Bangkok - Phuket - Phi Phi Islands (887km)

To get to Phuket we first had to take an overnight train for 12 hours from Bangkok to Surat Thani, and then a bus for 4 hours from Surat Thani to Phuket town.

We paid extra for the 1st class sleeper compartment. This was a private compartment with a bench seat which folded into an upper and lower sleeping berth, and a small sink. Once our train departed at around 7.30pm we watched the city scenery pass by and then made our way down the train to the restaurant car for some dinner. Walking through the other carriages we were glad that we forked out the extra money for the 1st class compartment, as the 2nd class sleepers looked crowded and uncomfortable.
By the time we had some dinner and watched a movie in our compartment it was time to get some sleep. We woke up at about 6.30am and got ready to leave the train at Surat Thani.

At Surat Thani we boarded a dingy bus for the 4 hour trip to Phuket. When we arrived at the bus station we were immediately met with the infamous 'taxi mafia' (a small number of taxi/tuk tuk companies who control and influence transportation in Phuket). Their influence is such that the bus station in Phuket used to be right in the middle of town, but a few years ago it was moved to the outskirts of town in order to force people to take taxis into Phuket town or out to the beaches. Even though

we only needed to travel about 5 kilometres to our hotel, all of the taxi drivers wanted 300 baht to take us there.

We refused to pay and started walking with our luggage down the main road, hoping to come across another taxi or tuk tuk who might charge a more reasonable fare. It was extremely hot in the middle of the day and just as we were wondering if we had made a big mistake a taxi driver pulled over and offered to take us to our hotel for 150 baht.
We were really glad when we arrived to our extremely comfortable room at the Tint Hotel in Phuket old town.
We took a nap in the air conditioning and then wandered through the old town in the evening. We found a fantastic Thai restaurant for dinner and had a soup, curry and mango with sticky rice for a great price. The next day we hired a motorbike from the hotel and took a ride out to the beaches (Kata, Karon and Patong) and did some shopping at the Phuket mall. We also arranged taxi and ferry transfers to Phi Phi Island through the hotel for the following day.
That evening we took another walk down to the main street in the old town (Thalang Road) and found the Sunday Night Walking Street market in full swing.

(Photos: The Tint Hotel; markets).

There was live music, second hand clothing, hand made jewellery and the most cheap and delicious food we have seen so far on our trip. We drank cocktails, did some shopping and ate pork dumplings and peanut butter ice cream before heading to a local bar with an excellent Thai DJ pumping out tunes for a few beers before bed.

Next morning we were up early for our ferry to Phi Phi Island at 8.30am. We managed to get ourselves some good seats on the middle deck (which was lucky as the ferry got very crowded) and the 2 hour journey was pleasant as the sun was shining and the water was fairly calm meaning that I did not get sea sick.

We arrived just before 11am and made our way to the Gypsy Sea View Resort for our 3 night stay. Before leaving we booked another 2 nights back at the Tint Hotel for our return to Phuket, and they kindly allowed us to leave our large bags locked up in their storage room, so we just took our backpacks with us for the 3 nights on Phi Phi.

(Photos: ferry ride to Phi Phi Island).

When we checked in to the hotel we were shown to a beautiful room in the newer building of the hotel, when I was pretty sure that I had booked us the cheaper bungalow room. We decided to just go with it as it was a great room with a patio straight out to the pool.

We took a walk around Tonsai village and went for a swim in the bay, then found a longtail boat driver and arranged for him to take us out the following morning for a 4 hour snorkeling trip to Phi Phi Ley. We had some Thai food for lunch and dinner but unfortunately the food was pretty bland and underwhelming (which we were expecting as Phi Phi Island is known for having poor food).

We had an early start and left at about 8.30am on the longtail boat for Phi Phi Ley. The water was a bit choppy after a storm the night before so the 20 minute trip over was not all that enjoyable, but once we got there we were able to snorkel in the protected bays.

(Photos: Gypsy Seaview Resort).

