Boat Trip To Phi Phi Don, Phi Phi Lae And Maya Bay

Good evening! It's been at least a couple of days since I last blogged. Unfortunately there was a power failure at the ISP here in Phuket and so internet access was unavailable until power was restored this morning. It's funny, and perhaps sad, how I really missed the Internet during those two days. It's not like I've been spending hours on the Internet during our time in Phuket, but I feel much happier when I can check my e-mail once a day and read the lastest posts on my website. Of course, I do have a valid reason for checking my e-mails every day, and that is that I have several customers who rely on Riverside Internet to host their websites and e-mail. As my company consists of just me, then I have to be able to respond to any issues they might have even when I am holiday. And one such issue did occur, when a customer rebuilt their computer and lost all of their e-mail passwords.

Anyway, back to the holiday. So what's been happening during the last two days? Well, two days ago (after the safari), Maria and I decided that we would have a day relaxing on the beach. So this is what we did. We got up late, had breakfast late and spent most of the afternoon lazing around on the beach and swimming in the sea. In the evening, we went for a meal and then decided we would have a larger than usual drinking session. We quickly found a bar that we liked and ordered a couple of beers.

After a few more Chang beers, Maria and I got talking to a couple from Switzerland who were sitting next to us. They were probably about 10 years older than us. They told us that they had just spent two weeks seeing the "real" Thailand and were now spending a week in Phuket. They got the bus back from somewhere in the depths of Thailand yesterday - I can't remember where. The 5 hour public transport bus service (without air-conditioning) cost them only 260 Baht. Well, that's what we pay for the 5 minute Tuk-Tuk ride from Patong beach to Baan Yin Dee. Apparently they ate a lot of traditional Thai food and only yesterday were eating cockroaches. I think they were brave. Well, not brave, but I guess I am just quite set in my ways and would not be that keen on doing something similar.

We carried on drinking into the night. For a long time we drank. The four of us got talking to the Thai staff behind the bar. We all played a game of Jenga at the bar and downed countless beers and shots of tequila and whisky. We were all very drunk by the end of the night. I ended up telling the Swiss couple about my holidays to Kandersteg with the Scouts and they asked us where would be good places to visit in the UK. It was a fun night. I can't really remember the Tuk-Tuk journey home!

The next day, we woke up feeling a little hungover. What made matters worse was the fact that today we had booked a boat trip to the islands of Phi Phi Don and Phi Phi Lae. Maria is not a good traveller anyway and I was worried about how she would cope on a speedboat with a hangover . We were picked up from the hotel at 11:30am. Maria managed to survive the car journey to the port, but looked extremely white and was nervous about boarding the boat. We asked the staff for a couple of plastic bags (just in case) and then we got on the boat with about 10 other people. The boat sped off. And as the day went on, we both felt better.

We had a fantastic day. We stopped off at two remote beaches where we were allowed to sunbath and swim. There were no facilities on these beaches as they were so remote. The first stop was Monkey Beach, so called because monkeys sometimes come down from the jungle to the beach - but we never saw any. I was a little disappointed by this first stop-off. There was litter all over the tiny beach and I wondered i) why did people drop litter there? and ii) why was it not cleared up by anyone?

Monkey Beach on the island of Phi Phi Don.

The second stop was at Maya Bay where the film "The Beach" was filmed. This stop was incredible. The beach was lovely. There was no litter and the views were out of this world. The boat also stopped in the waters off the islands at one point. We were allowed to jump off the boat into the sea and swim around. Maria and I swam and trod water for about 40 minutes. We were surrounded by literally thousands of tropical fish. The water was so clear and the fish around us were absolutely beautiful, spectacularly coloured. Really, it was amazing.

Maya Bay on the island of Phi Phi Lae.

I've gotta go now. We are going out for our last dinner in Phuket! See you all soon!