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Lamai beach

From Samui I caught the boat to Pha-Ngan. Wanting even more isolation here I eschewed the pushy touts at the pier and started walking along the south coast. I stopped at SP Resort, a set of bungalows half way between the pier at Thongsala and Hat Rin (full moon party beach) or, more accurately, halfway between Ban Tai and Ban Kai. The bungalows were deserted, there was just me and three Thai lads for two nights and then after that I was on my own. The beach was protected either side by rocks and a groin so I had about 50 yards of beach entirely to myself. It was absolute bliss. I didn't speak to another traveller until the night of the full moon. I just sunbathed and read during the day and ate the mama-sans delicious food and played Connect Four (an Asian obsession, wherever you go there is a Connect Four set) with the owner at night. Well I say played, I may as well have not bothered as he thrashed me everytime, I didn't get one consolation victory.

The Full moon party. How much do you want to know? Its exactly what you expect, masses of people dancing on the beach, various sound systems pumping the music out (with a surprising affinity for 90's house) and after a while group of (mostly) lads pissing and puking in the sea. By about four o’clock it was necessary to tread very carefully on the beach in order to avoid the slumbering bodies and pools of various bodily emissions. It was fun though, mucho Beer Chang and lethal SangSom buckets. The night was also helped by the England vs. Lichtenstein game kicking off at 1.45am local time, providing a well-needed break.

For some explicable reason I decided to go to Phuket next, instead of going straight to Krabi. Phuket is depressing. It makes Great Yarmouth look like the Cote d'Azur! I had planned to spend two days there and two days in Phang-Nga before going down to Krabi. I soon changed this though. I did an expensive tour of Phang-Nga bay from Phuket in order to spend as little time there as possible. The tour was cool, we saw the James Bond island from Man With The Golden Gun, which was impressive but smaller in real life, these things always are. On the way there and back they showed the film on the bus but I was the first drop-off and had to leave before the end.

After this diversion I quickly escaped Phuket, bypassed Phang-Nga and the next day was sitting on Railay beach in Krabi. Railay is really nice but quite expensive. I had to climb over a hill and some rocks to the adjacent Ton Sai bay (not to be confused with the Ton Sai bay on Phi-Phi) in order to find a bungalow in my price range which in the end was a bargain at 50 Baht (75p). Railay is attached to the mainland but only accessible by boat which gives it the island feel. The Andaman coast is much nicer than the Gulf side because the water is clearer and the sea is dotted with those alien-like limestone rocks. I was quite disapointed with Samui and Pha-Ngan because although the beaches were nice the actual scenery wasn't as nice as I expected (not that much nicer than Samet) and also when the tide is out you have to hike for miles in order to get in lower than your knees, which is frustrating.

I spent my birthday on Railay beach. OK, so it wasn’t quite the paradise birthday it could of been. I woke to torrential rain at about 8 o’clock quite depressed. went for a walk which turned into a hike, a trek and then a climb through jungle highlands, and beings as it was a solo jungle recon mission I had to take point all the way! I came out on East Railay beach (if you imagine West Railay and Ton Sai facing one way, i.e. West and East Railay behind them facing the other way, surprisingly... East) and went for breakfast (the obligatory muesli with yoghurt and fruit) with a load of Thai rastas. I spent the rest of the day running on and off the beach to get out of the rain or into the sun. In the evening after a birthday dinner of barracuda I started making my way back to my bungalow. As I was walking it really started to storm at the exact moment I was stranded on a rock out at sea and quickly got under a cave. when I realised I would have to brave the rain the tide had come in a bit and I had to wade back to the hill, now more like a waterfall, and traverse it in the dark (luckily I had my torch, if not I would have been screwed).

Raileh beach

From Railay I took a boat to Phi Phi island. Phi Phi is beautiful, easily my favourite beach/island so far. If Phuket was the nadir of this part of the trip then Phi-Phi is definitely the zenith. Its packed with tourism but the people are really friendly, there aren’t so many wankers as on Samui/Pha-Nhan and its really chilled out. Its even more expensive than Railay however and 50B only bought me a dorm bed, but as no-one else seemed to know about it I had the whole dorm to myself. I did a snorkelling trip which was ace. We snorkelled in a lagoon, in the open sea and also just off shore. At one point I stopped still and just wiggled my fingers and I was surrounded by about 1000 Angel fish and some of the nibbled my fingers. I apologise for those of you who are divers, this probably sounds so pedestrian!

 Ton Sai beach, Phi-Phi Don

Phi-Phi also has loads of nice places to eat so in the last few days I think I have put on a bit of the weight I have lost in the past few months. This morning I got the boat from Phi-Phi back to Krabi and was intending to go out to Ao Nang beach before heading down to Malaysia. The weather is pretty bad today though (its monsoon season on the Andaman coast) so I am crossing over to the Eastern coast and will cross into Malaysia tomorrow and should be on the Perenthian islands the day after. I have heard so many good things about them so I am looking forward to getting there.

Right that’s it, sorry its a bit boring, there’s not so much to talk about when you spent most of the day on a palm-lined beach, looking out at the crystal clear waters and limestone formations.