Island Living

We've decided to extend our stay in Ko Phi Phi for an extra night so we can relax a bit before we head up to the north where there is more to do/see. The island is lovely, and yesterday we went on a day excursion by boat to various different islands around our one. We got to do snorkelling and kayaking whenever we wanted, lunch was included and we got to swim to the place where they shot "the beach", which was incredible, despite the beach being rammed with tourists it's a marine park, so there are no buildings or shops or people trying to sell you stuff. Ideal really seeing as that's all you get elsewhere. And our tour guide followed with a waterproof bag so we could all take our cameras, which was nice! The day was supposed to end with a sunset boat ride but the weather took a turn for the worst so we had to cut it short and head back to the main portt where we spent the evening hiding from the torrential downpour in an ice cream shop. Eventually we made it back to our hotel where we discovered the roof of our cabin/bungalow had been leaking so not only did we have no stable electricity as the fuse kept blowing, our room stunk of damp and some of our clothes did too. This was an annoying end to the day but it cant be helped, today we're in a nice clean room and drying off. We're heading for Chiang Mai on Thursday, either by a cheap internal flight or a coach/train and there we hope to go to an elephant sanctuary and do a hill tride trek and sort out our bloody Chinese visas (which are turning out to be such a headache). Also going to catch up with an old friend from college who happens to be living there at the moment. Let the good times roll!

Peace.