Our ferry from Railay took us to the infamous Ko Phi Phi Don island. We had heard so much about this island, with comments such as ‘the most 
beautiful place on Earth’ abound. We arrived at the dock on Phi Phi however to find a bit of a tourist hell. The 2004 Tsunami hit hard here and there was evidence everywhere that things were being rebuilt with lightning speed. We walked the packed streets of the illegal ‘tourist town’ on the sandbar between the two island peaks to our hostel, passing tonnes of sweaty sunburnt Brits, diving, internet, clothes and souvenir shops. The place stank of sewage - we figured the systems there could not keep up with the rapid pace of tourism development. 
We had a private wooden bungalow for the night, which was passable (even though the floorboards were about two millimetres thick and threatened to give way every time we walked in!). That afternoon we had some late lunch in town then looked to escape the suffocating tourism as soon as possible. With a bit of effort, hiking up into the hills and down a jungle-clad hillside, we discovered that Phi Phi was actually an absolutely stunning island. We snorkelled on an 
almost deserted beach on the far side of the island with some lovely coral reef then had a beer in the little bar on the sand. With only about 5 people on the whole beach it was perfect, and couldn’t have been more different from the main bit of the island. We walked back to the hilltop and watched the sun set over the island (along with 50 other tourists who had the same idea, doh!) with some tasty local peanut sugar crackers (a big hit with Gaz!).
Our efforts to avoid the tourists reached new heights the next day. Having seen ‘The Beach’ a fair few times, we were both very keen to make the trip by boat to Maya Beach (the place the film was shot), which was on Ko Phi Phi Leh, about half an hour away. We had made adventurous plans with a local boat captain to charter his long tailed boat at 6am the next day in order to arrive before the tourist boats ("why do you want to go there when there are no people there"?....). However, we woke in the dark at 5am to see huge lightning bolts lighting up the sky. We got down to the beach to see huge thunder clouds as dawn approached. The captain turned up and said the trip wasn’t a good plan as the approaching storm would make the seas too heavy for a long tailed boat. Reluctantly (and with big pouts) we agreed and went for breakfast. 
However, by 7am the skies had cleared a bit so we went back. The guy said we could go, but only if we went with his father in his ‘bigger boat’. We couldn’t turn down the chance so we agreed and off we went. We discovered that the guys did actually know what they were on about and soon we were buffeted by huge waves, crashing over the crests and getting pretty soaked. Despite Gaz falling off his seat on one of the bigger waves (much to Rach’s amusement) we survived intact, just, and we were soon entering the sheltered natural harbour of Maya Beach. We landed on the sand with only about 5 other people there. It was picture perfect and definitely worth the effort. We explored The Beach for a while before heading inland to the jungle. On our return we found all the tourist boats had arrived and the place was like a circus. We felt pretty chuffed to have had the place to ourselves earlier, so got back on the boat and headed home. A brilliant, if slightly insane, trip.
We had planned to stay 4 nights at Ko Phi Phi, and left after only one. We took a ferry that afternoon to Ko Lanta , finding on arrival the island we hoped Ko Phi Phi would be. Lots of locals, less English spoken and everything very cheap – hurrah we were getting to see the real Thailand at last! After suffering the mobbing by the touts at the pier (we resorted to evil looks to keep them at bay) we got a 4x4 to our beachfront hotel in the town of Hat Klong Nin. We checked in, then hired a scooter from the hotel and zoomed out to explore the island. We spent a great afternoon and evening zipping past little villages, waving at the kids and dodging chickens on the road. We stopped in Lanta Old town and watched the sunset with an awesome Tamarind tea in a deserted pier restaurant before finishing the evening in a hilltop restaurant with some spicy Thai curries.
beautiful place on Earth’ abound. We arrived at the dock on Phi Phi however to find a bit of a tourist hell. The 2004 Tsunami hit hard here and there was evidence everywhere that things were being rebuilt with lightning speed. We walked the packed streets of the illegal ‘tourist town’ on the sandbar between the two island peaks to our hostel, passing tonnes of sweaty sunburnt Brits, diving, internet, clothes and souvenir shops. The place stank of sewage - we figured the systems there could not keep up with the rapid pace of tourism development. 
We had a private wooden bungalow for the night, which was passable (even though the floorboards were about two millimetres thick and threatened to give way every time we walked in!). That afternoon we had some late lunch in town then looked to escape the suffocating tourism as soon as possible. With a bit of effort, hiking up into the hills and down a jungle-clad hillside, we discovered that Phi Phi was actually an absolutely stunning island. We snorkelled on an 
almost deserted beach on the far side of the island with some lovely coral reef then had a beer in the little bar on the sand. With only about 5 people on the whole beach it was perfect, and couldn’t have been more different from the main bit of the island. We walked back to the hilltop and watched the sun set over the island (along with 50 other tourists who had the same idea, doh!) with some tasty local peanut sugar crackers (a big hit with Gaz!).
Our efforts to avoid the tourists reached new heights the next day. Having seen ‘The Beach’ a fair few times, we were both very keen to make the trip by boat to Maya Beach (the place the film was shot), which was on Ko Phi Phi Leh, about half an hour away. We had made adventurous plans with a local boat captain to charter his long tailed boat at 6am the next day in order to arrive before the tourist boats ("why do you want to go there when there are no people there"?....). However, we woke in the dark at 5am to see huge lightning bolts lighting up the sky. We got down to the beach to see huge thunder clouds as dawn approached. The captain turned up and said the trip wasn’t a good plan as the approaching storm would make the seas too heavy for a long tailed boat. Reluctantly (and with big pouts) we agreed and went for breakfast. 
