Apr 2008

We left Krabi on the afternoon after Clare's celebratory cocktail (and several beers!). We got a small taxi followed by a bigger taxi (these are just pickup trucks of varying sizes) to a bus after a 20 minute drive to the port. We boarded a very sturdy boat which had life jackets on each seat (reassuringly) and headed off to the wonder of Phi Phi island (pronounced Pee Pee.........titter!). We arrived in the late afternoon and were immediately faced by the usual flock of people who greet the boats and tout you for their business (they want you to stay at their guest houses). After safely navigating past these people we set off with a plan which involved me sitting ina bar and waiting for Clare to roam the very narrow streets to find the cheapest and cleanest accomodation... whilst she was gone the waiotress at the bar asked if we needed a room much to my amusement and we accepted it as it was 200 Baht cheaper than most of the rooms and better than the 600 Baht room Clare sent me to check out after her wander. the room has air con and a tv but we're not sure what it's called. We presume it has something to do with the bar/restaurant which is called Cosmic but we could be wrong!
On the first night we decided to just walk around the streets and discover all the places to eat or drink and look at all the boards advertising exciting things to do on Phi Phi. We decided upon a full day boat tour for the following day and headed to find some food. Whilst eating we realised how small a world we live in as the guy we'd been chatting to oh Koh Pangnan stooped outside and was chatting to other people...we unfairly refer to him as the 'boring guy' as his conversations are tiresome...but in true polite fashion we shouted our 'hellos' and he came over for a chat. He hastily retreated as the food came to our table but we said we'd meet him in the bar opposite after food for a few drinks with his new-found friends.
We went across to Jordans (the local Irish bar) and played Connect Four until they arrived (who knew how competitive Clare could be...and how ungracious she can be in -several- defeats?!). The other kids arrived (I say 'kids' because they were ranged from 19 to 21...) and we got talking....the conversation turned to music as it seems to be the thing that can untie people and we took over the music for about 4 hours with our requests to the DJ... I must say it was a great night in the end, maybe because it turned into weird form of karaoke...but we left around 1am as we had the boat trip the following morning and didn't want to be facing the open water with too much hangover!
The boat trip was amazing... our first stop was on Maya beach which was the setting for the film The Beach. We stopped in a cove and were told to don our snorkelling masks (but not flippers) and to swim (with flip flops on hands) over to the rocks on the far side. I did so with gusto, maybe too much so, as I didn't realise what lay ahead! We had to struggle with the waves and try and put flip flops on in the water dodging the coral under-foot so we could try and grab the ropes leading to the smae gap in the rocks which would take us to The Beach. I flailed around for a while whilst Claer slowly made her way there before scambling across the coral to the small gap. At which point I realised I'd sliced my finger open on the rocks and was bleeding all over myself... Regardless we made our way along the path surrounded by lovely trees and beautiful scenery to The Beach. A total disappointment awaited me... The Beach was swarmed by boat trippers, the water full of speed boats...my hopes of finding the most beautiful place on the planet were dashed by roaring boat motors....we made our hasty retreat back to the boat...and snorkelled in the bay we'd moored at.
The second stop was the Long Beach for snorkelling with the Reef Sharks (I saw none!) then to Bamboo Island for kayaking (never EVER do this with Clare!) and more snorkelling. Then to Monkey Beach (I saw NO MONKEYS!) for a swim and more snorkelling.
Luckily this was our last stop as I was all snorkelled out and ready for some food. We ate....then went to bed as the day had been long and tiring. This meant that today has been mostly spent on the beach...sunbathing!
One more thing to add...Phi Phi was devastated by the Tsunami in 2004. Today we found the only building that remained standing after the waves struck, it's a hotel and it was used as a medical centre in the aftermath...this is a truely haunting place for me... and the evacuation route signs send chills up my spine.

