Paradise

Graeme and I eventually managed to get a decent price for the ferry to Phi phi. No problemo. After scouting around Patpong for a while we were so glad to be leaving.

On the bus to the ferry we met an Israeli guy Dan Gur. He had been travelling though Aus and NZ for the past 7 months. His trip sounded incredible. He had gone alone, met some friends hired a car, got a tent and drove and drove and drove. Another thing to add to my never ending list. He was a nice guy. Both Graeme and I connected with him immediately.

The ferry trip was beautiful. Graeme was so pleased to see the sun and sea. I was so pleased just to have him there with me to be experiencing this.

We arrived at Phi Phi that afternoon and checked into the resort Graeme had booked - the Banyan Tree. It was wonderful. Such luxury compared to the dumpsters I have been staying in for the past few months (bar Maylyn Guest house in Vang Viene, Laos!).

The main bit of Phi Phi is pretty crowded, but it is still nice and relaxed. We dropped our stuff and went for a walk around. Still tired we had a bit of an early night. And slept so well!

We woke up the next morning to our American Breakfast offered by the hotel. Er. We then decided to climb to the middle of the Island. This took about 40 minutes in the heat, so we were pretty exhausted by the time we got up to the top. But it was so worth it. As you walk away from crowds you walk into a jungle! It was fun. At the top we decided to go down another way and we were both thrilled we did. We landed up on the other side of the mountain on a beach which I can only describe as very close to PARADISE. Everything we expected Thailand to be and more. Clear warm water, white sand, gentle lapping waves, palm trees, hammocks and only a handful of people. Perfect.

We spent the rest of the day there. Climbed rocks onto the next beach and just hung out. It was magnificent.

Other highlights on Phi Phi included:

- spending the day with Dan Gur and his mates Maytal, Haddass and ....forget his name! They were all Israeli so it was great to learn more about their culture and their travel experiences in Australia. They were a great group of people and both Graeme and I are desparate to get to Israel now! We went to "the Beach" - to be honest, in real life it's a crock of sh*t and you have to pay more money to walk on it! But we had fun.
- snorkeling for 5 minutes and getting stung by baby jelly fish
- having a drink on the beach at the reggae bar one evening with hardly anyone around.
- having a real cup of coffee at the funky phi phi coffee shop
- having access to a swimming pool at Banyan villa AND a cleaner to clean the room (OOOOOOOOOoooooooo)
-hanging out with Graeme and catching up

After saying goodbye to Phi Phi we had a short trip to Krabi's Rai Lei Beach. Graeme found us the most beautiful resort called Anyavee. Wow. We were in the lap of luxury....although true to Thai style it was a little incomplete. After checking in we realised our bathroom was still all concrete and not tiled. There was a clump of old, dried concrete stuck to the foor!!! Apparently all bathrooms at the resort are like this - we put it down to modern minimalism. The rooms were beautiful and tastefully decorate. And the highlight: the resort had an infinity pool lined with palm trees overlooking a zen-like stone garden and then the beach. wow. Definitely paradise found.

The town of Rai Lei is hidden amidst the thick foliage on the island. Great limestone cliffs tower over both the east and west side bays. These are really magnificent and a great if you are a climber (which er, neither of us are!). The two beaches each have their own feel about them. The west side is the day strip. Here a white sand beach runs along warm, deep blue water. This is also the beach to watch the most perfect beach sunset. In the evening when the sun goes down you can stroll along the beach and look at the interesting sun-like shapes created by tiny crabs in the sand (I was really excited by this). We also saw a little boy create a lovely abstract picture out of the tiny silver fish that had been left on the sand as the tide lowered. At sunset you can also sit on grass mats, sip on a coconut and watch Frisbee throwers, kids, people hanging out ...it's really great.

The east side is more the evening beach. Here funky, chilled out bars line the little path that runs along the water. At night this strip is buzzing in a gentle way - it's not too manic. Most play excellent music. You can get up for a bit of a boogie or just hang out. Perfect. On our first nite in Rai Lei we met two Aussie guys who bought us each a cocktail within 2 minutes of meeting them. We had a few games of pool together and then headed to one of more happening bars. What a fun night. Probably the first night since the start of my trip that I have had a proper ass-shakin'! It was great. I got picked up by a Thai lady who wanted to dance with me. It was fine for a bit until she started touching me...er....

Other highlights in Rai Lei include
- the day trip to the Hong Island which included 2 hours of kayaking, snorkeling, swimming, meeting a great German couple Franzi and YoYo
- hanging out at the pool for most of a day and feeling guilty. But then letting it go and just enjoying the time to chill out
- cocktails - the good ones and the not so good ones!
- Graeme getting a suit tailor made
- more swimming and beaching
- the little local Thai hut where we ate a couple of meals

It was magical. We both left feeling calm and happy. We had had such a great time on both Phi Phi and Rai Lei.