However, by 7am the skies had cleared a bit so we went back. The guy said we could go, but only if we went with his father in his ‘bigger boat’. We couldn’t turn down the chance so we agreed and off we went. We discovered that the guys did actually know what they were on about and soon we were buffeted by huge waves, crashing over the crests and getting pretty soaked. Despite Gaz falling off his seat on one of the bigger waves (much to Rach’s amusement) we survived intact, just, and we were soon entering the sheltered natural harbour of Maya Beach. We landed on the sand with only about 5 other people there. It was picture perfect and definitely worth the effort. We explored The Beach for a while before heading inland to the jungle. On our return we found all the tourist boats had arrived and the place was like a circus. We felt pretty chuffed to have had the place to ourselves earlier, so got back on the boat and headed home. A brilliant, if slightly insane, trip.
We had planned to stay 4 nights at Ko Phi Phi, and left after only one. We took a ferry that afternoon to Ko Lanta , finding on arrival the island we hoped Ko Phi Phi would be. Lots of locals, less English spoken and everything very cheap – hurrah we were getting to see the real Thailand at last! After suffering the mobbing by the touts at the pier (we resorted to evil looks to keep them at bay) we got a 4x4 to our beachfront hotel in the town of Hat Klong Nin. We checked in, then hired a scooter from the hotel and zoomed out to explore the island. We spent a great afternoon and evening zipping past little villages, waving at the kids and dodging chickens on the road. We stopped in Lanta Old town and watched the sunset with an awesome Tamarind tea in a deserted pier restaurant before finishing the evening in a hilltop restaurant with some spicy Thai curries.
The following day we embarked on an elephant trekking adventure to the middle of the island. We were driven in the back of a 4x4 by a Michael Schumacher wannabe to the little family run place. We waited whilst our elephant was led around to us and soon we were up and going! It was great fun, but also quite uncomfy and scary – especially downhill as we slipped forward in our seats and had to cling on for dear life! ‘Naa’ the elephant trekked up the hillside with us two heavy chuffers on her back for half an hour, passing little village huts, banana trees and more waving locals. We disembarked and a local guide took us on a sweaty 45 minute walk up through a treacherous jungle pathway to the isolated ‘Tiger Caves’. 
We delved down into the deserted caves, climbing little wooden ladders and getting filthy scrambling on our hands and knees through tiny gaps. Our guide was a bit mental and laughed and screeched for the entire time we were in the caves. However, he did sh
ow us some cool stuff, such as tapping on some of the rock formations to make different tones and huge seed pods that helicoptered down when you threw them into the air. We walked then ‘elephanted’ back to the family house where we got to feed the elephants with loads of bananas and melon. The big elephant was so eager to eat the bananas he almost snatched Rach’s arm off! A very cool afternoon. That evening we scootered across to the east of the island and had dinner in a restaurant overlooking the sea. The sunset was magical. We were the only customers and the locals cooked us a HUGE freshly caught fish with garlic and lemon sauce. It was unbelievably tasty and the sunset over the island made it that bit more special.
The next day we wanted to a get a taste of local life, so we headed across the little strait to Ko Lanta Noi Island. We took the scooter onto the little vehicle ferry, creating some interest in the locals sitting three or four a-top their motorbikes, before heading out onto the deserted roads of the residential island. We passed by lots of liitle towns and villages, getting waves and hellos as we went. We stopped after an hour at a little shop to buy a drink and watch the local men trading racing birds across the street. We headed all the way over to the north east of the island, taking in some great little beaches and plenty of wildlife as we whizzed along, passing only three or four other bikes in two hours. The whole trip was fantastic and we arrived back at Ko Lanta thoroughly windblown and satisfied! That night we ate dinner in a little beach shack right on the sand, slurping tasty noodle soup as lightning storms raged on the horizon…
Our final day on Ko Lanta was spent out at sea. We booked onto a trip out to a dive site called Ko Haa, two hours away by boat. Rach opted for a dive and Gaz settled for a more surface-oriented experience with the mask and snorkel. Our boat was huge, but only 5 guests had booked on, so the trip out to the collection of four small islands was spent in luxury – tonnes of open deck space and loads of breakfast to feed our early morning appetites! The weather was great and the sea was calm. 
Before we knew it the islands were in sight and we moored up in a perfect little lagoon. The divers kitted up and jumped in, with the snorkelers close behind. For an hour we flipped amongst coral gardens, with Gaz spying a huge sea snake and Rach seeing some spectacular underwater caves and overhangs, complete with colourful nudibranches and more little Nemos. We 
had a big lunch on the deck of the boat before heading to the furthest of the islands for the second dive. We stayed together for this one and got to spend a bit of time together, the best point being Gaz diving down, popping all Rach’s dive bubbles and taking a few breaths on her regulator… not officially allowed! We saw lots of gleaming corals, pipefish, sergeant fish, barracuda and lots more. It was a great final day and we timed it to perfection for as we headed home the skies opened and the seas whipped up as a huge storm hit. 
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