We've stayed in Krabi for three days now... Clare decided (after a lot of deliberation) to do her PADI qualification so she could become a scuba diver! They shortened the course to 3 days so we didn't have to stay here too long and today...she qualified!
On the first day of her training I hired another scooter as I wanted to get to the local beach which is a couple of miles away. I took off along completely the wrong road and ended up on a three lane motorway headed towards Phuket...not an ideal start I must admit so I took the first left exit (as I did not fancy doing a U- Turn on the busy road and headed back towards Krabi. I visited a 7-11 for a drop of water and consulted the map (a particularly useless one!) and decided which roads I needed to take to get to the beach... I successfully hopped back on the bike to find it wobbly wheeled and I knew something was wrong! I stopped as soon as I found a good spot and tried to figure out the problem...a few seconds later I spotted that the back wheel was flat...I was stuck on the side of a dual carriageway with no clue how I was going to get the bike anywhere when a little ice cream man (the have mopeds with caged sidecars) came back down the wrong side of the road to come to my rescue! He spoke no English, he simply left his wife with his ice cream and wheeled my bike across the busy road and straight to a repair shop... It was amazing! After a lot of thank yous they guys set to work on the bike...after a lot of hammering and chin scratching later they had the wheel off and showed me the huge rip in the inner tube. They replaced it for a total of 150 Baht and sent me on my merry way in the most horrific rain storm!
Basically it felt like someone was throwing buckets of water in my face and I could barely see so I trundled back to the hostel to change my very wet clothes and wait for Clare to finish. It was a truamatic day!
The next didn't get any better... I sent Clare off to 'school' and sat down at a cafe and tried to decide what to do with my day (no scooters!)... I decided to have a wander around town however the first corner I turned was carnage! Some poor holiday maker had been run over by a van and there was a lot of confusion and blood!
Luckily though she managed to get to her feet and was helped into the back of a police pcik up truck and taken to the hospital. It was at that moment that I decided that a brisk walk along the river and then back to the safety of the hostel were the best course of action!
I sat there watching the only English speaking tv channel...which happened to be the Australia network which was showing an Aussie Rules football game... I still have no understanding of it but was was rooting for the Collingwood team who are nicknamed the magpies...of course!
Clare found me 3 beers later looking dazed and confused at the tv....
She had a great day doing her first dive (but I'm sure she will write about that herself!)...and we headed to the diving school/bar to have a few drinks with some girls from Manchester, then onto thte night market for some lovely (and very cheap) food!
Today I was allowed along for her second day of diving and I snorkelled around the reefs with a Danish guy called Morton who was very inquisitive. Clare did two dives today which seemed to take forever but on the first dive we were joined at the boat by two other with sightseers from Thailand who were also snorkelling. They fed us some melon and a banana and had lots of questions and basically wanted to try out the very few words they knew in English. The day was great though, I swam with lots of pretty fish on the surface whilst Clare was weighted down and sent to the bottom...she did get to see seahorses though but she's a bit jealous that I saw four swordfish!
I spent quite a lot of time on the deck of the boat though and even though I regularly applied the factor 30 I seem to have forgotten to do my knees as they are now red raw and very hot...much to Clare's amusement!
We got back and showered and Clare had to sit her exam which would have been more tense if they had made her go upstairs to the classroom but instead she sat opposite me slurping her Sprite as she ticked boxes and scratched her head!
92% and she only needed 75% to pass! So she has now got her temporary PADI card so she can go diving in the next 90 days whilst she waits on the official (and no doubt laminated) card!
I got her a cocktail as a celebration...

Koh Pangnan was beautiful! We decided to hire a scooter to tour the island as there is no public transport apart from the expensive taxis. So for 200 Baht we got a scooter for a day. I quickly learnt how to use it (it was automatic so no gear changing needed), popped Clare on the back and off we scooted! We wanted to check out the waterfalls that are dotted all over the island as they are supposed to be spectacular...however we soon found out that unless you're there during the monsoon weather the waterfall are actually dry or just a simple trickle of water! It was good though because we got to see lots of things along the roadside and got to stop where we wanted to have food (we found a very English pub called the Mason Arms which even had the smoking ban!) and we saw more beaches along the West of the island. That evening we watched the football in the hostel because we didn't want to scooter in the dark to the pub and was very glad to see the score (2-0!!!) before we headed off to the Full Moon party in Haad Rin. We had to cover ourselves in neon paint (as this is a tradition apparently!) and we got a cheap ride to Haad Rin from the hostel staff in their jeeps. The beach was packed with people and there was a big police presence there... we grabbed a bucket of booze (apparently Sangsom is actually rum not whiskey!) and tried to keep up with the other hostel people (we lost them in about 10 minutes!)... we mostly spent the evening sitting on the beach chatting as there were too many people dancing outside the main pubs playing music and there were frequent toilet trips needed (the alcohol and noise of the waves are a bad combination!). However, this slow pace was to our advantage as many people left quite early to head home and we managed to stay until the sunrise over the beach at about 6am and Clare took lots of pictures of the sky changing colour...I, unfortunately, got to witness boys peeing in the sea and one vomitting...so no paddling for us! We got a taxi home around 6:30am which was paid for by a very chatty Irish man in a poncho before falling into bed and sleeping until 2 the next afternoon! That day was pretty much a write-off and we drank plenty of water and ate lots of food!
The following day was our last on the island so we decided to hire the scooter again and discover the north east side of the island. This was a much more difficult ride as the roads were mostly dirt with some very steep hills! We managed to make it though and were glad we did it as the bay in the north east was ebautiful and we discovered a little town which had the bumpiest road ever but was so laid back is was great. We had lunch in a bar called Rasta Baby which was amazing! The design of the bar, the friendly staff, the cats trying to teal Clare's fish and the views..brilliant, I'd recommend it to anyone!
We scootered home after our late lunch and watched a film until we were both tired enough to get an early night so we were both ready by 6:30am the next morining to go catch the boat at 7am to the mainland. We both slept on the boat which took us directly to the bus to Krabi, which, in our previous experience, was quite a novelty! The journey didn't take too long and we arrived at the port of Krabi so people going to Koh Phi Phi could catch their boat and we could find a hostel in the tourist office for us that night. They were very helpful and we have a room in a hostel called Bai Leaf for 300 Baht a night. The rooms are clean with en suite bathroom and a fan! One downside....last night we discoered we're sharing our room with Skippy Mark 2 who scuttled across the bed and sent Clare screaming out of the door leaving me to cahse it around the room hopelessly (I can't stand them either but one of us had to be pro-active!). I failed to catch him so he slept under our bed and didn't show his face again (I hope!). Clare also booked herself some diving lessons when we were out walking around town last night. She's doing her training this morning and the dives over the next couple of days which leaves me with lots of time to wander around Krabi and figure out where we're going next and how we're going to get there!
I think we're heading for Koh Phi Phi next (where the filmed 'The Beach') then on to Phuket (pronounced 'poo-get' not any other way you might find amusing!)

