1st July 2005

Went to Phi Phi Island yesterday and was astonished at the devastation even though i had read about it in the papers and seen the news. You dont expect it to hit you the way it does. A small blue trainer washed up at our feet. I picked it up and it was heavy with water and I looked at the base of it to see it appeared new by the lack of wear on the tread. 'Why its a new trainer' I told Abdel, just the condition of it and I dont mean what the water had cleaned. But then it would be new if it were someones Christmas pressie.

Went to Maya Beach, totally awesome although I couldnt really swim as Im so unsteady on my feet due to my still huge ankle. The Tsunami had taken the beach with such force it has 'dug up' the sand so you could one minute be in three foot of water and the next 8 foot of water as hubby found out. We went to Monkey Beach and hand fed the monkeys, tiny little babies hung on to their chests and got a good dunk in the water when their mums swam to our boat to jump on for fruit!

Our guide was fantastic. The Thai men are such free spirits they really are. Wearing a pair of bordies, no shoes and no top, the boat boy walked with ease along a very small space on the edge of our speed boat. The driver wore a Phuket Sea Tours T shirt and shorts, no shoes and drove the speed boat with such ease I couldnt take my eyes off him. One poor Chinese girl was so sea sick as the boat sped over the sea and hit the water as it bounced on any big waves, me - well I loved it. There was always something to watch.

Local fisherman in their long boats waving to us excitedly as we went past. Arriving on Phi Phi Don, we had a delicious lunch of hot and cold buffet including sea food and sat down with ice cold glasses of water. The feeling of sand between your toes, hot and sweaty, the sun on your skin and someone grinning at you wherever you look, you cant buy that feeling. It was so hot it made QLD look cold. People were burying themselves in the sand whilst our young guide worked tirelessly to make sure we had drinks, chilled watermelon and fruits.

At the end of the trip, we all got off the boat and made our way to our mini buses. I noticed that nobody tipped our guide or his staff and we werent sure of the 'protocol' so to speak. Handing him some money my husband thanked him for a fantastic day. Our guide looked puzzled and then stared at his skipper for support. 'But you paid for your trip sir' He said to my husband. 'Yes and its down to you we had the time we did' Abdel replied. Shaking my husbands hand he then bowed to him and we saw him skuttle off to show his skipper and boat boy as they examined it. 'None of us gave anything' Said one of the tourists. 'Entirely up to you' We said simply. And it was. The whole day trip going around Phi Phi Islands, plus lunch, hotel transfers and refreshments cost twelve hundred Thai Bahts each. I thought it worth alot more.

Must tell you this, there are a lovely Chinese family that have arrived in our hotel yesterday. They discovered the lift. I say discovered because hubby and I were on our way out when the lift stopped on our floor. Doors open and three very excited people could barely contain themselves as they pressed EVERY button to make the lift go to every floor So we sat in this lift and observed these wonderful people sqeak with excitement as the lift went from the 5th floor to the bottom. Bearing in mind they got in the lift on the top floor, they were there for some time. It took smiles from the hotel receptionist and a bit of coaxing to persuade them to come out.

We went out for a lovely meal at a restaurant called 'Papayas' and enjoyed fried snapper fish with garlic and local beer. You know when you are on holiday you always have your favourite restaurant? Well we have that one. They look out for us now and always demand to look at what colour my bruised foot is that day! The other place is the 'Red Onion' which serves delicious seafood too. The evenings after your meal are brilliant. The sound of music coming from every bar, the smells of herbs and spices fill your nostrils and laughter is everywhere.

Walk down the road and someone is trying to get you into their bar, the sounds of drivers shouting 'Tuk Tuk, Patong, Tuk Tuk' as they clamour for custom.

Owners coming out of tailors shops to get you to buy a suit, you can have whatever you want, just come into their shop. One guy travelled from the UK regularly to get a suit hand made for him in Thailand, they were the only ones he would wear.

Its a place that never sleeps, stray dogs lie on restaurant floors and cats hang around hoping for scraps. Cat food bowls everywhere filled with meat and rice. People on motorbikes ride down the street, we saw a man, his wife and a sleeping boy clutching onto his mum as they went down the road on a moped, with a small dog in a basket at the front!

With memories like these, It will be hard for me to go back to my life when I am use to people smiling and saying hello to me when I dont even know them. Imagine doing that in London, people would think you are mad! And I must say Im guilty of doing that myself, its easier to keep your head down than to keep it up with a smile. We have this tiny waiter of about 19 years old. He is so sweet, short spikey hair, a smile on his face wider than the 487 bus. 'I could take him home' I told my husband today. 'Think his mum might object' was all he said. But then I can imagine the Thai people being so easily damaged by the hostility of London and you wouldnt really want to change them. Four more days to go anyway and we shall make the most of them too. Did I tell you I love Thailand?

3rd July 2005

We are in a bar in Kata, its so hot we have had to take shade. There are two policeman in here having a milkshake, enormous guns which takes some getting used to. Their uniforms are so tight, they look like extras from the Village People.

We have just ordered our food and I thought I would ask the policemen for their piccies, thinking they would refuse. Taking ages to pose, they shoved one another out of the way to get in the frame, white teeth beaming at the camera, they posed for a photo.

I didn't think that anything could top Phi Phi Island and as it was our last night, it would have been quite acceptable to spend it relaxing as we had a 5am start to get to Phuket for our flight. Wrong! Since when did I do anything remotely sensible? I mean, in 6 weeks, I had sat on my finger and torn the tendon and had fallen over in a dancing club in Thailand and taken to Patong hospital in the back of a Tuk Tuk. The beach had also been evacuated due to Tsunami warning as an earthquake had hit Sumatra. The wave never came but we stayed on our fifth floor room to be safe.