Wow

What an awesome last 2 weeks I have just had, I didn't update my blog because the internet there is so expensive! I am back in Bangkok now for 1 night before my flight home and feeling sad to leave.

First I went to Koh Phi Phi, we had to go via Surat Thani so the journey took a while. I met a director called Emma on the bus to Krabi and she was going to Phi Phi too so we found accomodation together in the dorm at The Rock. It is only 150Baht [or Bats, as James likes to call it] a night so it is definatly not the swankiest place we have stayed but it was fine for the week.

The island is really beautiful, easily one of the prettiest places I have been, unfortunatly my camera didn't get much action while I was there, it just didn't really cross my mind I was having so much fun. It is definatly a party town though with large beach parties nightly. Anyone staying at The Rock is clearly on a budget so the classic choice was to buy a bucket from the supermarket for 180Bats and slurp on that for a few hours and listen to some music on an iPod before heading down to the beach. There were a faily large group of us for the whole time.

Spencer and Marcus were from Australia and had done one year of uni already, so where on a short break before term begins again. Dave was another solo traveller from Ireland [I think] and he was just the funniest guy ever. His pulling technique was these crazy dances in the middle of a large group of girls. My favorite was the 3 legged crab complete with hip thrusting and arm waving which was recieved with numerous nervous glances. Luke and another Irish guy, Steven where travelling together and had already been on Phi Phi 10 days when we arrived! Finally there were 3 dutch lads, Robbert, Alex and Koen who were all legends and thrill seekers who loving talking about the 20m cliff jump they had heard about and were keen to launch themselves off.

On our first day Emma and I just headed around town to explore and visit the beach, we met up with Kieren and Sam from the boat and chilled out with them for a beer too. It was nice and relaxing but far too hot for me, I mananged to avoid getting burnt though. That night we went to the non busy end of town for the 'black moon party' Phi Phi edition. It was very bad so we went to the main beach which was a bit better. Stayed up far too late and drank one too many buckets but it was alright.

The next few day we did nothing at all, the day after that we visited long beach. It is a really nice and quiet beach about a 30 minute walk around the island. Swimming on Phi Phi is not great because there is so much rocks and coral that you just slice your feet as it is so shallow. However Long Beach is much better even though you still have to be careful. It was a nice day, we borrowed Brah's frizbee and threw that around a bit.

The day after was the big one, Koen, Alex and me booked ourselves in for the cliff jumping tour. It was only an afternoon tour but we still almost missed it because those guys are so damn lazy and must sleep for Holland. Eithger way we made it and were on a boat with a group of 7 others, 5 Irish guys and 2 girls from the US. First stop was Monkey Bay, where there are alot of monkeys living and you can feed them bananas and stuff but they can get violent and I decided to leave them to thier own devices and view from a safe distance, I didn't want Rabies so close to going home! Next was the main event, the cliff jumping. The lowest jump was a mere 8 meters whcih was pretty damn scary. Alex and Robbert jumped straight off and then did 12m right away. I was scared of the 10m jump and Koen spent literally half an hour looking at the top of the 12m. Robbertt called it a day after 12 but Alex really wanted to jump from 20, so he went straight away to do 15 and then 18m. Unfortunatly the tide was too low for him to do 20. I did 8m again and went straight up to do 12 because I was still pumped so I knew I had to do it fast, Koen finally went for 12 just as I got there so I could jump in quickly. It was amazing, easily the highest I have ever juped from the airtime was huge and I pencilled at the perfect time to not feel a thing. The nutty guide did a backflip off 10m with an excited whoop. Koen didn't want to be out done by his brother so rushed to the 15m with me and Alex in tow. Alex went forst to demonstraight then Koen jumped off just fine. The boats came round because we really needed to leave after this last jump. There was no going back for me, I had to jump off or waste everyones time climbing back and looking like a wimp. So I went for it...I tried to pencil but when I hit the water my hands were still out a little and my right wrist felt like it was ripped clean off. I was, in true melodramatic fashion, convinced it was broken and spent a few minutes asuring the people on the boat that I had broken my wrist before and would need to go to hospital for this one. They were not so convinced and the guide had a look and said it was probably just a sprain it hurt bad for a few days but is feeling better now, it didn't swell up as much as a break would. The boat cruised into a beautiful lagoon where we had a quick swim before going snorkelling around the island a bit. It was a really good snorkel because we saw nearly 10 black tipped reef sharks just feet away from us! Finally was Maya Bay, THE Beach from The Beach. It was a really nice place and we were there just as the sun was setting which was beautiful.

Most of the guys left the dorm during those days and new people came in, it all went very quickly and not much really happened, just chilling out and partying and making some really great friends.

After nearly a week we started getting bored of the constant late nights and partying so Brah, Emma and I decided to move to Railay for a few days.

Railay was near deserted and a really nice place to relax for my last few days. We didn't do much as all, just wandered around visitng a few beachs and exploring the island. We met some really cool brothers from California, Jeff and Tylor. There were both out for a few weeks on vacation and seemed to be having a really great time. Brah was going on a boat trip with them the day I left which I would have really enjoyed but unfortunaly had to head to Bangkok.

It turns out the bar I went to both nights was the one wqhere Sam had been working for a few months when he was out here which is pretty amazing. He built the wooden platform out over the beach that I wa sitting on!!

Now I am in Bangkok and awaiting my flight home in a few days. I am meeting up with Rollo tonight, he flys tomorrow and I am pretty sure I just saw Lucy Trevallion of all people on Khoasan Road. Small world.