'd visited, it was a great opportunity to get up close to the monkeys, even if they were a little greedy!
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