Hello,
Again sorry about the lack of the blog for such a long time. We are going to try and catch up with all the Thai islands if possible.
We last let you in Bangkok where we got a VIP bus(our first) to Krabi. We stayed in Krabi town for a night and then headed onto our first island, Ko Phi Phi. Krabi is really just a stop off town for the islands.
Phi Phi is the first main touristy island off the west coast of Thailand and is one of the smallest along with Ko Tao on the east coast.
The island is probably most famous for its proximity to phi phi leh where the film the beach was set.
To be honest we were really tired and emotional when we reached phi phi and hadn't booked accommodation so when we were offered 'cheap' accommodation on the other side of the island from the main town we took it. Saying cheap, it was the most we had paid for accommodation in Thailand. When we reached our little bungalow we slept and had a look around in the night. There was a couple of restaurants and bars next to the bungalows and a really upmarket resort bext to us. We decided to walk to the main town the following morning to check it out. Boy, was that a mistake! It took us an hour and half of walking through jungle to get to the town. On the map it looked like a path but it was barely worn track. After staying in the town in the rain for a couple of hours, we realised we had to head back before it got dark. To be honest, taking a boat to our side of the island would have cost more than the room for the night and we decided to make the trek ourselves.
After asking several times for directions, we went back a different way hoping there would be a path cause we could not imagine that the path we used was the official path. We were proved wrong. The path lasted about 400 metres and after that forest tracks. God only knows how we chose the right ones and finally after an hour and a half we made it back to our side of the island. We were not making that journey again. Unfortunately the damage had already been done. Because I was wearing shorts and bikini top for the trek and Bourkie was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, we got completely eaten alive. I had about 50 bites between my back and legs,cold water didnt even help, not that we had hot water!
The following day we promised ourselves a relaxing day on the beach. We first headed to a local restaurant where the owner noticed my bites and offered to make a home remedy lotion that I could collect that evening. Already feeling better we headed to the local beach where we had landed the first day and it was deserted except for the longtail boats and their owners who were asleep!We relaxed there for a while before it started raining and headed back to the bungalow. Now when I say bungalow, there is a room with a bed, mosquito net and a little desk and chair. The walls are made with bamboo as well as the roof.The window is just a cut of piece of the wall with a pole to keep it closed. The bathroom is made of cement, we were lucky, we had a flushing toilet though the shower head wasn't attached to the wall and it was cold. We were soon to realise that the Thai Islands dont offer hot water unless you really want to fork out non-backpacker amounts.
To be honest phi phi is still recovering from the tsunami in 2004. There is alot of construction and rubbish lying around the main town. Everything is hugely overpriced to try and compensate for their losses following the tsunami.The beach in the main village is narrow and rough and when the tide goes out it goes out 50 metres revealing ugly rocks.
We wanted to go to phi phi leh but to go from our side of the island we would have had to charter a private boat and with there being just the two of us, was just too expensive.
The following day we made our way back to the main town, Ton Sai to get a boat to Ko Lanta.
We always had the fear that the islands were going to be disappointing but it got better from there on thank god.
We reached Lanta in the afternoon and got offered accommodation on the boat which was half the price and much nicer because it was part of a resort. There was about 15 bungalows around a pool and it was right next to the beach which was lined with nice bars and hotels. It was a more laid back resort with resorts spread out around the island.
We spent 3 lovely relaxing days on Lanta, sampling the local cuisine of freshly barbecued fish on the beach with a baked potato,salad and a beer for less than 3 euro each!We got to sample some nice cocktails as well!
Cause its taking ages to get photos up from here in Lombok we're going to update this tomorrow.
