I had two days before my flight from Krabi to Bangkok. Air Asia fly for twenty five pounds, much preferable to paying twenty pounds for the shitty journey we had on the way down. Koh Lanta was not doing it for us as there was no life there so we got a ferry to Koh Phi Phi.

After getting ripped off again by the shitty tour operators in Krabi we arrived after a one and a half hour journey sat in the sun, on the roof of the boat.

Koh Phi Phi was no disappointment. The islands are breathtakingly beautiful. Stunning in fact, all your dreams of tropical islands rolled into one.

On 26th December, 2004 a tsunami hit the island. The island is isthmus in the middle with two large limestone mountains either side. The highest point of the isthmus is six feet so when the tsunami hit, huge waves came from both sides and over the middle, devastating everything in it’s path. Over 2,000 people were killed here, many of them foreigners and seventy per cent of the island’s building were destroyed.

With the help of the government, local Thais and volunteer backpackers, Koh Phi Phi has been rebuilt and you would never know the Tsunami had happened apart from the Tsunami Early Warning System and evacuation route signs the litter the island.

All the businesses and dive schools run by the survivors are back up and running and the devastation cleared.

Even with the early warning system in place it is still unnerving being somewhere where so many people died and so many locals lost part or all of their family.

Last night we went out looking for some action but due to it being Buddha day a lot of the bars were shut. We did however find a beach bar which served our purpose and ended up playing football in the sea at 2am.

Today myself, Damon and Tanya hired a long boat for the day which took up out to Phi Phi Don, an adjacent island next to the main island. This is where ‘The Beach’ with Leonardo Di Caprio was filmed. Maya Beach.

The long boat took us over some choppy waters and deposited us in a beautiful bay surrounded with high limestone cliffs where the snorkeling and the fish were very cool.

From there we had to swim to shore, walk through a cave and through some jungle and out into an instantly recognisable beach. It looked smaller than the one on the film but I guess that is just a trick of the camera.

It was lush, the water was crystal clear and warm and there were shoals of millions of small fish making the turquoise water turn black.

We spent some time swimming in the waters with the fish and headed back, arriving on the main island through very choppy water just before a storm broke. Due to it being low tide the cheery driver could only get his boat halfway into the bay so we had a ten minute walk though the shallow waters to the shore.

Absolute paradise.

Tonight there is a full moon party on the beach. I can’t have too many buckets as I have to check out at midday, get a ferry to Krabi at 2am and then a flight to Bangkok at 6.40pm.

Two more days in Thailand before home, I am going to make sure I make the most of them and want to thank Damon and Tanya for making my last day with them so cool.

Photo “Maya Bay on Koh Phi Phi Leh (2007-03-057)” by Argenberg on Flickr