Day 16 - Ferry Time

I had a 6am breakfast before being escorted by Nana & Pop to my minibus where they refused to leave till they saw I'd driven away safely. Quite a funny feeling for me having been travelling completely independently to then have the grandparents watching out for me, but lovely of them all the same.

I got to have one last glimpse at the tacky tourist hub that is Patong Beach on our way to the ferry. Patong is really as I'd expected though, full of faraang restaurants and bars, lined with cheap and nasty stalls, full of middle aged men with young Thai girls on their arm (something I still find disturbing after 10 days of being here) and the beach lined with chairs. Not a destination I'd choose for myself under other circumstances.

The ferry ride to Koh Phi Phi (where The Beach was filmed) was quite amusing as many people went up the bow of the boast in the hope of getting some sun but after only about 10 minutes they all had to retreat to the back of the boat as they wind and waves were too much up there and they were all getting completely saturated. It wasn't much of an enjoyable journey for anyone on the open decks mind you as the wind and water was still reaching most of the deck.

Koh Phi Phi had big limestone cliffs like in the movies but I'd been told the really beautiful areas were off the main island so unfortunately I didn't get to see that as I was only doing a transfer here to Ko Lanta. As I went to board the next ferry they told me that I had to pay another 350 baht as I didn't have a special receipt. I was pretty pissed off as I knew I'd paid for the whole lot but I didn't know what I could really do so I reluctantly went to find an ATM. When I returned to the boat, thankfully the same woman waved me on saying I'd paid already, so I'm not sure what went on while I wasn't there but I was happy anyway.

The touts came around the ferry asking where I was staying which I managed to ignore and book a night over the phone at a Lonely Planet recommendation, Sanctuary. Two Australians sitting in front of me were hoping for a room there too so we split a cab once we arrived at Koh Lanta and they got the "last room", which I think is what they say to everyone mind you.

I spent a relaxing afternoon on the stretching white sand beach doing the usual, reading, sleeping and water frolicking. After a walk and some photo taking I decided it was about time to attempt to upload some photos which I managed to successfully do, just the Melbourne ones though.

At dinner back at the bungalows I ended up next to an Italian guy Alberto, and we got chatting for a few hours and ended up deciding it'd be a good idea to share a bungalow for the following few nights in order to save some money as both of us had been thinking we'd had to move on with the prices being fairly expensive. Cut in half it's a lot easier on the pocket!