Bamboo Island today on a speedboat. It is a small atol North of Phi Phi Island. We were picked up from our hotel in a rough old open pick-up for the short ride to Noraprat beach and boarded the boat after a short trek through a National Park. The trip was surprisingly smooth and took just 45 minutes. Everyone got out of the boat with snorkel kit supplied but only us and half a dozen others were staying on Bamboo Island - the rest continued on to Maya Bay. Bamboo Island is a very beautiful Island with wide stretch of white sand crystal clear water and a forest of trees in the centre. We had 5 hours before the boat with the Maya Bay people returned at 3.15pm to pick us up so we had plenty of time to snorkel, sunbathe and take pics. We decided to go snorkelling before our packed lunch - lots of colourful fish swarmed around us (as people were feeding them with bread and scraps). We took lots of pics including a cute hermit crab who was slowly making his way across the beach. We had a brilliant day it was very hot 35 degrees. We arrived back about 5 o'clock so came back to shower and have a gin and tonic before going out to eat. Had some sizzling steaks in a restaurant on the Ao nang beach road - reminded us of 'hot stone steaks' we used to have on our Portugal holidays in the 80's!
Today we decided to have a leisurely day shopping and planning the rest of our time in Krabi. After breakfast we strolled down to Ao Nang beach to book a trip on (Friday) to Bamboo Island a small atol near Phi Phi Island that had been recommended to us. After some shopping and a couple of lunchtime beers in 'The Beach Bar' we made our way to the open sided thatched areas at the end of the beach where massages are done. We decided we needed a foot scrub (now we have feet as smooth as a baby's bum - amazing!) - then we both had a Thai massage. They worked on us for nearly two hours and it cost just £20 for us both. After some sundowner cocktails and food we wandered back to our resort which is a lovely walk.
Today we went to Phranang Beach just 20 minutes longtail boat ride south of the main Ao Nang beach It was beautiful with whitebsand and clear water against a backdrop of huge limestone cliffs popular with climbers. There are no sun loungers and umbrellas in this part of Thailand which is good for the appearance of the beaches but a but of a challenge for fair skin types. No beach bars but instead mobile eateries in longtail boats that provided everything from Shakes to hot Thai Food cooked fresh in the boat. Lots of dips in the sea to cool off and plenty of pics including the fertility shrine at the south end of the beach where locals go to improve their chances of parenthood and climbers on the cliffs around the beach. We were also paid a brief visit by a 3 foot Iguana who knocked over a rubbish bin before disappearing back into the Mangroves behind the beach.
Today we moved on to Krabi. So after our last breakfast on Phi Phi Island (including honey straight from the hive yum! - see pic). Tides complicate trips here so we needed a tractor taxi to get us out to the longtail boat that would take us to the pier in Tonsai Bay to catch the public ferry to Krabi. Ferry running half an hour late but after queuing with backpackers with our uncool luggage we boarded and managed to find a seat on deck for the one and a half hour trip to Krabi. After a 20 minute minibus transfer we were in our new hotel and ready to go out exploring. We have always planned our time in a krabi to be our beach escape. We have been in Thailand now for 4 weeks and amazingly we have only had 2 or 3 days on the beach! We have been asking the locals and tourists who have been here a while which are the best beaches and will try one of them tomorrow. We ended our day with a couple of hours on the local Ao Nang beach, a sunset then a few drinks chatting to some Danish Tourists.
As this was our last day on Phi Phi Don, we thought we should take a look at Tonsai Bay where most people stay on the Island. We caught the free longboat taxi from our resort for the 20 minute trip to the pier at Tonsai (where we have got to go tomorrow for our ferry crossing to Krabi). We had about four hours to look around before our 3.00 pm return trip to our resort we spent most of this time browsing the stalls along the narrow lanes (there are no cars on Phi Phi) looking for a new pair of shorts for Steve. Darren bought the ones he is wearing now in Thailand 15 years ago for less than £1! On our walk we came across a Memorial Garden for people who died in the bay in the 2004 Tsunami (see pic). The Tonsai Bay Area is full of Backpackers and they featured heavily in the losses here. Only a couple of people from our resort died because they had gone early to the west of the Island snorkelling and visiting other bays where the wave struck. The resort itself on the east coast was not badly damaged because it was protected by the mountains you may have spotted in some of the earlier pics. When we got back to the Outrigger we had time for a couple of hours on the beach before preparing for our transfer to Krabi tomorrow.
Our transfer today was organised by our Outrigger Resort on Phi Phi Island. They picked us up from our hotel and took us to a pier in the North of Phuket where we boarded their private Catamaran for the one and a half hour crossing to Phi Phi Don Island. It is a beautiful Island with white sand and crystal clear water We have a very nice bungalow raised on stilts just one row back from the beach (see pics). There are lots of lovely shrubs and flowers everywhere. This afternoon we have been exploring and went on a short walk across the Island to Loh Lana Bay where we are going to hire a longtail boat for about £30 for 3 hours tomorrow to see Maya Bay where The Beach was filmed and Monkey Beach. The Outrigger Resort is situated right next to Phi Phi village which is a small hamlet of thatched bamboo shack type restaurants - we like the atmosphere and prices at these places and have just returned from our evening meal there tonight - four strong cocktails and two red snappers grilled on a barbecue with salad all for £22!
