Phuket to Phi Phi

Today we had a lie in, got up at 10, checked out at 11 and were picked up around 12 by a minibus. We drove for an hour to a harbour where we got on a huge boat to Phi Phi Don, one of the Phi Phi Islands, the only one inhabited. It took over 2 and a half hours to get there but the boat was fairly comfy.

When we arrived we were greeted by a man with the name of the guesthouse we are staying in on a wooden board. It was cheaper to have a private room in this guesthouse than a bunk bed in a dorm room so we have our own room for a week which is nice. The dude loaded our stuff onto a trailer and guided us to the guesthouse. He was walking so fast we had to almost jog to keep up! It was about a 10 - 15 minute walk through the village.

We checked in and lay on the bed for a bit doing some research into what to do while here and where to go after. Then around half 6 we went for dinner. We just stopped at the first place we came across. I had Pad Thai with beef which was really nice, and Lauren had a toastie and chips. We sat next to the ocean watching the light fade. It was pretty nice.

After dinner we wandered round the village for a couple of hours seeing what's what and looking at tours. Then we returned to the hostel to cool off with the aircon.

Privet Phuket Tour

We had a nice lay-in this morning to recover from two busy days, eventually getting up around half ten. We were being picked up at 2 so headed off to find some lunch around half 11. After we'd eaten we booked our transport for tomorrow and headed back to the hostel. I was pretty tired and very hot and apparently feel asleep but Lauren woke me up when it was time to go.

We were picked up by our driver called Emma in quite a fancy car and drove past some nice and quiet beaches to Karon view point where we could see three beaches on the south side of the Phuket Island. It was a beautiful view.

Next we drove to the Big Buddha, which is a big Buddha statue on the top of a hill which can be seen from quite far around. It's  45 metres tall. We walked around the Buddha statue and also got some nice views from there.

Next we went on a short drive to Chalong temple. It was a very beautiful temple. Whilst we were there some guy set off firecrackers in a little hut a few metres away from us, scaring us both to death.  Emma, our driver, said something about the temple which I thought was that it is the oldest in Thailand but I don't know if I heard her right.

Our fourth stop was quite brief. It was at a cashew nut factory and shop. We saw two woman deshelling the nuts and tried many different flavour cashew nuts but didn't buy anything. After this we continued on to Phuket Town where Emma drove us round on a very short tour. We drove down a street that consists of many different coloured old buildings and then onto our next stop.

Our penultimate stop was at the top of Rung Hill. From here we got a good view across the city and to the sea. We could also see the Big Buddha in the distance. We then drove back into Phuket town to visit the weekend night market. We arrived around 5:45 and wandered round. It was very big. There was food stalls, clothes stalls, shoe stalls, souvenir stalls and more. We both got sunglasses, stickers, and some cake from a stall that had the most amazing looking cakes. At half 7 we met back up with Emma who drove us back to our hostel.

We had a quick stop to drop off some stuff and then headed out to Bangla Road, the busiest street in Patong. We had a couple of cocktails and then headed back to the hostel exhausted and into bed.

James Bond Island

This morning we got up at 8:45 and got ready for a day out. We were picked up around 10 and drove for almost 2 hours to Monkey Cave, also known as Suwan Kuha Temple. It was, as the two names suggest, a temple inside a cave with a few monkeys hanging about outside. A very few I might add. We had a quick look inside the temple and then got back on the minibus for a ten minute ride to the boat. It was a long tail boat holding a whole load of us. We had to collect a life jacket and clamber on, sitting on wooden beaches in rows of 4 or 5.

We then went on a short but scenic ride to a Muslim floating village where we stopped for lunch as it was about 1pm by this point. The mosque was clearly visible rising above the houses/shacks. Lunch was at a restaurant where we had chicken with cashew nuts, chicken drumsticks and rice. There was also some fish options which we didn't have. This restaurant was clearly where all the tour groups came for lunch. Boats were coming and going and there was loads of people.

