Holiday Villa Ko Lanta

... adventures.<br><br>Today we went on a boat trip to Ko Phi Phi. Again, we had received varied opinions about this place but decided to go and see for ourselves. It certainly is a beautiful place - clear water and white sands - but it is VERY touristy. Apparently after the tsunami hit the island has been rebuilt into a tourist resort type destination and it seems a little over-the-top - think Irish pubs and Brit bars! But we had great fun snorkelling with ...

... was no TV, internet or phones on the whole island so we really felt like we where cut off from the rest of the world. We spent our time relaxing on the beach, walking along the beach and drinking on the beach.<br><br>As we didnt get up to much we havent got alot to say.. so we'll let the pictures do the talking. <br><br>Off to Koh Tao next for the last week of our trip :( :( :(<br><br>So we'll talk to ya then <br>

We got up early again this morning, had breakfast and waited for our transport to pick us up and take us to the Jetty for our ferry to Ko Phi Phi. Our transport was a half our late picking us up, Bryden was starting to loose faith, then we got dropped around the corner. Everyone in the truck was cracking up because we all could have walk around the corner. We thought we were at the Jetty we needed to be at but then we all got shuffled onto a bus which drove us 15 ...

... was fun because it was fast. Tonight we walked 2km into town had more yummy Thai food at a local seafood restaurant (Crab Red curry, mixed veges and Fried fish with Garlic and Pepper) then negotiated a motorbike cart thing to take us back to our hotel. So we think we will stay here tomorrow and have a relaxing day and then go up to Krabi. We are doing a border run to Malaysia on Monday and our flight leaves from Krabi then.

... other side of the island in just a few minutes! We think we were on Phi phi Don (there are two parts to the island), and the beach was also jam packed! It was an interesting place tho- lots of things to do and trips on offer. However, we did feel like we we're going home again on our way back to Ko Lanta. On our last day in Ko Lanta we braved it and hired a moped for the day. Mannuelle charged us 250 baht (less than £7) which was great but didnt leave us a drop of fuel so ...

... threatening the regions' cultures and environment. Phi Phi Island was particularly hard hit by the Boxing Day Tsunami that struck 12 countries in 2004. Every standing structure in the central Tonsai Village was destroyed by the waves. I'm staying on a 1 km stretch of sand on Tonsai Bay that is ominously marked as the "Tsunami Hazard Zone". Somewhat reassuring is the newly constructed Tsunami Evacuation Route, which weaves directly beside my bungalow ...

Well we've a lot to catch up on. 4 days in fact. Hopefully we can remember it all. Christmas day didn't feel like Christmas day at all. We got up and did some internetting to send some Christmas greetings and then made our way down to the beach. After a few hours of lounging around by the beach we went to see if we could get some massages, unfortunately there was only one slot left open that day and Rachel insisted I take it. Just as well too considering the state I was going to be ...

... deixar o conforto da nossa praia e alugámos uma scooter para ir visitar a ilha. Há muitas pequenas baias e praias bonitas, algumas das quais ainda pouco desenvolvidas para o turismo, mas mesmo assim preferimos a nossa praia. Também visitámos algumas povoações no leste da vila, que é mais tradicional que o oeste. Planeavamos ficar ainda mais um dia para irmos mergulhar, mas acabamos por não ir e, em vez disso, decidimos seguir viagem para as ilhas ...

... at 1430. The first stop was monkey beach, where there were lots of monkeys (surprisingly!). The guide had some fruit which he fed them and we watched them for about ten minutes before getting back on the boat. Next stop was Viking Cave, which we didnt get to go inside but it is where a lot of the 'Birds Nest' material is found- this is put in Birds Nest Soup for example and its actually really expensive for the material itself. We then sailed past a lovely lagoon ...

We decided to motor around Koh Lanta to the east coast and visit Talat Lanta, the original settlement before tourism became established on the west coast. It was a hot, sunny day with little wind (hence the need for motoring). Kalat Lanta is still a sizeable town, and we enjoyed wandering around the shops before going to a waterfront restaurant for lunch. Out of the blue (literally!), the wind built up ...