Phi Phi Paradise

Hello.

I have resigned myself to the fact that I will never be a champion muay thai fighting machine so have taken it rather easy the last week or so, missing several training sessions and chilling more than is strictly necessary. I DO want to hit it (it being the training) with a large stick until I leave but before I put my game face I thought I would gallivant off to Koh Phi Phi for a spot of exploring.

I caught the ferry with 3 other chicks (who I train with at the gym) early on Sunday from Phuket Town, with the idea of spending a night or 2. After some lunch and wondering along the beach and around the markets, one of the girls headed back to Phuket to catch a plane back home and the rest of us booked our asses onto a trip to the beaches and bays around Phi Phi, which was to end in a night of camping on Maya Beach – where they filmed the movie ‘The Beach’.

First off we stopped off at Monkey Beach which was very crowded with tourists and a bit disappointing. I felt a bit sorry for the monkeys - although they didn’t seem to mind too much and carried on with the business of eating ticks off each other quite happily. We then went snorkeling on the look for black tip(ped?) reef sharks, which we found. However they weren’t very big or particularly scary.

Cliff diving followed the snorkeling. That also wasn’t too scary. The worst thing about it was the swim from the boat to the cliff – doggy paddling in the large waves trying not to get dashed against the freaking sharp rocks. The girls were only allowed to jump off the cliff once (because we are lame apparently) so I did an 8m jump and then doggy paddled back to the boat to watch the boys be heroes, back flipping and the like. On the way to Maya Beach we stopped at another bay and had some questionable pad thai for lunch, took 456 photos and carried on our merry way.

On arrival at Maya Beach I almost cried when I saw the 4000 boats of tourists - with their lime green speedos and gay European hair. I pictured taking in the beauty and the tranquillity etc etc at one end of the beach – just me alone with my thoughts  – well alone except for Leonardo Dicaprio. With no shirt on. Anyway eventually most of the boats left and about 40 or so of us were left on the beach to camp for the night. And there was eating, some drinking, lots of chatting and eventually sleeping on the beach on mats under the stars. It wasn’t particularly comfortable, but after camping in Nepal, the soft sand felt like the feathers of a thousand little ducklings. After breakfast we headed back to Phi Phi with a quick swim in a bay for those with hangovers.

Obligatory Maya Beach photo.

Zoe headed back to Phuket in the early afternoon and Jo and I found ourselves a place to stay with a pool. After checking in and having a quick swim,  I headed off to find my very lovely friends, Caroline and Brian who also happened to be staying on Phi Phi. We had a massive catch up (although I did most of the talking) over mango shakes and later over an extremely DOPE vegetable curry and even later over pancakes.

The next day, well rested after a night sleeping in an air conditioned hotel room (cue angels singing) Jo and I skulked around the markets before catching the ferry back to Phuket.

Tracy out.