After lunch we all got back on the boat and continued to the main sight seeing point of the tour, an island commonly known as James Bond Island. It was the setting for the villains evil lair in the film 'The Man With The Golden Gun' and has been inundated with tourists ever since. We were only there for about half an hour, just long enough to get the iconic photo and have a quick wander round. Then we all got back on the boat. There was a bit of a commotion as one English man was wanting to get back into a seat where he has been sitting previously, despite the fact every one else had just sat in random seats. It ended with a girl moving seats and the English dude becoming very angry and aggressive, culiminating in two other dudes who were sitting where the English dude wanted to sit being called a very nasty word for no good reason.

We were only in these seats for about 20 minutes as we quickly arrived at our final stop; sea canoeing. Or at least that's what it was called but it was more like kayaking. We got in rubber kayaks, two to a boat and sat with our legs over the side. A dude called Ali paddled us round through caves and small holes in the rock formation while singing us lines from random songs. It was quite short but a nice way to see the limestone rock formations. We then got back on the big boat and headed back to the buses.

We arrived back at the hostel before half 6 and power walked down to the beach in an attempt to watch the sunset as the sky seemed to be clearer that yesterday. However after we got there the clouds came over and we couldn't see a thing. So we gave up and went for dinner at a bar that had a live band belting out some classics such as the BeeGees, ABBA and Aerosmith. We stayed for a while before heading back to the hostel and attempting to get an early night as we have an early start tomorrow.

Patong Beach

Today was a fairly laid back day. We got up at half 9, after a night that involved being woken up by a singing drunk girl who was demanding the WiFi password at about half 3. We got dressed and went to find somewhere for breakfast. We ordered sausage bacon and beans. The sausages were weird and neither of us ate them but the rest was fine. We spent the rest of the morning organising our time here on Phuket Island and getting information on where we want to go next.

Around half 12/1pm we headed to the beach and spent the rest of the afternoon there. The sea was quite brown when you got near it but we had a swim anyway. The water was quite warm and the sun was boiling. We wanted to watch the sunset but it disappeared behind some clouds just before setting however the sky went a nice colour. Around 7pm we went for dinner. We went to a restaurant that we went past on the route to the hostel. I had a really nice Panang Curry and Lauren had chicken drumsticks. Then we headed back to the hostel.

Our room is currently baking hot, despite the air con apparently being on. It's too uncomfortable to sleep. Lauren has just gone down to reception to ask them what's going on as it wasn't like this yesterday. I'll let you know tomorrow how the night goes....

Plane to Phuket

This morning we didn't have to check out until 12 so had a lay in. I got up at 10am and packed all my stuff which had been spread out all round the room as we had been in the same place for so long. We got a tuktuk to Khao San Road where we had pizza for lunch and then got a tuktuk back to the hostel around 1:45. A taxi picked us up at 2:45pm as we were told it would take 2 hours to get to the airport. It took 45 minutes. We checked in and I had my dry shampoo confiscated as I had forgotten it was in my hand luggage, which was really annoying. Dry shampoo is expensive!

Our flight was at 17:45 to Phuket and it was only a short flight, about an hour and 10 minutes. We were seated in an exit row so there was only two seats in our row and plenty of leg room which was fab. Across the aisle was a seat for a flight attendant as well as the two seats and we watched as the young air steward appeared to nod off whilst seating during take off. 

Once we landed we collected out bags and got a minibus to Patong, the town we were staying in, that dropped us off outside our hostel. The drivers phone kept ringing the whole time we were driving and his ring tone was the sound of a girl screaming which was kind of weird and unnerving. I guess it would get your attention though. We chatted to two English people on the bus who was travelling round Thailand at the moment which was nice. They have us tips for when we go to North Thailand later on.

We checked into the hostel around 9:30pm and then went to the shop for water which was desperately needed before returning to bed.