We drove past Maya Bay which was already very busy with people but decided that we really didn't need to go up onto the beach as there is no good snorkeling in Maya Bay and it costs 200 baht per person to go onto the beach. So we moved on to Samah Bay for some snorkeling and then later to Koh Lanta (which was our favourite spot of the day). The snorkeling was great and Matt was happy to see how well the reef is reestablishing itself after the 2004 tsunami.
Aside from some fabulous coral formations we saw hundreds of tropical fish and a black and white striped eel, as well as sea urchins, sea cucumbers and tube sea horses. Some of the fish have clearly become very accustomed to the presence of people and being fed by people as they swarm around you the moment you get in the water. This was a bit sad as it is not really a natural behaviour for fish, but it was really awesome to have a massive school of tropical fish swimming all around up and coming right up to our masks.
Phi Phi Ley is a popular tourist spot with lots of boats bringing out day trippers. We felt a mixture of admiration and amusement at the large groups of Chinese tourists with poor swimming skills all getting in the water to swim and snorkel.

(Photos: Phi Phi Ley).

The guides on these boats set up ropes extending from the boat all the way in to the beach so that the tourists can just put on their life jackets and snorkel masks and float along holding on to the rope.

On our way back in the water was much more calm and we stopped by Monkey Beach and Viking Cave before heading back to the pier at about 12.30pm.
When we arrived back at the hotel the hotel had realised their mistake in putting us into the wrong room (they had checked us in under the wrong name somehow) and so we had to move into the more basic (but perfectly fine) bungalow room. We had no problem with this and we were happy that we managed to score a night in a nicer room. But the attitude of the front desk staff was pretty disappointing as they were very rude and confrontational about their mistake and made every effort to blame us.

After moving rooms we relaxed relaxed for the rest of the day and managed to find some decent food at Unni's Restaurant.

We liked our longtail boat driver and had such a great time snorkeling that we arranged for him to take us out again the next day for another 4 hour trip, this time further out to Bamboo Island.
We left again at about 8.30am in order to beat the hordes of tourists that come over on boats for day trips. The snorkeling around Bamboo Island was definitely some of the best snorkeling that we have ever done.

(Photos: Bamboo Island; Tonsai Village; evening storm).

Our driver moored up to a buoy located just on the edge of a drop off and so we were snorkeling in deeper water that the previous day, and we were almost the only people out there. We saw the most amazing large coral formations including bright pink/red fan corals along with more of the shy little tube sea horses and a sea snake. On the way back towards the pier our driver made one last stop for us to snorkel off Long Beach near Shark Point, however the tide was night and there was limited visibility so we didn't really see much. We were stranded for about 15 minutes when the driver had trouble getting the engine started again, but he had it fixed again in no time and we were back at the pier by about 1.15pm.

We were exhausted from the snorkeling as the currents were much stronger out around Bamboo Island and we had to expend a lot more energy in order to not drift away. So we had a relaxing afternoon and another bland meal before calling it a night.

The next morning we checked out and had a leisurely breakfast at the Phi Phi Bakery (our favourite eatery on the island - best donuts ever!) and had some drinks at a cafe while waiting for our ferry back to Phuket at 2.30pm. The ferry back was nowhere near as crowded and once again the water was calm so the journey was quite pleasant. In fact I did not get sea sick the whole time on the island which was amazing!

We were very happy to get back to the friendly staff and comfortable room at the Tint Hotel. In the evening we went to the Phuket Indy Markets which were being held right next door to the hotel at the Limelight Shopping Centre complex. We really enjoyed these markets as it was mostly local people there (we only saw 3 or 4 other foreigners there), with more great live music and delicious cheap food.

Next day in Phuket was spent relaxing. We finally managed to get a chicken curry roti from Aroon Restaurant on Thalang Road and then went back to watch a movie in our air conditioned room as Matt wasn't feeling too well. That night we went back to our favourite restaurant Kopitiam for some Thai food before turning in early.

The next morning we prepared for our flight from Phuket to Chiang Mai.

(Photo: ferry back to Phuket).