Phuket, Thailand

We left Phi Phi at 9:30 on the ferry to go to Phuket, the journey took one and half hours and we once again arrived to a busy port. We then caught a mini bus to Kata beach on the southwest, which is meant to be the best beach on the island. Our very nice mini bus driver then helped us find accommodation, when we arrived we found our room to be lovely and spacious and rite in the center of town. We explored the area and walked to Kata beach and Kata Noi beach, which was a lot quieter. After a couple days of relaxing in Kata we made our way to ladyboy central.... Patong! We walked through the street during the day and it seemed pretty normal, however at night it was a different story. After refusing to pay 500 baht (10 pounds) to watch a vaginal talent show we decided to quench our thirst with a beer and a game of connect four. A few beers later we decided "perhaps a vaginal talent show would be interesting" so off we went withouth paying the street price. We seen The: Whistle show, RazorBlade show, Frog Budgie & Eel show, Dart & Balloon show, Candle show, Ping pong show and the Smoking and Ribbon show! When the show was finished we all needed another stiff drink, so we carried on until the early hours! The following day we hopped back on the bus to take us to Phuket town. There we decided we would head to Koh Samui the next day but needed to find somewhere to sleep for that night. 5 minutes down the road was the On On Hotel which also features in the film "The Beach" 2 pounds a night each wasnt bad even with the extra cockroaches. We went for a walk around town amd was happy to find a large park filled with lakes and wildlife, that night we retired early ready for our early journey the next morning.

Phi Phi, Thailand

We caught the boat from Krabi to Koh Phi Phi Don and arrived to a hectic pier of hotel touts.
Ignoring them and storming to the main guest house strip, we quickly found a bamboo bungalow footsteps from the beach. Koh phi Phi is a interesting Island, The main hotel and shopping area is on top of a giant
sand bank, which separates two mountains. If you make the sweaty effort to walk to the top of Koh Phi Phi, the view point is amazing. In the evening Phi Phi really comes to life. Fire dancers on the beach and Western style Thai boxing.....quite interesting. Matt came away with burns on his arm after trying his hand at fire skipping and fire limbo (only small ones mum).

Day 2 & 3 - MATT
Got up early to book my place on a camping trip to Maya Bay (Where they filmed "The Beach"), only thirty people are allowed at one time and there is only one company in the world which has the permit to do this. Me and Andy got our stuff together and set off at 2:30 on the reggae reggae boat, we passed Viking cave and had 45 minutes snorkling at a reef before arriving at the bay. When we got there all the riff
raff and boats were leaving, perfect! We took some time to take photographs and had a cold beer whilst the sun went down, doesn't get much better than that. After sunset we sat down as a group and had dinner followed by a beach bucket of whiskey and coke whilst listening to music and being entertained by the local king crabs which come out at night and live in the trees. After dinner we all made a campfire, watched a firedance show and listened to the Thais playing guitars and bongo drums. The sea
was glistening with electric plankton, when you disturbed the water it came alive with green, purple and blue neon dots. We spent most of the night lying on the beach taking in the beauty of the place and watching the billions of stars which filled the sky. This is one experience I will never forget, and would love to do again.The next morning we woke up at 5:30am to the sunrise over the bay (Thought I was still dreaming) Had some time for a few more photos and a swim before the boats and tourists returned, my cue to leave. The rest of the day I felt very relaxed and that's exactly what I did.