We have said farewell to Bangkok... we did so in style by visiting the red light district (finally!) which was an experirence I won't forget, unfortunately! It is, as they say, a tourist trap now and there were loads of stalls set up and lots of neon signs. It was also terrifying! There were men with little cards just said 'porn dvd' and we got dragged into a strip club by some man on the street. We paid 300 Baht each and got a free drink but it was horrible. We sat and were harrassed for the entire time for money and were entirely uncomfortable. We gave them the little money we had left even though none of the dancers had 'performed' any of their rountines. Although we did see things we never want to see again...bottles of beer being opened without the use of limbs (the only polite way of saying it!) and the classic ping pong (which Clare was disappointed to find out had nothing to do with table tennis...)

We finally left Bangkok on Thursday night around 6pm and headed on a bus to Kho Pangnan. It was an over night bus which we thought would be comfortable enough for 12 hours. However, although Clare is capable of falling asleep practically anywhere, I am not. So I spent many hours just hoping the time would pass quickly or that we'd stop for another break. I survived though and we arrived at a port at 6am. We sat waiting for 2 hours...and were put on another bus for an hour (this was not the main ferry port!). We finally got on a boat which was fantastic...we lined the edges of the boat to try and catch some sun whilst skimming across the water. The first drop off was Kho Samui which looked chaotic with taxi people trying to get some business from thse disembarking.
Another hour on the boat and we arrived at our destination which was even more chaotic as they were literally throwing backpacks off the boat to the pier and you had to dig under other bags to find your own! I managed to get ours successfully though and we ran away from the taxi people as they were trying to charge 100 Baht per person which we thought was very steep. We already knew we had a free lift from the hostel anyway and it was just a case of calling them and telling them we had arrived. We had only one slight problem...they said satnd outside the 7/11 store and there were two! We chose the wrong one of course...the man found us eventually and in no time we were checked in.
The hostel is called Power Beach resort and the rooms are quite basic but we have a room, a bed, a shower and a western toilet so we can't complain! Also they serve food, beer and havea swimming pool and... hammocks outside the room!
We also went out to Haad Rin with our Swedish neighbours (one is a half Irish) which is where the Full Moon Party is tomorrow night just to have a look around but ended up drinking buckets of a combination of Sangsom (Thai whiskey), coke and redbull...and dancing on the beach until 2am! Then is started to rain...really badly...the streets turned to rivers and we grabbed a crepe from a stall and waited for a taxi.I must explain about the taxis though, they are all jeeps and have a cover on the back and seats and can fit about 12 people in. So they earn a fortune at 100 Baht for each passenger!
Tomrrow is the real Full moon party so we're heading to a bar near the hostel to watch the football (Newcastle v Sunderland....very important!)before heading out later on to enjoy dancing on the beach again (we will be careful!). We're also going to try and get to the waterfalls on the island during the day as they are supposed to be beautiful.

It's still an ongoing affair...I'm a bit bored of it now and I'm tired of being in soaking wet clothes for the entire day! So today for Clare's birthday I booked us into a hotel behind the Khao San Road. It's called the Viengtai Hotel and I we have one of the best rooms in the place (not quite penthouse though and it cost 5400 Baht for 2 nights which isn't quite as bad as I thought it was going to be....and we have a swimming pool! The room is lovely and there's even a TV and air-con that actually makes you feel freezing cold! It's a luxury existence compared to what we're used to.
Tonight we're trying to get away from the water fighting and we have devised a cunning plan involing carrying dry clean clothes and getting in a tuk tuk or a taxi to another district and changing out of our soggy stuff there! On a positive note I finally managed to get my flip flops dry today in the sun by the pool, however, the street is awash and they are damp yet again! Hopefully tomorrow on Clare's actual birthday things here will be a bit more normal!
We didn't make it to the red light district last night but maybe tonight we will...
Apart from the water and the clay they paint you with and me not being happy about being in large groups of people and being squirted repeatedly in the eyes (not good with contact lenses!) I'm having fun!