Day 2 & 3 - Sam and Kyle

We started our day by walking to the top of the island to find the tsunami village. We expected to find maybe a memorial or museum but actually came to the new living quarters where the Phi Phi residents live. The houses were really unusual, they were on stilts with the living space situated on the second floor. we then walked back down to town before trekking up another load of stairs to Phi Phi viewpoint. The walk was really ho and sweaty but well worth the views right at the top. You could see
the two mountains and the connecting sandbar in the middle as well as a poster which provided a snapshot of the area after the tsunami had hit. We couldn't believe the destruction until later when we found out that the tsunami hit Phi Phi on both sides of the bay. There was a really nice garden on top with some unusual and beautiful flowers in. Today was Suzannes birthday, Happy Birthday to Suzanne! Sam was very saddened by the fact that this was the first of her mothers birthdays that she has missed and did not get to drink a penis colada with her. On the other hand we had a fantastic day out on
a boat trip. We were on the boat from 9:00-7:00 and it cost us 9.50. We`had a VIP boat with free tea and coffee, water, a toilet and there were only 5 of us! Our first stop was shark tip point where we were glad that we did not see any sharks whilst snorkeling. However we did get to feed the fish bread and the various fish made it a good first stop. Our next stop was a choppy boat ride to a bamboo island. Needless to say Kyle experienced sea sickness, haha! Bamboo island was definitely by far the most
picturesque beach we have ever seen. We had to get in a mini speedboat to get to the beach which we are not exaggerating when we say was choppy. Waves were coming over the side of the boat nearly washing us out to sea and making us hold on very tight. After Bamboo island we had a bumpy lunch before we sailed past mosquito island on towards monkey beach. We snorkelled again here whilst avoiding getting hit by the many stopping boats. There was lots of coral so there were loads of different varieties
of fish and sea urchins to look at.Our final stop was Maia bay which we swam too and entered through a tiny cove at the back. To end the trip we watched the sunset in the bay then returned too dry land.

Krabi, Thailand

Before moving on to Thailand we had to make our way back to Georgetown, Penang to arrange our 60 day Thai visas. We stayed in Georgetown for two nights at a guesthouse called StarLodge, owned by two Chinese brothers who loved to learn for free. The next day we made our way to the The Thai Embassy to apply for our visas, a long wait but luckily we all got accepted. The following morning we got picked up at 8 a.m for a 9 hour mini bus journey to Krabi, Thailand, which was a long, hot and uncomfortable journey. When we arrived we met up with our friends from Langkawi in our hotel, that night we all went to the food market and on to yet another ReggaeBar! The following morning we went for breakfast and then got a
TuckTuck to the Tiger Cave Temple in a tropical rainforest, which is a place of worship and home to over 250 Buddhist Monks. There is also a GIANT staircase of 1237 steps which winds up a limestone cliff, reaching the top will reward you with an incredible view and there is a huge sitting Buddha, a golden pagoda and a few other small constructions. Tho very sweaty and tired it was worth the hike! Tomorrow we will get a boat to out next stop Koh Phi Phi.

Pantai Cenang, Pulau Langkawi, Malaysia

That morning we got on another train which took us to Arau, the train was packed with school children and took alot longer than it should have, which seems to happen frequently here in Malaysia. Then we got a taxi to Kuala Perlis and made it just in time to sneak through the back door of the ferry to Pulau Langkawi. On the way we met a wild beast called andy, who turned out to be an alright guy.When we arrived we got a taxi to the nicest part of the island Pantai Cenang. We found our first nights accommadation at about 10:30 at night after being rejected by many full guesthouses, which wasnt so bad as the one we got was directly on the beach, next to a Reggae bar, with live music. The next day Sam got up early to get us a hut in the best guesthouse in town (Gecko) with the most amazing milkshakes, atmosphere and wildlife a guesthouse could have. We wake up to the sound of cockerills and monkeys every morning not forgetting the taste of the delicious banana pancakes! Chilled on the beach for a couple days and went for nice Malay food in the nights with our new friends, with a bit of hermit crab hunting and beer drinking on the beach in the evening. Today we went on a great island hopping boat trip for £5, the trip first took us to the lake of the pregnant maiden. From the ocean the hills look like a pregnant lady lying down, inside there is a fresh water lake which was great fun to swim in. On arrival sam got attacked by monkeys who robbed her of her cheesy twisters! The second stop of the trip was to watch some wild eagles feeding from the ocean, then we moved on to an island beach where we swam in the clear waters and played on the rope swing. Its a very hot island to stay on everyday hitting about 37!

Batu Ferringhi, Penang, Malaysia

After leaving Kuala Lumpur we headed for Butterworth station to get the ferry to Penang island. We arrived in Georgetown (Capital of Penang) 9 hours later. We stayed in our cheapest accommodation so far which was the YYYMMMCCCAAA. The next morning we got on a battered bus to Batu Ferrenghi (The first beach of our trip) we relaxed on the beach, and got burnt in 30 minutes, the sun here is very strong. In the evening we walked through the night market and also paid a visit to the fish spa, the fish eat your dead skin and now our feet feel like a babys assschvitz. For the next few days we chilled on the beach, watched the sunsets and ate in the local food court. On our last day in Penang we visited Teluk Bahang forest reserve, that night we got ready for our next journey to Pulau Langkawi!